AgentCMAX Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 As I was driving to work this morning, I realized how low the threshold is for the EV mode operation when starting from a standstill. Disclaimer: I am not an auto engineer nor a car expert. My understanding is it takes less gas/energy to keep a car in motion than to start it from a stationary position. That's basic physics. I get that. So why would the C-Max design team limit the usage of the battery to start the car from a standstill? I would think it would be more energy efficient to allow max torque from the electric motor to get the car rolling quickly from a standstill and then use gas to recharge the battery once the car is in motion. One reason I can think of why not to do this is battery preservation since a lot of stop n go would quickly drain the battery. But then the system can do a simple battery level check to decide if it has enough capacity to allow this mode of operation. Unless if this mode of operation would lower battery longevity? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgentCMAX Posted December 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 Another option is to use both the gas engine and the electric motor to start the car from a standstill. I noticed that when going up the on-ramp to enter the freeway, both the gas engine and electric motor are working (although only briefly). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgul Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 (edited) Another option is to use both the gas engine and the electric motor to start the car from a standstill. I noticed that when going up the on-ramp to enter the freeway, both the gas engine and electric motor are working (although only briefly). This is best, get up to speed and use EV mode to maintain speed. I always drive trying to conserve the HVB charge as much as I can as it takes fuel to recharge unless you have down hill grades to recharge, regen braking also works great down hills. I know other drivers say "look at that old man riding his brakes". I also use gas if I need to increase speed and save the HVB for maintaining speed. On the 2010 Fusion hybrid it took a lot more attention to keep the HVB charged than on the C-Max. The C-Max's Lith-Ion battery holds the charges and charges much better than the Fusion. All this sounds like I am a "hypermiler" but I don't consider myself one. I try to go with the flow of traffic. I have some recent pictures of my fuel miliage in the thread on 60 mpg Edited December 7, 2012 by cgul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptjones Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 It works that way to keep from over heating the battery. When you start in the morning the battery is cold and EV has alot of power but that is the only time it does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgentCMAX Posted December 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 On the way to work this morning, I actually experienced a moment when I took off from a stop and saw that the C-Max does indeed use both gas and electric to start the car from a standstill. The battery capacity was a little over 3/4 full. So I guess the designers already incorporated this into the system and perhaps as you explained above, Paul, they only allow this after a check to the battery capacity to ensure longevity. The temp this morn was around 36-39 deg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valkraider Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 I know other drivers say "look at that old man riding his brakes". C-max has regen without pressing the brakes. Any time the accelerator is not pressed, regen kicks in. If you want more you can engage the "low" button I think on the side of the gearshift which will turn on more aggressive regen for times like going down mountains or long grades. No brake lights needed. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob999 Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 C-max has regen without pressing the brakes. Any time the accelerator is not pressed, regen kicks in. If you want more you can engage the "low" button I think on the side of the gearshift which will turn on more aggressive regen for times like going down mountains or long grades. No brake lights needed. ;)I think that pressing the button on the side of the shifter also engages the ICE for braking while using the brakes gently only engages regenerative braking. Put another way I think you get more regeneration using the brakes alone than using the button -- assuming you don't press the brakes so hard that the friction breaking is engaged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgentCMAX Posted December 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 (edited) I was driving to work today and since it's a Saturday, traffic was light so I decided to take the freeway route vs. the city road route that I normally take and I observed at cruise control of 65mph, the C-Max actually engage hybrid mode occasionally. I believe I took this pic while going up a slightly inclining stretch of the freeway. This is probably one reason why they are able to achieve the EPA 47mpg rating with such a big/heavy car like the C-Max! Edited December 8, 2012 by AgentCMAX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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