[coverland]

Howdy all,

Just got the EX-L trim level of the 2014 Hybrid and i've noticed some odd behaviors.

The battery level indicator never seems to go any higher than 5 bars (halfway), and mostly stays at 3. I've got close to 900 miles, and I've never seen it at 6 bars, let alone full.

Is this normal behavior?

Also, my mpg seems to be quite low compared with other information I've seen on this and other forums... it hovers around 37mpg, and I've never gotten any single trip higher than 45.

Thanks!:dunno:

 

[spw303]

The HAH was designed to keep the battery in its "sweetspot".

Your probably seeing "six" bars. That's where most of us have seen our top out at. I have seen mine go to seven once or twice.

Your car is operating properly.

 

[coverland]

The HAH was designed to keep the battery in its "sweetspot".

Your probably seeing "six" bars. That's where most of us have seen our top out at. I have seen mine go to seven once or twice.

Your car is operating properly.

Makes sense that the software would be optimized to keep the battery charge in its sweetspot. I just wonder why the sweetspot would be tooled so close to the bottom (30%), as opposed to halfway (50%).

And as far as I know, I never have seen 6 bars. I barely see 5, and that only for a second or two. Usually it drops right back down to 3 (sometimes bypassing 4 entirely... going 5 straight to 3.)

 

[spw303]

Makes sense that the software would be optimized to keep the battery charge in its sweetspot. I just wonder why the sweetspot would be tooled so close to the bottom (30%), as opposed to halfway (50%).

And as far as I know, I never have seen 6 bars. I barely see 5, and that only for a second or two. Usually it drops right back down to 3 (sometimes bypassing 4 entirely... going 5 straight to 3.)

It won't stay in the six bar area very long. Usually I can get to six - seven bars when coming down a hill in "B" mode and braking moderately for as long as I can.

There was a Honda Technical paper that explained the logic for when to charge and discharge. It was very important aspect to the design of the battery. I will try and find it for you.

 

[coverland]

Battery not charging update...

...so, I went to a different gas station for my 3rd fillup, and the mpg shot through the roof immediately from 35.6mpg to 46+ (about where I'd expect it to be). The battery charged in a way that seemed much more normal. The gas station I went to must have been mixing in Kool-Aid or something.

I'm sure everyone knew this already, but the gasoline mixture apparently can make a HUGE difference.

Just thought I'd share the experience.

 

[Miker]

...so, I went to a different gas station for my 3rd fillup, and the mpg shot through the roof immediately from 35.6mpg to 46+ (about where I'd expect it to be). The battery charged in a way that seemed much more normal. The gas station I went to must have been mixing in Kool-Aid or something.

I'm sure everyone knew this already, but the gasoline mixture apparently can make a HUGE difference.

Just thought I'd share the experience.

With that huge difference in MPG it sounds like you were putting in E85 fuel. E85 usually returns a reduced MPG of about 20% give or take. 46mpg - 20% is 36.8 MPG.

Are you able to get E85 in your area? Can the hybrid even use E85?

The chances a simple change in gas stations concerns me with the huge increase in MPG's. That's a huge difference.

Maybe the battery is fully charged now?

 

[Honda2014]

I don't own a hybrid, just a curious prospective owner. Does anywhere in your manual state the type of fuel to use? Does it say anything about E85?

 

[CobraPA]

I don't recall reading anything about Flex-Fuel support for the Hybrids. Regular is the approved gasoline.

 

[dothetime]

battery charge

Had my HAH 7 months, 7000 miles.
Seen eight bars once or twice. Usually stays between three and six bars.
So your car sounds like it is within specs.
Averaging 41-42 mpg with 50/50 highway city, a/c on all the time.
Enjoy your car.
Dave

 

[STL_Honda]

Regarding your battery charges, as other's have said, it tries to keep the battery charged in the "sweetspot". I would estimate that I have got it to charge to all 8 bars about 15-20 times in my almost 10,000 miles of owning the car. At least half of those were going down a long hill on the highway. But I've had it happen in town when I've had to accelerate and slow down several times where I had little cruising time when the car would be running off of the battery. If you live in an area where you don't have many hills it will be extremely hard to get a full charge.

I always put the lowest grade regular in and haven't noticed any difference in MPG. I had one tank at 36.5 but I attributed that to driving speed and weather conditions. My current tank (90% city), I'm sitting at 57.6 MPG (~600 miles) with a quarter tank remaining. So far I couldn't be any happier.

 

[Lashlee]

I don't own a hybrid, just a curious prospective owner. Does anywhere in your manual state the type of fuel to use? Does it say anything about E85?

Like someone else noted that it requires regular unleaded. E85 doesn't have the volatility of regular gas and would probably get you less milage than regular, even if it's "cheaper".

 

[coverland]

I know... the difference was striking. The fuel I have been using should have been regular unleaded each time (lowest octane). Most assuredly NOT E85, unless the gas station was pulling something shady. Which, given the area I live in seems kind of likely.

For the person who asked about getting a full battery, so far, no. It still never gets anywhere close to full, but it does seem to hover closer to the mid-point, and reaches that level from its normal 3 bars more quickly. The battery still spends a far greater amount of time in the lower 33% range than I'm used to (the Prius I came from almost never discharged anywhere close), and up to this point, it's started and ended every trip with 3 bars or lower. When I got it, I had grand visions of being able to start the car with a 50% charge and EV mode (button) my way out of my parking structure. Sadly, I can't seem to get that to happen - my EV mode cancels after a few dozen feet or so.

Dunno - the problem probably lies between the steering wheel and the driver's seat.

