4xe questions

[NJ_JL 2020]

Hi all. Just replaced my 2020 Sport S Unlimited with a Willys 4xe. I have 120 miles so far
Some questions:

Do folks typically drive with max regen on, with the option to charge the battery in U connect?

I noticed in e save mode, I was driving in town using only e power. It seems that the engine only kicked in when the engine temp was up to operating range. Is this correct? Does the battery heat warm up the oil and coolant when the engine is not on?

what happens when the battery level reaches 0%? I read that there is a 20% reserve for hybrid operation? Will the jeep still operate in hybrid mode when the battery shows 0?

I am charging it up on a level 1 charger every time I pull in to the driveway, I hear the level 1 is safest on preserving the battery capacity. Is this ok or should I only charge once per day (overnight?)


Thanks. Great vehicle. The 17" 33's ride about the same as the sport s which I was surprised about. My son thinks the overall handling is better than the Sport S. I wonder if the (rubicon?) shocks / suspension offer a better on road ride?

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[BXFXJeep]

Max Regen is basically just allowing the 4xe to slow down on it's own, if you use the brake pedal it does the same Regen and charges the battery. I personally don't really like the max Regen feeling, it also means you cannot coast, you have to keep your foot on the pedal to keep going. If I'm driving sorta aggressive I'll put on max Regen, I also use it in the snow and rain.

The battery does not warm up the engine oil/coolant.

The reserve battery is 15% I think, it's mainly used to handle take off, in a nutshell sort of an extended Stop|Start like an ESS. I personally don't like it, didn't like the ESS with my 2018 3.6 either, so once the battery range hits <1% it automatically goes into Hybrid operation, think of Hybrid in the sense of the gas motor running and the electric motors assisting.

Once <1% happens I either use the manual shifter, or sometimes I use e-save charge just to keep the engine from having the ESS behaviour. But for the most part once I know I'll run out of battery range, I fire up the gas engine while the battery is still around 20%, varies when I do it.

Charge level 1 or 2 it doesn't matter, charge as often as you can, always plug in. Level 2 comes with an added cost of buying charging equipment and installation, if the level 1 isn't charging fast enough between trips, then you can consider getting a level 2 charger.

The 4xe just handles better, there is better suspension, but it might be the battery that makes it feels planted and balances out the Wrangler, my 2021 Sahara 4xe drives significant better than my 2018 3.6 JL Sahara, the only difference between the two is the 4xe bits and the Sky-One Touch roof, otherwise they are exactly the same.

If driving in electric choose electric mode, Hybrid tends to kick on the gas motor if you give it too much pedal.

I drive hard, and the gas motor never kicks in, if I have it in hybrid the gas motor kicks on, it is not good to have it kick on if it's not really needed.

I either drive pure electric or "pure" gas by using the manual shifter, or e-save charge, the 4xe is always a hybrid as they say.

 

[Inkhero]

Congrats on the new Jeep!

Max Regen is useful, but can get tedious in stop/go traffic so sometimes I turn it off to enjoy coasting. I don't use the E-Save charge option as it drains the gas tank too quickly for my liking, and feels inefficient.

For my use-case, I often use E-Save and save the battery for the trail. Hybrid mode for short trips and low speed limit zones. Honestly I use the Electric mode the least, but not for any particular reason. I like to use 4H Auto in Hybrid mode to get up to speed if I need the acceleration, and swap back to 2H once I am coasting. I should play with the manual shifter on-road more.

I have been using the level 1 charger and it's great for me. But I think that all depends on the amount of miles you put on your Jeep on a daily basis.

 

[GrayWolf.Overland]

Max-Regen: personal choice.. I leave it on around town and I like the one-pedal-ish drive with some gain when coasting to stops. I turn it off on long highway drives where I like to coast and not aggressively re-gen brake.

E-Save: these are the cases where I use it

• I use E-Save "Battery Saving" when I am on a long trip to a trail and want to save the battery charge for using it when overlanding/camping for accessories.
• I use E-save + 4Lo + OffRoad+ and Manual gears when I need to do proper rock crawls and ledges where throttle finesse is paramount for avoiding body damage.
• I use E-Save "Battery Charging" when I need to quickly get the temperature of the engine up for a variety of reason. this would be its own topic so I'll leave it at that.

For all other situations - I am on Hybrid mode by default.

