Quote:
Originally Posted by Beechjetn
....What (if anything) am I doing wrong?
The land very gently slopes downhill going south (generally) and vice-versa.
Also; once I have depleted the assist batteries and drive at the "zero-charge" point for an extended time ("freewheeling" as MovieMike calls it), assuming the assist batteries take some period of time to fully recharge, how do I assure that they are fully charged for my next drive?
Your guidance and advice is welcome!
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You probably aren't doing anything wrong. The ev mode provides very little power. I think of ev mode as useful for slowing the rate of decelleration on flat terrain, maintaining a coasting speed on a moderate downgrade, slight accelleration on a step downgrade. Some extra air in the tires will yield some noticeable improvement! (I'm running 36 psi, most here run 40 psi front and back).
To confirm you are in ev mode go to the energy flow screen on the MID. When the gas nozzle is dark and there is an arrow from the battery to the car you are in ev mode. The battery icon will show you its State of Charge (SOC). The battery will never go to zero charge. Engine power is dedicated to charging the battery when the SOC is at level 3 and sometimes at level 4 (see owners manual for the icon images associated with each level).
Try just driving normally, and just watch the energy flow in and out of the battery. Then you can use the ups and downs of the terrain to get max use of gravity to charge the battery, max. use of the battery to accelerate and for ev mode, while seeking max. mpg with max use of free wheeling with a level 5 or 6 SOC. Impossible I know, but I call the effort hypermileing.
I live in similar terrain as you, but with steeper up/down grades. I use some downgrades for brake regen. Some downgrades for ev mode. Some for free wheeling. And one really long one for all three depending on traffic!
