Recall 13B07: Real world highway test

[CMax-Traveler]

Hi everyone,

 

As promised I ran a pre- and post-update highway test.  Here are the details of the test:

 

1) Drive from home to a specific point on the highway and reset Trip 2.  This was about 10 miles, 7 miles highway, to fully warm up the vehicle and to get the battery charged to its typical highway charge level.  (1st row; 0.0 miles)

2) Set the Eco Cruise to 71mph, drive 9 miles, take a checkpoint photo.  This is one-way on the highway, somewhat hilly, and slightly uphill overall. (2nd row; 9.0 miles)

3) Exit the highway, U-turn, and head back the other way, again setting the Eco Cruise to 71 mph. Take a checkpoint photo at the same point where I started the test -- 21.3 miles.  (3rd row; 21.3 miles)

4) Return home, take another checkpoint photo.  (4th row; 30.9 miles)

5) For kicks, I added the trip summary, but the initial charges weren't quite the same.  (5th row; 40.3 miles)

 

Between the two tests, the only difference was that the post-update test was about 5 degrees warmer outside, and I had to sit at two stoplights for a while during my U-Turn.  Neither should affect the results much.

 

And to answer a question, no, I didn't take the photos, I had a friend do it for me.

 

Here are the results:  (Sorry for a couple of blurry photos)

 

In case a couple are blurry, here are the numbers:

Pre-13B07         Post-13B07

---------------------------------

9.0mi (0.0 EV)    9.0mi (0.8 EV)

36.2 MPG          38.9 MPG

----------------------------------

21.3mi (1.9 EV)   21.3mi (4.2 EV)

38.7 MPG          42.2 MPG

----------------------------------

30.9mi (6.6 EV)   30.9mi (10.4 EV)

43.1 MPG          46.6 MPG

 

So... bottom line, I definitely gained several MPG from the update.

 

One observation: I noticed that the eco-cruise seemed hesitant to kick into EV mode, so I was spending a decent amount of time in ICE, but even so, the MPG seemed higher.  There were several occasions where, had I been driving rather than eco-cruise, I would've dropped it into EV mode based on the upcoming road conditions.  So I probably could've improved the MPG even further by driving it myself.

 

Besides that, I've also noticed an improvement in my off-highway MPG.  But I haven't tested it to quantify that.

[MtnMarty]

What a great test. Thanks so much for reporting. I have not done anything so scientific, but anecdotally I have noticed higher numbers. Just drove about 23 miles on hilly interstates at 70 with A/C on and got a 48mpg average.  Can't wait to do my 620 mile trip this Sunday and see the results.

[salsaguy]

sounds good so far. how many days in between the pre and post tests??

[ScubaDadMiami]

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  :worship:

[asb]

I'm excited about getting the update.  I may finally see my highway numbers improve!

[JohnnOhio]

My trips to and from work get 46 to 48 (60 miles freeway and 6 miles on city streets)

 

Yesterday traffic was heavy and going so in town and slow again near home got 50.5 for the trip.

 

Maxie shines in slow traffic. Update should get this all of the time

[spyburn]

Thanks C-Max Traveler.  I have noticed similar increases in my mostly highway driving.  And I have also noticed a hesitation in the Eco-cruise dropping into EV.  Based on my observations, I did my highway drive yesterday without the cruise control on.  My mileage was just a touch better than with eco cruise engaged, however the difference was small enough that it could have been any number of things - temperature, how often I had to slow down for the traffic merging onto the highway when I couldn't get into the other lane, that sort of thing.

 

My gut feeling so far is that while the update took, there are some fine tuning issues Ford missed.  I'm getting higher mileage, but my "coaching bars" (acceleration, braking and cruising charts) look like I suck at this.  The engine temp gauge used to do the color change thing when the ICE engine was warmed up - not anymore.  I used to get some EV assist on long highway runs and once in a while would get 60+ if I was on a slight downhill long run, even when my state of charge was low.  Now I get no EV assist on those long runs and it won't drop into EV unless my SOC is 75% of better. With everything so interconnected in this vehicle, I'm pleased that it seems like they only need to keep tweaking it to get it perfect!

[CMax-Traveler]

sounds good so far. how many days in between the pre and post tests??