The 4xe is "Always a Hybrid". 15% of the battery is set aside as if it were an additional smaller battery for purely Hybrid operations. at <1% it behaves just like the other hybrids like toyota i-force max with smaller battery packs. You dont regress in performance just because your usable electric-only capacity has depleted.

The willys has rubicon shocks, 4xe is heavier so they use a higher spring rate - both of these equate to a firmer ride compared to the spongy/floaty Sport S stock springs and shocks (I had a 2020 Sahara, so I know what you are feeling on the ride side). 2024 Wranglers have way tighter steering - steel steering box, sway bar mount beefed up etc.. at 37s I still dont need a steering stabilizer upgrade - thats how improved it is.

 

[C.Sco]

Already good answers posted above. I'll post my thoughts/opinions regarding your questions even though most of them are redundant:

Yes I leave max regen on, but not because it really makes any difference recharging the battery (it doesn't, or barely does), rather I just use it because I like the semi-one-pedal driving. I turn it off when I go wheeling though.

I never use E-save charging mode. Ever. It's a terribly inefficient way to charge your battery. I do use the E-save hold mode occasionally, when I'm on my way to a trail and I want to have a full battery to use when I get there. I never use any e-save mode in day-to-day driving around town though.

No the battery doesn't heat the coolant or oil, only the engine running can do that.

Level 1 is fine, no reason to upgrade it unless you find yourself not having enough time to charge it all the way between drives. I bought a cheapo Amazozn special 16A level 2 charger for like $200, it's been working great and dropped my charging time from like 14 hours to 4 hours. And that's good enough for me.

0% battery shown on the display means there's ~20% battery left in reality. The % incicator is only showing how much battery is remaining for EV mode. When it reaches 0%, it means there is none left for EV mode, however in reality there's still 20% or so for the Jeep to use for regular hybrid driving. The 4xe will never let the battery reach a true 0%. When it gets below probably 5% or so, it just stops using the hybrid battery at all and forces the drivetrain to use only the ICE engine until it recovers enough battery charge to resume normal hybrid driving. I've noticed this happen a few times on long uphill highway pulls, at a certain point the drivetrain just says "ok no more electric power for you; we're giving the battery a break for a while and you're just going to have to climb the rest of this hill on gas alone." And you can tell, because there is a noticeable loss in torque when it happens. It's not something you'll encounter usually in day to day driving, it takes a pretty serious uphill stretch at highway speeds for many miles before it gets to that point.

 

[NJ_JL 2020]

The 4xe just handles better, there is better suspension, but it might be the battery that makes it feels planted and balances out the Wrangler, my 2021 Sahara 4xe drives significant better than my 2018 3.6 JL Sahara, the only difference between the two is the 4xe bits and the Sky-One Touch roof, otherwise they are exactly the same.

Yes agree about the weight of the battery smoothing out the ride. Like the car ads of the 50's "road hugging weight".

 

[NJ_JL 2020]

Thanks all, very informative. Great forum. I am still part of the Miata.net forum (for non Miata questions under car talk!) although I have not had a Miata in about 15 years. This forum seems just as knowledgeable and fun.

 

[C.Sco]

Thanks all, very informative. Great forum. I am still part of the Miata.net forum (for non Miata questions under car talk!) although I have not had a Miata in about 15 years. This forum seems just as knowledgeable and fun.

We're pretty awesome people. Mostly me, but some of the other folks around here are okay too

 

[BXFXJeep]

Have a look at his videos, probably from old to new, they aren't long and drawn out with fluff.

https://youtube.com/@wrangler4xefans?feature=shared

 

[NJ_JL 2020]

Took my first long trip on the 4xe. ~240 miles to the NJ shore and back. In my 2020 sport S this trip would use about 1/2 a tank of gas or so? In the 4xe Willys I came home with about 1/4 of a tank left. I left it in default hybrid mode and max regenerate on. I think that was a mistake. Although I like the feel of max regen and the thought of keeping the battery charged, it was like a boat anchor. will try this again with max regenerate off. Is this what others are seeing?



Also, today I took my kid to school. fully charged and e mode the whole 3 mile trip. Towards the end of the trip my gas engine kicked on and the engine water temp was already up to temp. What is warming up the engine? I think its the battery but others have said this was not the case. Thx.

