Lightfoot

I am an employee for a very large county in southern California. The county does favor "green" commuting practices, e.g., promoting carpooling, public transportation, offering employee discounts for PHEVs, etc. However, where I work there are no typical electric vehicle charging stations. Employees park in a parking structure which is also used by the public who presumably have county business in the adjoining civic center. The parking structure appears to be owned by the county or the state insomuch as it is integrated into the civic center and there is a dedication plaque on it listing the name of the county, a dedication date and several politicians. A private contractor is responsible for operating the garage and collecting fees from non-employees who park there. Employees display a parking permit and park for free. There is what appears to be a standard 120-volt grounded outlet in the parking structure in an area of it normally reserved for employees. It is in a good spot for charging my Fusion Energi without the risk of someone tripping or walking over the charging cord. I would like to use this outlet to charge my car while I'm at work. I would then be 100% EV. (Leaderboard, here I come!) Do I just plug in or do I attempt to obtain authorization from someone? It's the county-- a huge bureaucracy-- and getting authorization is likely to result in getting the run-around. I frequently see people charging their phones, tablets and laptops using outlets in public places, especially at work, within the civic center. It is as though the public has implicit permission to use a publicly available outlet. Should I just plug in or should I seek permission and likely get the run-around? I would gladly pay for my electrical usage, but I doubt the county is capable of being responsive to that idea.

I believe Fusions, such as mine, from 2013 on, have a center console storage compartment forward of the gear selector with large side openings, on both the driver and passenger side, ostensibly to allow convenient side access to the compartment's contents by the driver or front passenger. I have placed items in this compartment, such as a cell phone, a water bottle, only to have the item(s) spill out onto the floor when taking a swift turn. Not only is this a nuisance, but it could be potentially dangerous if an item found itself wedged underneath the gas or brake pedal. The side access does not seem particularly useful or convenient, and given my experience with it, I wish the center console storage compartment was closed on the sides. Has anyone else had this experience? I don't suppose there is an elegant solution to closing off the side openings. The below photo, depicting the open side walls, was lifted from a Ford dealer website.

Today, from work, I drove a few miles to go to lunch. After eating, I drove about a mile on city streets in EV mode on my way back to work. I then noticed a ringing sound seemingly coming from the right rear wheel area. The sound was somewhat similar to when your brake pads need changing, but I was not braking. It became louder and more pronounced as I continued driving. It became very loud and noticeable. I switched to EV Later and Auto modes, thinking maybe the sound was coming from the battery. The sound continued. The sound stopped when I slowed and pulled over. I turned off the car and inspected it. I saw nothing amiss, albeit it was a cursory exterior inspection. I got back into the car and the noise came back as the car came up to speed. I then happened to drive over some railroad tracks going less than 25 mph and the ringing stopped. I have since driven around 20 miles. The sound has not yet returned. I previously posted that I was concerned about my parking brake because I have experienced it not easily releasing automatically while going in reverse. I wonder if the noise might be related to a parking brake issue. I'm pretty sure that I released the parking brake manually when I left from lunch and when I drove off after pulling over. My new Fusion Energi Titanium is less than a month old with a little over 1,000 miles. Thoughts? Advice?

Yes, I came to the same conclusion. What I really need is a cheap or free charging station at work-- then I would be mostly 100% EV on a daily basis. I looked into charging on my way home at a blink station while I went to the gym. It was a great idea in theory. It would have doubled the incentive to go the gym. I did the same math as you did (and inquired about it here) and concluded it was not cost effective for our cars. As it is, according to MyFord Mobile website, during the past 30 days, I'm 74% EV which suggests to me feel that a PHE was a reasonable choice.

I think people are jealous.

My estimated range varies as well. The software estimates your range on the EV battery based on your driving history. So your estimated range will vary with your driving history.

Thanks. I'll try it again. In the past, the brake did eventually release in reverse, but I had to drive a few feet with the brake on.

On the 2014 Fusion Energi, upon driving forward, the Electric Parking Brake automatically releases without driver involvement other than stepping on the accelerator. This is a convience feature described in the owner's manual on my 2014 Energi. Apparently, it does not work in reverse. I can see how Ford might design it like that as a safety feature. They might want to articulate that in the owner's manual.

If I did a trip solely in EV Later mode, would then MyFord Mobile give me a relatively accurate estimate of my MPGs in hybrid mode?

I'm pleased with how quiet my Fusion Energi is. In fact, I have driven co-workers to lunch at freeway speeds, and they comment on how silent my ride is. It is way quieter than my former top-of-the-line 2001 Honda Accord EX V-6, which also had a sun/moon roof. I'm sorry yours is making noise. Perhaps something is wrong. It doesn't sound normal from my limited experience.

I'm pretty sure that MyFord Mobile calculates MPG fuel efficiency by averaging the MPGe value while driving in EV mode with the MPG while driving in hybrid mode. I want to know what my hybrid-only fuel efficiency is. Is this possible?

I recently joined the Blink Charging Network. The cost of joining was free, as far as I am aware. They offer 240-volt charges for the cost of $1/hour. They round up on their billing, e.g., if you charge for 2.5 hours you will be billed for 3 hours. Assuming, as the Ford literature says, it takes 2.5 hours to charge the FFE with a 240-volt charge, the cost to fully charge a discharged battery will be $3.00. Assuming you get 22 miles on EV Only from that charge, the cost per mile at Blink's rate is $3.00/22 miles=$0.14 per mile. My FFE in EV Later mode seems to get at least 42 MPG, which comes to 1 gallon at $4.09/gallon/42 MPG=$0.09 per mile (not to even mention the cost and inconvenience of finding a working Blink charging station). So Blink can go to hell as far I'm concerned. Am I missing something, from a pure personal cost point of view? Thanks.

I notice that after having set the electric parking brake on my 2014 FFE, when I attempt to drive away in reverse, the EPB doesn't not automatically release. Is this intended? It works as expected when I drive forward. The owner's manual does not address this issue. It says, "You can release the electric parking brake either manually by pressing the switch or automatically." Then the owner's manual goes on to equate automatic release with drive away release, not saying that you have to be driving in forward.

Does Eco-Cruise contribute to fuel efficiency, or for such a short freeway stint, should I just manually control the throttle?

My commute to work is 17 miles, one way. I do not have charging availability at work. Typically, it takes me 30 minutes. The drive is approximately 10 minutes city streets from my home to the freeway, then 10 minutes on the freeway, and then 10 minutes city streets till I arrive at work. Going home at the end of the day is the reverse. I charge my brand-new 2014 FFE Titanium (Sterling Gray Metallic) at night at home. I start my commute in EV Now mode. Once I hit the freeway, I go to EV Later. On the freeway, I stay in a slower lane and Eco-Cruise around 60-65. Sometimes when transitioning between two freeways, it is stop-and-go, in which case, I switch to EV Now mode. Once I'm off the freeway, I do the remainder of the trip to my office in EV Now. On the way home, I reverse the practice. The only change is that while I'm on the freeway, I look at the remaining miles available on EV battery and switch to EV Now before I get off the freeway to be sure to use what energy remains in the EV battery by the time I get home. (Today, it occurred to me I should use me GPS to more accurately determine when I should go to EV Now so that when I return home my EV battery is at 0%.) I'm not using Auto mode or EV Plus. I'm very new to this car, and I was wondering if I'm approaching this in the correct manner. Thanks.