Some stats on the PowerBoost hybrid system

[oldrayseasoning]

Another interesting thing to note is that the ICE’s rpms aren’t directly related to how much gas (pedal pressing) you apply. most of the time with the ICE running it stays around 1500 rpm or so even if you take your foot totally off the throttle.

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[daemonic3]

I was going to update my driving observations thread with this too, but some stats after bringing up the battery charge info in Torque: the battery limits seem to be 42-72% with the normal operating range being ~45-55%. At ~46%, it will start limiting output, by 42% the min/max power bars are next to each other. Charging is typically under 60%, it starts limiting regen charging around 68% and will stop completely between 71.5-72%. I'm actually surprised at how little the battery charges when the engine is on. After about 51-52%, there's very little battery charging via the engine, and even under 50% it is slow, from my few trips watching it.

I got my Torque up and running and watching the charge %. (I really WANT to see more of the stats available in Forscan but I cannot figure out their PIDs via Forscan or anywhere else. Anyone know??)

This info is spot on! I watched both around town and highway driving. I really thought that on highway you would always have so much charge banked that pulling into a campsite you'd be 100%. Not the case!!

I use the adaptive cruise extensively on the freeways. My truck LOVES to settle in at 42.75% charge on the flats. On over/underpasses or rolling hills it seems to let it charge up a little on the downhills and then gradually will use the "extra" charge to put it into the hybrid drivetrain until it locks in at 42.75% again. I think the drivetrain is a LOT smarter than I had ever given it credit for before. It knows that generator is probably at best 70% efficient so it won't add generator load to the drive belt BUT if we would have used friction then that is "free" energy it banks. Then on slight climbs it will use up any stored battery (above 42.75%) to assist the ICE which delays use of TurboBoosts where efficiency is god awful. Very smart in my opinion.

So yes I concur the normal usage band appears to be 40-60%, and idling the ICE will kick off at 50% charge on the upward side of the hysteresis slope. The highest I ever saw on my % charge was 71% on the downside of about a 1000ft hill where I had some slower cars in front of me.

The EV coach seems less related to SOC% than I thought. You basically will see full blue bar for anything above 45%, it doesn't stretch or scale above that. Then it rapidly shrinks from 45% to 42% where it basically forces ICE to kick on.

Anyway, very cool and worth my $5 for the Torque pro and $20 for Bluetooth OBD2 adapter (for me).

 

[Oxford_Powerboost]

For those like me who like to watch the EV coach, have you ever noticed that once in a while, it will give a full bar/full power from a dead stop? I believe it’s when the battery is near fully charged, but I’d be interested to know what % it is that triggers it. It takes off nice with that much electric power, I wish it was like that all the time. But I think ford programmed so little power available from a stop in order to somewhat force engine on acceleration, which is often thought to be the best way to maximize hybrid mpg, using the engine to accelerate and then EV to maintain speed. Attached a pic of what I’m referencing

 

[DT444T]

Another interesting thing to note is that the ICE’s rpms aren’t directly related to how much gas (pedal pressing) you apply. most of the time with the ICE running it stays around 1500 rpm or so even if you take your foot totally off the throttle.

It sounds like you're describing a CVT.

 

[wayne b]

I don't know #2 or #3. But regarding #1:

Initially before we all had our trucks the specs were the hybrid battery was 1.5kWh, so in theory you could run your trailer at 1.5kW for 1hr before the ICE kicked on. During actual usage a lot of us noticed that even if only drawing like 500W, the engine definitely would kick on in less than 1hr let alone 3 hrs.

Now that we've learned more, it seems this is due to the watermarks built into the trucks algorithm. Looks like the low watermark is ~40% and upper (for engine charging) is ~60%. So really, assuming they linearized the battery IV curve perfectly from 0 to 100%, we only get to use 1/5 of the battery rating in complete silence. So 300Wh give or take.

Next time I use propower I'm definitely firing up my Torque app to watch the Batt% and average Propower draw. Will be very interesting!

