2022 Ford Maverick Hybrid >60 mpg

[diablote]

The Ford Maverick XLT Hybrid I ordered last July (2021) finally showed up last week (May 2022). And I'm here to report that its fuel economy is way better than the advertised ~42/33 mpg. I consistently get >60 mpg in moderate traffic (both highway and streets)—as long as the streets are dry! Unlike my 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid, I find myself able to work synergistically with the computer to very consistently hit high values (like the 97 mpg I got on the way to pick up dinner tonight, and the 79 mpg I got on the way back).

Starting out, the truck stays in all-electric mode until either the charge is depleted and/or until the thrust demand exceeds the first bar in the power range of the brake-charge-thrust dial (10% power). The engine will then stay on until the thrust demand falls back down to near or below zero (i.e., in the recharge range of the dial), and until the battery is recharged to some acceptable but unreported level. It then quietly switches back to all-electric.

My most effective driving mod is to induce all-electric mode any time the engine comes on—particularly when the charge is exhausted during cruise. To do so, I use a sharp pulse and glide the moment the motor turns on, giving it a good 50% power thrust until I overshoot my target speed by ~5 mph. I then let off the accelerator suddenly, which puts the dial deep into the recharge range. The recharge cycle is pretty quick, after which the computer switches back to all-electric. I can then ease back onto the accelerator to maintain speed (keeping the thrust just below the trip level) until the charge is once again depleted. This results in a much narrower pulse-and-glide speed range than I could get in my 5-speed non-hybrid Civic (so less honks!). And in ~50 mph ebb-and-flow highway traffic, I consistently get >60 mpg.

With gasoline prices hitting $4.25 a gallon at the local 7-11, at this point I'm pretty happy with the truck's performance.

Cheers.

[mpgmike]

I jumped on Ford's web site and it looks like an F-150, but in hybrid form. The fact that you're getting 60+ MPG from a fricken Ford F-150 in stock trim is utterly amazing!! I will have to look into the engineering behind this "Unicorn" (because nobody would believe it!!). Thanks for sharing.

[diablote]

Oh, it's way smaller than an F150. It's smaller than a Ranger or a Tacoma even. And it's no unicorn, either—I've read several complaints about its fuel economy falling short of ratings at 75 mph. But then anyone who drives pedal to the metal at 75 mph and expects good fuel economy doesn't understand basic physics. Comparing the Maverick's tech with my '05 Civic Hybrid, the regenerative braking in particular is far superior. I read that the motor wires and windings are optimized for higher conduction and heat dissipation than the older tech. It has a built-in brake coach, too—so you feel like a failure when you get anything less that 100% energy recapture. Fortunately, it's only stoplights at the bottoms of hills that get me—and there are very few on any of my commutes.

[cowmeat]

That's pretty amazing mpg if it's legit! We definitely need you in the "Maverick Hybrids" team in the team challenge
Silver's guess-o-meter shows a little over 40 mpg with 410 miles on it and a little over a quarter of a tank of gas remaining in the first tank.
I tow my lawn trailer every weekend but other than that it's been a mix of city and highway miles and I'm always shooting for 100% regen on the brake coach when I have to stop at a light.
I also learned how to kick it back into electric mode the first week I had it and I've been using that technique since then.
Not sure how I would ever see 60 mpg no matter how I drive it but I'm pretty happy with the results so far since I've actually used it as a truck every week

[diablote]

Technically, I'm at 48 mpg on the first tank (370 miles, 300 to go), but that's a shared mpg with my wife. I use it most of the week as a commuter vehicle and am able to complete most of my trips on ~3/4 battery power. She uses it twice a week for longer hauls and isn't at all versed in hypermiling techniques, so she brings down the average a bit. But even she was hitting mid-50's until a week of heavy rains knocked our joint average down into the high 40's. I And that brake coach sure does rile her when she gets less than 100%! Staying below 50 mph and having ebb-and-flow traffic is probably the key to high mpg. Pulse-and-glide is what puts it in the 60's (with peaks in the 90's) for me. I should also add, the truck came from the factory with the tires inflated to 40 psi with N2. This was curious, given that the Ford spec is 35 psi.

[Miller88]

I want one of these quite badly for a daily driver! Unfortunately, it looks like I'll be waiting a year or two!

Hybrid, XL with steelies is what I'd order! In blue. With a hitch.

[Ecky]

With numbers like that, I'd finally consider a truck. I'm a bit wary of Ford's QC and reliability (not that it's all bad, just hit and miss), but I'd be in the market for a used one several years old anyway.

I have a relative who was a fairly high level engineer at Ford for a little over 3 decades (his last major project was the Mach E). After he retired, and no longer had Ford incentives, he bought a Toyota. I'll have to ask him his thoughts on the Maverick.

[diablote]

I got 62 mpg on the way to work today. But there were moderate rains on the way home, which knocked the return down to 47 mpg. I was also experimenting with Drive Mode today. Switching to Eco mode seems to increase the electric motor drag while coasting. It also seems to require pushing the accelerator harder to hit 50% power.

I had a Honda-Toyota household for a good 15 years before buying a Ford. The modern Fords seem to have closed the reliability gap.

[redpoint5]

Eco modes are notoriously gimmicky, but I don't know how it's implemented in the Maverick.

Often times Eco mode just makes throttle response non-linear by making it more precise (squishy) at lower throttle positions, and less precise towards the top end (twitchy). Hardly any of which has much to do with efficiency, because acceleration is only a small fraction of overall driving, and it's somewhat fuel efficient to accelerate briskly. How does making the throttle non-linear improve fuel economy when the operator is still in control of throttle percent?

Sometimes Eco mode causes an automatic to hold onto a higher gear for longer before downshifting, or upshifts sooner. This might help a little.

[cowmeat]

I really miss the paddle control for regen on the back of the steering wheel that my G2 volt had. I'm finding it a challenge learning to do all the regen work with my foot again after rarely touching the brake pedal for three years in the Volt!

Still, it's awesome that I'm about 445 miles into the first tank averaging 40.9 mpg on the guess-o-meter, I have a quarter of a tank left and I've pulled my lawn trailer three weekends in a row with it on top of the regular driving.