Another Powerboost horrible mileage thread 12mpg

[PBXL]

If you are in So Cal we could meet up and I can verify how you are driving to see if there is something wrong with your truck. Some people just don't mesh well with hybrids and how to drive them. My wife never gets EPA rating in any of our hybrid vehicles, while I always get EPA or better. Just send me a private message if you were interested.

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[Stealthytt]

The idling will kill the mpg. You need to look at the engine hours.

Wouldn't it only kill the calculated mpg? Or is actually idling for 5 minutes going to take 11 gallons of fuel In 78 miles of actual ICE miles?

 

[Stealthytt]

If you are in So Cal we could meet up and I can verify how you are driving to see if there is something wrong with your truck. Some people just don't mesh well with hybrids and how to drive them. My wife never gets EPA rating in any of our hybrid vehicles, while I always get EPA or better. Just send me a private message if you were interested.

Thanks for the offer, I'm in central cal, would be a trip lol.

Like I said in 147 miles I managed almost half that in electric only, that's why I was so thrown off by the amount of fuel I used, I babied the crap out of it to see what I could get. I never thought I'd get the EPA rating calculated by hand, but 17-19 would be nice haha

 

[Orlando150]

I've found my Powerboost gets the best milage when cruising at 50-55 mph for extended periods of time. I've seen up to 29mpg on a good day of rural road driving (low traffic and few stops). Short drives around town or 70mph freeway trips result in much lower milage in the 15-19 mpg range in those conditions. This is all Normal mode too.

 

[Bryan Simon]

I’m a 5.0 guy, so you might take this with a grain of salt.

Even a six mile ride is not going to bring everything up to operating temps.
engine coolant might get there, but the trans and engine oil temp gonna still be cold.
it takes me about 5 miles to get to normal coolant.
trans is still not warmed up after 10 miles when I get on the freeway.
my first 10 miles is usually under 50mph (first 3 are under 40), with only 2 signals and 2 stop sign.

As a general rule, start the car and put it in gear.
only warm it up when there is ice on the windshield.
Im getting between 18 and 21 depending on my right foot mood and winter vs summer fuel.

same gas station, same pump, all early morning fill ups for 13,000

 

[Stealthytt]

I've found my Powerboost gets the best milage when cruising at 50-55 mph for extended periods of time. I've seen up to 29mpg on a good day of rural road driving (low traffic and few stops). Short drives around town or 70mph freeway trips result in much lower milage in the 15-19 mpg range in those conditions. This is all Normal mode too.

Is that calculated by the truck or hand? If we are going by the trip calculated mpg I have so many trips with an average of 29-35mpg also. Mainly going 25mph in electric mode, and like .4 miles of ICE

 

[Stealthytt]

I’m a 5.0 guy, so you might take this with a grain of salt.

Even a six mile ride is not going to bring everything up to operating temps.
engine coolant might get there, but the trans and engine oil temp gonna still be cold.
it takes me about 5 miles to get to normal coolant.
trans is still not warmed up after 10 miles when I get on the freeway.
my first 10 miles is usually under 50mph (first 3 are under 40), with only 2 signals and 2 stop sign.

As a general rule, start the car and put it in gear.
only warm it up when there is ice on the windshield.
Im getting between 18 and 21 depending on my right foot mood and winter vs summer fuel.

same gas station, same pump, all early morning fill ups for 13,000

I figured it wouldn't be warmed up, I only remote start it to get it semi warmed for heat in the truck in the mornings. When I drive half a mile on the engine itself in a trip I would never have thought it would be this bad. 5 min of idling is that bad?

 

[ColoradoHunter]

Thanks for the offer, I'm in central cal, would be a trip lol.

Like I said in 147 miles I managed almost half that in electric only, that's why I was so thrown off by the amount of fuel I used, I babies the crap out of it to see what I could get. I never thought I'd get the email rating calculated by hand, but 17-19 would be nice haha

The only thing effecting your poor mileage is the fact that your trips are so short, 2-6 miles. That is too short to ever get to normal operating temps. I challenge you to take your normal route but drive it 4 times round trip without stopping and report back what your MPG is. No matter how you drive the MPG will be terrible if it's always short trips.

 

[Stealthytt]

The only thing effecting your poor mileage is the fact that your trips are so short, 2-6 miles. That is too short to ever get to normal operating temps. I challenge you to take your normal route but drive it 4 times round trip without stopping and report back what your MPG is. No matter how you drive the MPG will be terrible if it's always short trips.

