Interesting - so the hills that are my nemeses can actually help me to get metter mileage. Hey, I'll take whatever works I will say that with DGE, hills don't scare/frustrate me as much

Thanks Gary I'm going to do my best

 

I have a lot of rolling hills in northwest MO and have been adjusting to the E-10 mandate that started here in January. Not sure if it's the hills or just being better at the techniques (probably both), but I am seeing 1-2 mpg improvements March-June compared to last year. I was really worried I'd see and overall decline this year compared to last.

-- Rick

 

During the MPG Challenge, I used EV to climb as many hills as possible. The lost of energy of E-10 would only add to higher RPM's trying to climb hills. It's a habit that I use EV for climbing bridges when traffic permits here in Florida. The flat roads take more energy accelerating for the best P&G, so when that energy is reduced by E-10, it pays off better just to maintain a steady state speed in and out of EV. With DGE, you can smoothly go into EV with less lost in speed and not put a fast drain on the battery energy increasing speed. The trick for the FEH is to find the right SOC perimeters like hypermilers have done in the Prius.

Dan is a long time Prius hypermiler that uses this technique of not using assist and maintaining a low energy demand with both the battery and the engine. My past techniques don't work as well with E-10 here in Florida where the A/C compressor runs to cool the battery. The load of the compressor and flat roads with E-10 require me to alter my driving habits.

Rolling hills helped me adjust my driving habits better with E-10 and it may have also lessen the hit of E-10 on you. You getting better with the techniques also makes a big difference. My climb to 50mpg tanks didn't happen over night. Hopefully my climb back to a 50mpg tank on E-10 won't take as long this time. Unlike you, my best mileage is during winter and my worst is during summer.

GaryG

 

Unfortunately most of the hills on my daily commute are longer than I would try to EV and being 2 lane highways (55mph), and sometimes a little busy, so I try to gather some speed on the previous downhill, and target as high an MPG as I think I can get away with depending on traffic. I don't like to get much below 45mph as that limits the glide on the next downhill and at some point you get diminishing returns of you let the speed get too low.

This works pretty good though. On one stretch of about 7 miles of hills just after the FEH gets good and warmed up in the morning, I can usually gain 5-7mph on the current trip FE on the SGII!

One thing I have noticed with my 2007 FEH is that the SoC does not seem to regen as strongly when I let it get below 42 as you have mentioned in other posts. Do you think this changed in later model years? I am really reluctant to let SoC get too much below 42, especially if I need to accelerate with any amount of assist. It really increases RPMs to maintain speed, especially uphill.

Thanks,

Rick

 

I take everything I can under consideration when climbing hills or staying up with traffic. If I'm on a two lane road with no traffic, I drive much slower uphill than I do with traffic. Most of the time I will slowly increase speed before a hill in traffic and try to hold or slowly lose speed as I climb with the ICE ON. Having two SG's allows me to monitor Load and other instant gauges like RPM, SoC and MPG.

The '07 is said to have less regen energy than the '05 FEH. When I drove the '08, I found that was the case also. My '05 has strong regen and will go EV faster in "L" than the '08. As far as dropping below 42% and getting less regen, I don't think that's whats happening in the '07. I just think the max regen threshold is set at a higher SoC in the '07 and '08. I really notice the ICE RPM trying to run away when my SoC drops to 32% during the warm-up strategy. For this reason I make sure I'm at a steady state speed to hold RPM's as low as possible when the strategy ends. What I think I'm hearing you say is both the generator and regen don't allow as fast of a recharge of the HV battery as the '05 at 42% SoC. Ford may have adjusted charging slower to reduce the battery heating problems I have in my '05.

I'm sure the '09 FEH will take some adjusting to get use to also.

GaryG

 

I just might be able to do that, Gary My commute (~10mi) yesterday came in at 60.2mpg; today it was *only* 58.5mpg

If I didn't have to fill up Friday AM before leaving for Madison, this could have been a >700mi. tank

 

... and it will probably follow the 2008 model of less regen, especially since they canned the battery A/C for 2009.

I am wondering ... is there a correlation between the earlier FEH having the best MPG?

 

I do not believe this is true. The reports from experienced users indicate the newer versions drop into EV quicker and more frequently. This might benefit "Joe and Jane Sixpack" more than the hypermiler champions as the drivers will not have to resort to "certain driving methods" to coax "improved" fuel efficiency.

 

It doesn't seem to me that regen is charging the battery any faster under 42% than it does at higher SoC levels. So if the max regen threshold is higher that would make sense. It seems to pack in the charge as quickly at say 49% as it does at 41% or 42%. So perhaps the '07s are pretty constant across most of the range, but not as fast as '05s when under 42%.

Given higher RPMs once the ICE kicks in below 40% I'm reluctant to ride the SoC very low since I don't seem to be able to build it back with regen any quicker.

-- Rick

 

One poster complained that his wife didn't like the way her neck was snapped when he did a Fake Shift in "L" in his '05 FEH. Took my Jack Russel to the Vet yesterday and noticed he was having a hard time staying in the front seat and not falling on the floor board when I did a FS in "L". It doesn't matter what the SoC is, when the battery can accept a charge, the FS in "L" feels this way in my '05. I've never drove an '06 FEH, but my guess it is the same as the '05 FEH.

It's hard to say if the '05 gets better mileage than the '07 or '08 FEH. On one hand you get a faster charge with regen, but you also slow the vehicle faster.

I'm not sure if there was any change in how the small motor/generator (MG1) charges in the later models. The MG1 charges much faster the lower the SOC is in my '05. As the SoC increases, the slower the charge from MG1. One way to see this is watch the instant MPG get better as the battery SoC increases. My HV battery climbs from 32% very fast by MG1 and the instant MPG after the warm-up strategy is very low, but climbs fast as the battery SoC increases.

No question that the '09 FEH will alter my driving techniques from my '05 FEH.

GaryG