 

[johnparjr]

Max regen all the time except off road and it’s always in Hybrid mode

 

[ras815]

I like to use 4H Auto in Hybrid mode to get up to speed if I need the acceleration, and swap back to 2H once I am coasting.

Isn't this kind of...pointless? I could be incorrect, but I assumed that 4H Auto mode effectively switches to 2H anyway, unless 4-wheel traction is needed (for instance, upon heavy acceleration). And why would you be switching to 2H anyway - potential fuel savings?

 

[Steemax]

Isn't this kind of...pointless? I could be incorrect, but I assumed that 4H Auto mode effectively switches to 2H anyway, unless 4-wheel traction is needed (for instance, upon heavy acceleration). And why would you be switching to 2H anyway - potential fuel savings?

From my understanding this is correct. No real point of driving it in 2H exclusively. 4H Auto will default you in 2WD unless there's loss of traction.

 

[NJ_JL 2020]

Isn't this kind of...pointless? I could be incorrect, but I assumed that 4H Auto mode effectively switches to 2H anyway, unless 4-wheel traction is needed (for instance, upon heavy acceleration). And why would you be switching to 2H anyway - potential fuel savings?

I read that this is in 2H unless needed, but when I look at the regenerate screen it shows power being sent to the front wheels when it is not needed. I also have not observed more power in this mode but have not really played with it.

 

[JesseT]

Hi all. Just replaced my 2020 Sport S Unlimited with a Willys 4xe. I have 120 miles so far
Some questions:

Welcome!

Do folks typically drive with max regen on, with the option to charge the battery in U connect?

"Max Regen" is kind of a misnomer. The brake pedal triggers regenerative braking before it engages the pads also. All Max Regen does is essentially one-pedal-driving-lite. I like it ok for city driving and stop-and-go, but not for anything else. I find for most of my driving it's slightly less efficient than having it off. There is always energy loses when converting energy types (kinetic to electric and vice versa, see the second law of thermodynamics) so coasting to maintain speed is inherently more efficient than slowing down and speeding up, even if some that energy is being recaptured. Coasting at a constant speed is much harder to do with Max Regen enabled. Also, with Max Regen enabled the vehicle decides when to turn on the brake lights and I don't want to be unintentionally brake checking people driving behind me. For these reasons I almost never use it.

I noticed in e save mode, I was driving in town using only e power. It seems that the engine only kicked in when the engine temp was up to operating range. Is this correct? Does the battery heat warm up the oil and coolant when the engine is not on?

E-save won't kick in until the battery is below 95%. The top of the charge range is the most inefficient part to charge, and is the hardest on the battery. That's probably why you started in electric and the engine didn't kick on until a little later. Except in some edge cases (e.g. you know you're going to do a lot of highway driving - where the battery is least efficient - early in your trip and a lot of city driving - where the engine is least efficient - later in your trip), e-save is the least efficient mode to drive in. The hold charge mode is mostly for if, for example, you need to drive to a trail but want to run the trail quietly in electric mode, or you know there's not a charging opportunity before you get on the trail but there is a gas station and you want to maximize your off-road range. E-save charge mode is the less efficient of the e-save driving modes (gas to electric to kinetic energy vs. gas to kinetic energy, thermodynamics again). The only time I would think of using that would be with the power box, but the Willys doesn't have that feature. There might be some other edge cases I haven't thought of yet but you'd still be sacrificing efficiency for some other benefit.

what happens when the battery level reaches 0%? I read that there is a 20% reserve for hybrid operation? Will the jeep still operate in hybrid mode when the battery shows 0?

There's a reserve for hybrid operation. I don't know if anyone has access to the exact number but it's speculated to be 15-20% of the battery's functional capacity. It's specifically set aside to allow the Jeep to still function as a hybrid.

I am charging it up on a level 1 charger every time I pull in to the driveway, I hear the level 1 is safest on preserving the battery capacity. Is this ok or should I only charge once per day (overnight?)

I think time will tell on this. I charge mine whenever I'm at home and am getting a level 2 charger installed soon.

Thanks. Great vehicle. The 17" 33's ride about the same as the sport s which I was surprised about. My son thinks the overall handling is better than the Sport S. I wonder if the (rubicon?) shocks / suspension offer a better on road ride?

It's lugging around several hundred pounds of battery and that extra weight is low. The increased mass and lower center of gravity both contribute to a smoother ride. The Rubicon suspension probably helps also.

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