Even when I'm doing most of the short trip in electric? This is new to me so I'm trying to figure it out. I dont care about the vehicle calculated mpg, jut the hand calculated one.

I'm doing a 200 mile round trip that was 90 percent fwy milage, so I can at least see where that's at.

 

[ColoradoHunter]

Even when I'm doing most of the short trip in electric? This is new to me so I'm trying to figure it out. I dont care about the vehicle calculated mpg, jut the hand calculated one.

I'm doing a 200 mile round trip that was 90 percent fwy milage, so I can at least see where that's at.

Yes even with so high of electric miles. The engine isn't the only thing that need to warm up to get good mileage. You also need the oils in the transmission and rear end to warm up. The grease in the wheel bearings ect. needs to heat up. Even the battery needs to warm up to get the best efficiency from it.

 

[Orlando150]

Is that calculated by the truck or hand? If we are going by the trip calculated mpg I have so many trips with an average of 29-35mpg also. Mainly going 25mph in electric mode, and like .4 miles of ICE

Based on this and your comments about getting mostly electric only driving on some trips I'm going say you're doing better than most. Ive never seen the Trip computer report mine more than 29mpg (I rarely drive in Eco mode though).

The Powerboost isn't a typical hybrid like a Prius or my old Fusion. On my Fusion I could easily get electric only at low speeds or medium speeds with just a light touch on the pedal. However the F-150 is too heavy to get a ton of range with just the little battery it has. Most of the time it will be on the engine with the hybrid acting to "boost" your "power" a little bit. Usually I only manage some electric only range when I'm at cruise (50-55 as I said) and the engine has overcome the momentum of the vehicle. Then the electric can give the engine a little break to maintain some speed.

But if you are making short drives as you said in the city/town with lots of stops the engine is being used a lot to get up to speed AND it might be staying on longer to keep your battery charged if you are driving in a way you found to "force" it to be electric only more than usual.

 

[Stealthytt]

Based on this and your comments about getting mostly electric only driving on some trips I'm going say you're doing better than most. Ive never seen the Trip computer report mine more than 29mpg (I rarely drive in Eco mode though).

The Powerboost isn't a typical hybrid like a Prius or my old Fusion. On my Fusion I could easily get electric only at low speeds or medium speeds with just a light touch on the pedal. However the F-150 is too heavy to get a ton of range with just the little battery it has. Most of the time it will be on the engine with the hybrid acting to "boost" your "power" a little bit. Usually I only manage some electric only range when I'm at cruise (50-55 as I said) and the engine has overcome the momentum of the vehicle. Then the electric can give the engine a little break to maintain some speed.

But if you are making short drives as you said in the city/town with lots of stops the engine is being used a lot to get up to speed AND it might be staying on longer to keep your battery charged if you are driving in a way you found to "force" it to be electric only more than usual.

I can actually get up to 25mph pretty quickly on just electric from a stop, I just apply progressive throttle and it goes. I don't force it into electric only, I just drive it. If I am going 25mph it goes into electric only on its own, and when I drive down a road that as speed bumps I'm using regen. I'll have to investigate it some more and see what happens, I'll know at least freeway milage when I get back Into town.

 

[FORDTEXAS]

idling eats gas too Lol

 

[F-150 Prius]

My tires have a max psi of 45. The tire shop set them to 35 when I first got them. I increased the pressure to 40 cold with no reduction in ride quality but it improved my mpg by 2. I have the CCD suspension so not sure if that helps smooth out he ride. The psi may not vastly increase fuel economy but could help.

Which tires? (size, load rating)
Factory fitment?
45 psi on factory half ton truck tires would be lower than most (usually 50+ to about 80 psi.)

 

[F-150 Prius]

I can actually get up to 25mph pretty quickly on just electric from a stop, I just apply progressive throttle and it goes. I don't force it into electric only, I just drive it. If I am going 25mph it goes into electric only on its own, and when I drive down a road that as speed bumps I'm using regen. I'll have to investigate it some more and see what happens, I'll know at least freeway milage when I get back Into town.

That's better than can be done with my PB. With the instrument panel set to display the hybrid (electric, regen) with the battery showing near 100% (there's no battery SoC display, just inferred from the width of the bar display) if there's no traffic, I can "0 rpm" up to any speed if there's a bit of a downhill, and the engine will stay off until there's a system need (set the center touchscreen to display the drive) and there's usually an excuse like "engine on for engine braking" and I assume it's often starting the engine just to keep light off the cats.

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