Whats the point of hybrid?

[Spiffy]

Driding this new truck for a few days. Playing around with electric/ice. Kind if cool but performance of electric from green light is dismal. No matter how I drive I can't get to speed under electric mode fast enough to keep people behind me from honking.
Once I get to speed and wait electric starts. It's the first start that confuses me. What's the of breaking and getting the congrats about recovering 95% during breaking if I the truck doesn't use it to move from stop?
Maybe I just don't understand the concept.

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[hotrodmex]

The electric motor is there to use less gas getting away from a stop, where there is a lot of mass to get moving. It's not supposed to be an electric truck, but an electrically assisted truck.

IIRC it's only like 50 HP.

Yes it's an incremental step, but it's still a good one for a lot of people.

 

[Eskram]

Drive normally; let the hybrid system do its thang.

As mentioned, it's a small motor and the intent isn't to pull away from a stop on battery alone. Once you get up to speed (mostly <60mph) the truck will switch to electric to maintain speed until the battery is depleted and the engine kicks back on to re-charge - this is where the gas mileage increase comes from over the regular 3.5.

I did the same thing initially - I got this fancy electric thing, why doesn't it work? I found out it does - I was just overthinking it.

Edit: Also, if you enable the EV Coach display in the gauge cluster, it will help you get an understanding of how much battery life and throttle you can give before it switches to ICE.

 

[cheesedogf150]

Drive normally; let the hybrid system do its thang.

This.

 

[cheesedogf150]

So you bought a power boost without knowing or understanding what a power boost is?

Curious how that decision was made?

 

[Jglew82]

Don't think of it like a traditional hybrid (economy boost). Think of it as the branding indicates - Powerboost. It's meant to supplement the truck's hp and torque, as well as provide inverter/generator power for jobsites. An added benefit is marginally better fuel economy.

 

[truck trader]

I’m on my second Powerboost and I didn’t buy either for the mileage or battery powered driving. I bought them specifically for the generator!

 

[Spiffy]

So you bought a power boost without knowing or understanding what a power boost is?

Curious how that decision was made?

Haha. I bought it for the generator and the technology and enough room to bring home tequila.

 

[PPK]

What is the point of a hybrid is question that has vexed me for a while.

i think either one or the other due to complexity and cost. for me right now, just efficient ICE. Now i really like to go electric.. but not with lithium (mostly) batteries. Vendors are starting to move towards lifepo2 which are not as "hot" a battery, but they last for 3000 cycles and good lithium might get 700. You get an F150 with lithium iron phosphate batteries and it is going to be a keeper. i think ford is going that way in year or two.

 

[Spiffy]

Well just a bit more power from the batteries would be nice. It is possible to accelerate from a stop but at a snails pace. Ford could provide a bit more access to the reserve.
Is the battery providing additional torque when the ice kickes in?
I do notice the rpms are much lower than my other 3.5.

 

[tbinmd]

The battery is small, so not much reserve there to do anything. Plug-in hybrid would have been better and hopefully something will come in the future. But I like the performance of the current version.

 

[imnuts]

The battery could fill the bed of the truck, but at the end of the day, it is still only a ~45-50 HP electric motor, and you're driving around in a 5,500-6,000 lb box on wheels. Extra battery isn't going to do anything for you if there isn't a bigger motor to move the truck along, all you'll do is stay in electric only mode marginally longer until you get to the next marginal incline or bump in the road.

 

[Oxford_Powerboost]

Well just a bit more power from the batteries would be nice. It is possible to accelerate from a stop but at a snails pace. Ford could provide a bit more access to the reserve.
Is the battery providing additional torque when the ice kickes in?
I do notice the rpms are much lower than my other 3.5.

Yes the system almost always assisting or being charged. The electric portion of the hybrid very rarely sits idle. It will provide electric assist to accelerate and charge when slowing down or maintaining speed. Same for up and down hills.

 

[Atlee]

Driding this new truck for a few days. Playing around with electric/ice. Kind if cool but performance of electric from green light is dismal. No matter how I drive I can't get to speed under electric mode fast enough to keep people behind me from honking.
Once I get to speed and wait electric starts. It's the first start that confuses me. What's the of breaking and getting the congrats about recovering 95% during breaking if I the truck doesn't use it to move from stop?
Maybe I just don't understand the concept.

For me, it's the 7.4Kw generator. If it wasn't for that sizable generator, I wouldn't have one.

 

[PatchManager]

I think the key benefits of the hybrid system is additional power and torque especially during acceleration and improved efficiency during deacceleration, coasting, going downhill, and when stopped. I've driven non-hybrid vehicles with auto start/stop, and don't like it, but auto start/stop with a hybrid is almost seamless. Maybe I'm just a little odd, but getting stuck in stop and go traffic and seeing your gas mileage go up is pretty cool.

You could also look up pulse and glide, which takes advantage of the benefits of hybrids. This link provides a pretty good description.

Save Fuel with Hybrid Vehicle Pulse & Glide

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