4 Auto and Running on Electric

[Vulnox]

Has anyone with a Lariat+ with 4 Auto been able to determine if running in 4 Auto makes it less likely to switch to electric drive, or more likely to switch out if accelerating? In 4 Auto, the truck always supplied torque to the front wheels when accelerating, despite some mistakenly believing it only does it when it detects slip. This will of course require more power from the motor, so it seems like the truck would more readily engage the gas engine in 4A.

I have tried driving with both, and it feels like it is more willing to stay in electric if not in 4A, but there are so many variables I can't easily account for, like battery level, change in traffic patterns, my own changes in accelerator pressure, etc. I have also only had the truck a little over a week so not a lot of time to really study it.

Anyway, eager to hear input! Sorry if this has been discussed, I did a search using the 4 Auto keyword and that, but nothing obvious came up.

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[F-150 Prius]

I agree the electric drive operation is a bit of a mystery and the "Power Flow" display is a few seconds behind what the engine and motor are doing. It would be great to have a real time display of what's happening instead of an animated "depiction" (e.g. actual state of charge, actual kW input-output of motor.)
It's not Ford's first hybrid, but they seem to have omitted like the typical buttons to set "electric only" driving and "charge the battery to max in anticipation of electric only" modes … I think the battery is simply too small, as if Ford decided on "what's the very smallest battery we can possibly use."
I wonder if the duty cycle of the electric motor is insufficient for the vehicle – I don't see why the F-150 is anything less than the Aviator in power/torque/electric-only-range, etc. I guess there will be an F-150 Plug-in Hybrid with a decent size battery (say 20-30 kWh … of course 50 or 100 would make sense but I'm sure the Ford product management people want clear advantages for the Lightning.)

 

[Norris McCarty]

Look at it this way…..the electric motor is only a 40+hp motor. It will not produce enough “power” to push a 5500lb truck very far or very fast no matter what size battery it’s getting it’s current from.
You’ll do much better staying out of 4A If your trying to stretch your mileage.

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