 

The two tests were roughly 48 hours apart.

 

For some additional data, albeit anecdotal... the weekend before the test we took a long highway road trip and averaged 40.1 MPG.  This weekend we took a similar trip and got 44.5 MPG.  We also ran the A/C for much of the second trip, but not at all on the first.  I've also noticed a boost in my city MPG.  I've driven 400 miles since the upgrade, rougly half highway (70mph) and half city, and my current MPG avg is 46.7 -- so I'm quite satisfied at this point.  I'm sure there are still some additional tweaks they can make.

[Jus-A-CMax]

The two tests were roughly 48 hours apart.

 

For some additional data, albeit anecdotal... the weekend before the test we took a long highway road trip and averaged 40.1 MPG.  This weekend we took a similar trip and got 44.5 MPG.  We also ran the A/C for much of the second trip, but not at all on the first.  I've also noticed a boost in my city MPG.  I've driven 400 miles since the upgrade, rougly half highway (70mph) and half city, and my current MPG avg is 46.7 -- so I'm quite satisfied at this point.  I'm sure there are still some additional tweaks they can make.

 

that has my attention

[Jmonty]

Beautiful!

[wamba2000]

Thank you for systematically approaching this test, it makes me want to get in for the update!

[CMax-Traveler]

that has my attention

 

Most of my city trips are <10 miles... so I think I'd have to attribute it to the shorter warm-up time in the update, it definitely drops out of forced-ICE sooner.  Pre-update I'd have a few trips here or there in the 32-35MPG range because of the forced-ICE, post-update I've never had any trip below 40.5MPG, and most of my city trips are above 50MPG.  I haven't changed my driving habits.  YMMV.

[zhackwyatt]

Most of my city trips are <10 miles... so I think I'd have to attribute it to the shorter warm-up time in the update, it definitely drops out of forced-ICE sooner.  Pre-update I'd have a few trips here or there in the 32-35MPG range because of the forced-ICE, post-update I've never had any trip below 40.5MPG, and most of my city trips are above 50MPG.  I haven't changed my driving habits.  YMMV.

 

 

I haven't had it done yet, but I'm hoping the A/C updates will improve this.  I drive somewhere, it's 110 degrees out, A/C compressor works full strength and then just about when it starts to decrease energy use, I get to my destination.  Go in the store, come back, and restart the process to the next place.

[boilermax]

Had the upgrade done on Monday.  Saw 50+ mpg on several around-town trips.

 

Today my wife drove it from Raleigh NC to Knoxville TN (over 300 miles, all highway, speed limits 65 to 70, plus climbing the mountains to 2000+ ft elevation).  She averaged 44.0 mpg while using AC the whole way (temps were in the 90s.)

 

I'm pleased.

 

[Tree63]

Wow.  Great to have different levers that can be used to tune mileage with Maxie - and the impressive results starting to show up.  Looking for it up here in Canada before chilly weather.

 

Next stage of the dream: 

Give me as the driver choice of 2+ modes of driving (all highway, all city, mix - for example) that I choose before each outing/season where a  push button or code presets Maxie to maximize my driving for performance (uphill both ways!) or FE or summer heat or winter cold .. etc.

[salsaguy]

tree, what you want is called an Energi (the plug in version of the cmax) and its more expensive but let's you choose EV now or EV later.

:)

 

 

yeah it would be nice if they had something similar for the hybrid but it won't last long since the hybrid has a smaller battery system, so whatever mode you chose wouldn't be able to stay that way for long.

[darrelld]

I haven't had it done yet, but I'm hoping the A/C updates will improve this.  I drive somewhere, it's 110 degrees out, A/C compressor works full strength and then just about when it starts to decrease energy use, I get to my destination.  Go in the store, come back, and restart the process to the next place.

 

While our temps were in the 100's I didn't see much difference in FE post update. This makes sense given the amount of work required to remove heat from the cabin area will probably require the compressor run at max work load. Now that temps have dropped into the mid to lower 90's we are starting to see a general improvement in overall FE post update and expect a better fuelly report with the next tank. I made a note on my fuelly link corresponding to the local temps and marking the firmware update application.

Edited August 11, 2013 by darrelld