Ford MyView Dash Configuration / Confusion? (2017 Energi Titanium)

[theasset]

I've slowly been experimenting with the various EV modes, customized dash configurations etc and after a month of testing, I'm still confused as to exactly how to correctly read/understand the battery level, when the electric engine is used etc...

 

We usually use the car in EV only mode, as it's our groceries/chore car, and rarely switches to the ICE drivetrain, however, we have obviously driven more than 25 kms in one trip more than once since we've had the car. It appears that when there's no more battery left, the graphic of the battery shows up as totally empty, and the range of electric travel is shown as 0 km. However, if I park and later resume driving, although it still shows up as 0 kms, the battery icon shows a small rotating set of arrows, and seems to "refill itself" slowly as we drive.  I understand the car slowly recharges via regrenerative braking, but despire seeing this graphic usually fill up to 60-70%, it still shows as "0 kms" of range.. This totally flummoxes me, and I'm totally confused as to why the battery would "refill itself" so quickly (within 20mins) yet not actually be offering any of this electric only range.

[cr08]

Once the plug-in charge is depleted, it operates like a hybrid only model which still charges/depletes the battery as you drive as part of the hybrid operation. But it won't come up to having a plug-in charge where you can run pure EV mode, hence the 0km range shown.

[stolenmoment]

Right, when it's depleted, the battery switches to showing only how much of the hybrid range of the battery is filled.  That said, I have been able to charge the battery back up into the EV-only range by taking a long downhill run and parking at the bottom, turning the car off.  When I turn it on again, it had enough charge that I can switch to EV-later and play our OCD games to get more charge.  When it's switched to EV-later mode, it won't deplete down into hybrid-only mode.

 

EV-later mode operates as a "normal" hybrid, only with the target charge whatever the charge was when you switched into EV-later mode.  Some of us (*ahem*) pay attention to the charge numbers and rotate from EV-later around and back (tap the button three times) to nudge the target up.  Hilly terrain (gas uphill, recharge downhill) and decelerating from highway speed (stoplight, offramp) can garner a few percent of charge at a time, leaving more charge in the battery for the "last mile" once you're off the highway or onto the flat.

[theasset]

Ah! Ok! I have the Energi, so it only refills the battery from regenerative breaking, vs the hybrid which recharges from normal driving / fuel use (I believe this is the difference).. 

 

When I'm in EV auto mode it doesn't seem to be much different, it uses up the battery first then swaps to the engine (unless I go on the highway, then it kicks the engine in for better performance) 

 

Now that I learned I need to "power cycle" the car to swap back to EV only mode after a bit of charge is replenished I'll see how that goes. 

[stolenmoment]

Both modes recharge from slowing down or going downhill, but you can play games with the accelerator when the motor is going to recharge ever so slowly; learn to glance at the up/down arrows on the dash.  I always drive in L to give me more control over that sort of thing.

 

EV auto has different thresholds for starting the engine, and will do that if you floor it.  I live near a busy traffic circle, so I have to goose the car just to enter, which will always start the motor.  One of the "My View" modes has the thresholds displayed if you want to get a feel for this.

 

I want a more customized "My View" mode that shows me more details: it should turn on the tach whenever the motor's running.  But, I'm a programmer and we all have a bit of OCD.

[jestevens]

The Energi is what they call a "plug in hybrid" in today's marketplace -- the battery pack is larger (hence less cargo room) and you can plug it in to charge it.

It still shares a lot of the same tech as the hybrid car including the engine. I think the Energi uses more PTC heating vs relying on heat from the engine block as the hybrid does.

Playing with the EV button changes the priority of energy usage and allows you to run for a longer time using electric before it switches to gas.

You should never run out of range until you run out of gasoline.

Sounds like in your case the electric range must be big enough to cover most of your errands without needing to switch to gas which is nice thing.

I have only the hybrid version, my current MyView setting has the split energy tachometer alongside the MPG vs time bar graph.

For a while I used MPG coach that shows the scores, when it gets cold out I switched to the engine temperature gauge for a while but now I don't worry about it so much.

In the hybrid battery seems to be more geared toward power (torque) or leveling out engine usage. As ptjones used to say keeping the RPMs in the 1-2K range seems to be ideal for efficiency .. sometimes I do enjoy stepping down on it though .. It's not a sportcar but the torque is still kind of fun. Edited October 7, 2023 by jestevens