Related to this and some of the other posts about being able to customize the battery to run lower than 40%, it would be great while camping to be customize ProPower to have the truck run the ICE engine longer, but start up fewer times per hour. I find when "just plugged in" to a travel trailer and not running AC, it will start up 2-3x an hour but only for 2-3 minutes. In a campground generally it would be less disruptive to start up 1x an hour and run for 4-6 minutes.

 

[LHoffmanjr22]

Related to this and some of the other posts about being able to customize the battery to run lower than 40%, it would be great while camping to be customize ProPower to have the truck run the ICE engine longer, but start up fewer times per hour. I find when "just plugged in" to a travel trailer and not running AC, it will start up 2-3x an hour but only for 2-3 minutes. In a campground generally it would be less disruptive to start up 1x an hour and run for 4-6 minutes.

I had wondered if maybe there were different parameters built in for battery usage when in generator mode and parked. Maybe it would let you use a bit more of the battery since the discharge and charge cycle would be a little more spread out as opposed to driving where its more constantly and unpredictably charing and discharging. By no means am I informed on how batteries work, aside from what I've read about the Powerboost since I have owned it, but it was just a thought.

 

[imnuts]

I went searching for extended PIDs today and it looks like some Mach-E folks are using extended PIDs from the Fusion Hybrid. I found a list on the Mach-E forum and also some PIDs on a Fusion forum that I imported into Torque. I'm going to check them out later and see which are working, and if they are, do they provide useful data. From there, I'll export the useful stuff and post here for others.

 

[daemonic3]

I went searching for extended PIDs today and it looks like some Mach-E folks are using extended PIDs from the Fusion Hybrid. I found a list on the Mach-E forum and also some PIDs on a Fusion forum that I imported into Torque. I'm going to check them out later and see which are working, and if they are, do they provide useful data. From there, I'll export the useful stuff and post here for others.

Is this the list? I found it on an old Ford Cmax hybrid forum. I remember trying one and it didn't work but I haven't heard anyone come up with a list. I know someone knows because they are embedded in the Forscan app as gauges but I cannot figure out how to pull up the PID or formula for them.

 

[imnuts]

Yeah, that's pretty close. Some of them overlap with what I found on the Mach E forum, but not all.

 

[toyko joe]

Watching with baited breath to see how this turns out.

 

[imnuts]

I'll start a new thread on it later, but many of the PIDs I imported work and it lets you get more details about the hybrid system. I didn't pay to close attention to how useful the reported items are yet, just grabbed a bunch of screenshots so I can trim the non-working ones out.

 

[victimofareload]

For those like me who like to watch the EV coach, have you ever noticed that once in a while, it will give a full bar/full power from a dead stop? I believe it’s when the battery is near fully charged, but I’d be interested to know what % it is that triggers it. It takes off nice with that much electric power, I wish it was like that all the time. But I think ford programmed so little power available from a stop in order to somewhat force engine on acceleration, which is often thought to be the best way to maximize hybrid mpg, using the engine to accelerate and then EV to maintain speed. Attached a pic of what I’m referencing

How'd you get it to show engine temp and trans temp in readable degrees? Is that just a setting?

Also, Just realized this thread was still active. I forgot all about it, and haven't been getting email notifications like I expected.

 

[Oxford_Powerboost]

How'd you get it to show engine temp and trans temp in readable degrees? Is that just a setting?

Also, Just realized this thread was still active. I forgot all about it, and haven't been getting email notifications like I expected.

Those are from a fairly simple FORscan mod. Nice to watch. I can time my HVAC use to when I now know heat kicks on the engine lol

 

[imnuts]

I removed all of the Extended PIDs from my list that weren't reporting any data back. Just set things up to log all of the remaining ones and I'll do that on my way home tonight. I'll go through the logged data and see which make sense and try to fix the equations or remove them to get a useful "final" list together before posting. Maybe this weekend I'll get a chance to post up the info.

 

[petemill]

Have you noted what the differences are between ECO Idle on and off? I get the feeling it not only charges with more amps but might charge to a different percentage too. This morning, with the generator off, my gas engine stayed on for many minutes. No climate control was on.

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