Newbie electric driver budget/driving style question

[Higheroctave32]

Hey all, newbie here to the electric car scene. I've acquired a 2014 FFE. Prior to this I've been driving a 2014 Fusion Hybrid which my wife is now driving the majority of the time. My question is with the budget display. I don't have any idea what the car wants from me LOL. I could be driving along like a complete grandma at 40 miles an hour and watch it tick down to negative two, then leave a stoplight and accelerate rather briskly then back off and watch it go to zero. It's got 29,000 miles on it and I'm sure I have a little bit of battery degradation, but it still says in the high 80's for range when I unplug it in the morning. I consistently averaged in the high fifties and sometimes sixties in my 20 mile one-way commute to work in the Fusion so I'm just not sure if I have just no idea the way I should be driving the focus.

 

[EVA]

Great purchase buying the 2014 FFE. It is a fantastic car for exactly your use - around a 20 mile each way commute. You'll get used to driving it, the car does take a little time to get the most range out of it.

Somebody with a lot more experience with the budget display you're asking about will probably chime in. It is highly affected by recent driving habits and isn't necessarily super accurate.

I interpret your question as, how do I maximize range? How do I minimize energy losses?

First and most important - use the brake coach. You're looking for 100% every single time (or 98% at the worst). That will change the way you drive more than anything.

Smooth is better - constant speed. Don't jab the accelerator off and on, use it smoothly. You're probably not going to see a lot of difference between 40 or 50 MPH. Things get bigger at 60 and certainly a lot bigger at 70.

Look at the MyFord Mobile website to see how many wH you are using for each leg of your trip. Sometimes the website will calculate a wH/mile, but not always. Think about how you drove both directions. I'll bet you a lot of money you drive much more zen like on the way to work, and are a lot more aggressive on the way home. The phone app rarely reports the correct numbers.

Climate control has a ton to do with energy use. After driving, that is the big killer of range. In a very strange twist, even when the air conditioning is running and it is warm outside, sometimes the car turns on the heater. That increases energy use a ton.

Outside temperature - Sacramento - you might see some cooler temps in the morning. 45 degrees is cool. Anything above that is warm. Below 45, the car starts to heat the battery - nothing you can do about that, just be aware that range will drop.

JMueller has one of the best websites around with hints on how to get the maximum range out of the car. And the best tips ever for COLD weather (that's well below 45 degrees).

Oh - tire pressure. Absolutely critical. Check it often especially on a new used car you just got. Follow the pressure on the door sill - don't add extra, don't go lower. Get that pressure to within 1 PSI of the door sill.

And I guess, I was surprised by mutt tires on the used car I purchased. Make sure you have low rolling resistance tires on all four corners. The original Michelins are excellent tires for range.

 

[Higheroctave32]

Sounds good info. I actually drive more Zen on the way home because I charge at home at night and at work during the day. I haven't even turned the air conditioning on yet lol. Won't until it's at least 90 outside. The embedded modem still has to be replaced in it, so I can't even check any of that information on the MyFord Mobile website yet.

 

[triangles]

The budget is simply how far the Guess-o-meter (GOM) thinks you can go when you turn the car on. The -2 means with your current driving style you will only be able to go 2 miles less than your original budget (what the GOM said when you turned the car on). It is heavily influenced by recent usage. So if you've been driving it like you stole it you should be able to easily beat your budget. If you've been driving like a granny it may be difficult to get out of negative numbers. One way to cheat is to turn on the climate control when you park it and then when you start the car next turn climate control off.

What I find more useful as a driving coach is that you can configure one of the trip meters on the left screen to show the Wh/mi power consumption rate. To me this is more useful as a gauge of how efficient that I am driving instead of using the silly budget feature. Another thing I like about the Wh/mi is that it resets when you reset the trip meter. After you get some seat time you will learn what driving patterns yield what power consumption rates. IMHO below 250Wh/mi is good. I got down in the 190's once but I was trying real hard. You will learn that it is the opposite of driving an ICE car, fuel efficiency wise. You will get noticeably farther driving slow on surface streets than you will on the freeway.

 

[Higheroctave32]

Yah I rarely take the freeway unless I'm running late and in a hurry, otherwise I always take surface streets to work. Hybrid habit.

 

[henryfocus]

Try switching the left display so you can see how much energy is going to climate. The heater doesn't have a dedicated power switch like the AC. It is enabled automatically by the temperature setting. It may be engaging without you knowing it.

 

[NightHawk]

To ensure the heater doesn't go on unexpectedly, I set the temp to LO.
Then with AC on, it will give out cool air and with AC off you get air at outside temp with the fan.

 

[Higheroctave32]

Holy crap. In all the reading I've done about these cars it was completely unexpected for me to turn the heat on a tiny bit today and watch the guess-o-meter drop by 23 miles.

 

[triangles]

Try switching the left display so you can see how much energy is going to climate. The heater doesn't have a dedicated power switch like the AC. It is enabled automatically by the temperature setting. It may be engaging without you knowing it.

Sure it does it's the power button to the right of your climate control display that turns the climate control off Yeah I do know what you mean though. It's really a poor design that the heater will kick on if you turn the temp up on the AC to a temp above the cabin temperature. Really stupid especially when it's 90+ out.

It would also be nice if you could just blow outside air on your windshield to keep it from fogging when you don't need to run the AC and Heater simultaneously like the climate control does when you put it to blow on the windshield.

 

[Higheroctave32]

Yah in my Fusion I can have air blowing all the time on the windshield without activating climate control.

 

[triangles]

Yah in my Fusion I can have air blowing all the time on the windshield without activating climate control.

I'd be surprised if that's the case. Every vehicle I've seen runs the AC compressor when you blow air on the windshield. Put the blower on your windshield, pop the hood and I'd bet $$$ you see your AC compressor spinning. They design the systems to do this in order to dry the air since the moisture will condense out of the air on the AC's evaporator.