 

[coverland]

Something's not quite right yet.

From the most recent couple of trips, and my overall. The 33.1 was 50/50, the last two were over 90% city miles.

Had one good run where the battery seemed to charge, but today we're back to this. Off to the shop I go!

 

[spw303]

I own a Hybrid and have been getting excellent results. But I don't drive any highway miles and my commute is 25 miles total. My average speed has stayed around 25 mph.

Maybe your giving to much throttle on takeoffs? If you ask for too much power when pulling away the engine will kick in pretty quick. Most of my commutes I always try and let the computer keep it in EV mode (without using the EV button).

On the highway you need to stay between 55 and 65 from what I have seen.

Another trick is to use the car in the green circle thing that shows if your accelerating too fast or decelerating too fast. I have been keeping the little car icon right on the line. It works for me. After awhile you will notice you won't need to rely on that as much.

 

[coverland]

My second fillup was 90% city driving, and my commute is really short. <5 miles, average speed = 19mph

I'll have to try harder at the gentle launching, but I really thought I was being feather soft. Oddly, I get better mileage highway driving, and I stay between 65-75.

 

[ChemicalArts]

My second fillup was 90% city driving, and my commute is really short. <5 miles, average speed = 19mph

I'll have to try harder at the gentle launching, but I really thought I was being feather soft. Oddly, I get better mileage highway driving, and I stay between 65-75.

I've noticed that the short trips (<2-3 miles) decrease my overall mpgs. Maybe you should move farther away from your job. Just kidding of course.

And yeah, I get my best mileage when I'm going 30-65 mph.

 

[STEye]

Short trips definitely decrease the MPGs. After the car is done with the initial engine warm-up, I am usually in the 20's for the trip. IMO that would explain the low mileage.

 

[Miker]

Short trips definitely decrease the MPGs. After the car is done with the initial engine warm-up, I am usually in the 20's for the trip. IMO that would explain the low mileage.

Not trying to incite discord with the hybrid members but isn't the short trip, city driving, stop n go, what the hybrid is specifically designed to handle?

Most of the postings I see here, not just this thread, don't give me a warm fuzzy feeling toward the Accord hybrid in the present form of implementation.

There appears to be a VERY specific type of driving that returns 45+ mpg's while others are getting, IMO, horrific mpg's for a hybrid. Oher manufacurers are no better, or at least just as finicky as far as how the car is driven.

I think I understand that with an all hwy miles trip you basically rely on the ICE but around town isn't the electrics supposed to be more prevalent?

How exactly is Honda implementing the hybrid system here?

Is the electric motor/battery only used as a supplement to the ICE (think turbo for extra hp) or can you travel a certain distance on battery only? Even 25 miles on battery only would cover some of your trips.

Or...

Is the MPG gauge only reporting ICE mpg and not eMPG?

Thanks from a prospective future hybrid owner.

 

[accordinator]

How exactly is Honda implementing the hybrid system here?

Some relevant links on how it all works:

here and here.

The EPA ratings on it have city higher than highway, (50 city / 45 highway), but I think it takes a pretty controlled way of driving to nudge 50 in town. What the car does have is the world's most efficient ICE, so highway driving is still pretty economical.

If I do a lot of full-power starts, and generally drive aggressively around town, the mileage does stay in the mid thirties. On the highway, if I set the cruise at 70 mph, mileage is at 43 mpg to 46 mpg or so. If I set the cruise at 80 mph, mileage is right around 40 mpg.

I fully believe that people who are extremely careful to stay in EV mode around town whenever possible, can see 50 mpg or more. It's not that interesting to me to maximize mileage at the cost of driving how I'd want to anyway, so it's more useful as a car that you can drive completely normally and still see very good mileage.

All that said, the poster a few up that is seeing such terrible mileage, something doesn't seem right. They shouldn't have to drive like the proverbial grandmother to improve the mileage from what they are seeing. In fact, I would have guessed that they'd have to be driving at full throttle and full brake pretty much continuously in order to see the numbers they are sharing. Even then, if they were braking hard from decent speeds, that should charge up the battery pretty quickly to higher than what they are seeing as well.

 

[STEye]

Not trying to incite discord with the hybrid members but isn't the short trip, city driving, stop n go, what the hybrid is specifically designed to handle?

Most of the postings I see here, not just this thread, don't give me a warm fuzzy feeling toward the Accord hybrid in the present form of implementation.

There appears to be a VERY specific type of driving that returns 45+ mpg's while others are getting, IMO, horrific mpg's for a hybrid. Oher manufacurers are no better, or at least just as finicky as far as how the car is driven.

I think I understand that with an all hwy miles trip you basically rely on the ICE but around town isn't the electrics supposed to be more prevalent?

How exactly is Honda implementing the hybrid system here?

Is the electric motor/battery only used as a supplement to the ICE (think turbo for extra hp) or can you travel a certain distance on battery only? Even 25 miles on battery only would cover some of your trips.

Or...

Is the MPG gauge only reporting ICE mpg and not eMPG?

Thanks from a prospective future hybrid owner.

Short trips effect MPGs on all cars, not just hybrids (with the exception of all-electric cars). If you want a warm and fuzzy about the Accord Hybrid, go on fuelly.com and look at the MPGs that people are getting. It is SUPERB. I traded in my 2012 Impreza for this car. That was pretty bad in terms of what the EPA estimated and what people were getting. Not trying to be a fanboy, the reality is this car truly does get great MPGs.

Info on Sport Hybrid i-MMD:
http://world.honda.com/automobile-technology/i-MMD/