larryh

This morning, the outside temperature is about -2 F. The garage temperature is 16 F. The ICE temperature is 25 F. The heater core coolant temperature is 23 F. So it is unlikely that the ICE would start on my commute to work this morning. The ICE temperature will not fall to 15 F during the commute.

Without reading the actual ICE temperature, it is difficult to come to any conclusions. ET mode does not show the ICE temperature. For my commute to work, it must be below -5 F for the ICE to start during my commute to work if I don't use the engine block heater. I park the car in my attached garage which is much warmer than the outdoor temperature. The ICE temperature is above the 15 F threshold and the ICE generally does not start. The 60 F threshold applies when the outside temperature is below -10 F.

If you park in a garage, use the engine block heater, or have recently run the ICE, the coolant temperature will be well above the outside temperature. It will take several hours (>8 hours) for the ICE temperature to reach the ambient temperature. In my case, when it is -10 F, the ICE temperature starts out around 85 F. I use the engine block heater to prevent the ICE from turning on. If the ICE is cold and it is -10 F, the ICE will start immediately when the car is turned on. Using climate control raises the temperature threshold at which the ICE turns off so the ICE will run longer. The ICE turns off when the temperature reaches 100 F when climate control is off, and much higher when climate is on. The electric heater in the car is not very effective when it is -10 F. The car needs to run the ICE to provide heat to the cabin when it is extremely cold.

When it is below -10 F, the car generally will not let you choose the EV mode. For the first two miles, you may be able to select modes, but after that you are stuck in EV Auto. The ICE will turn on as soon as the coolant temperature falls below 60 F. There is not much you can do about it except turn up the heat (to make the ICE run longer) or push the accelerator to the floor to start the ICE temporarily until the coolant temperature exceeds a threshold. See the following post: http://www.fordfusionenergiforum.com/topic/1446-cold-weather-observations/?p=18501

You want to let up on the accelerator and stop using energy from the HVB as soon as possible. That means you want to coast to a stop sign while in Drive using the brakes as little as possible. If you use L, you will use more energy from the HVB maintaining speed until you get closer to the stop sign, which you can never recover through regenerative braking. You can see more about this starting here: http://www.fordfusionenergiforum.com/topic/2566-efficient-ev-mode-driving-techniques/?p=17051

I have problems with the Windows version too. Occasionally it disconnects from the adapter and I have to reconnect.

I wouldn't say the savings with a 240 V charger are miniscule. They can be quite significant. My electric company provides a $500 rebate to install a 240 V charger. In addition, they offer significantly lower electric rates to charge the car, e.g. as low as $0.04/kWh vs. the normal $0.11/kWh rate. That is more than 60% savings in electric costs. The federal government, in the past, has also provided credit up to $500 for the installation of a 240 V charger. So for a small investment, you can get a very significant savings in electric costs.

I think ForScan only allows you to select PIDs from a single module at time for speed. I assume that the iOS version of ForScan allows you to record data. ForScan can record data at a faster rate when only gathering PIDs from a single module. But the recording rate will vary with the adapter. The better adapters read PIDs at more than 2x the rate of the cheaper ones. It would be nice if ForScan would also allow you to combine PIDs like Torque Pro. You cannot directly display the power from the HVB with ForScan. To compute HVB power, you need to multiply current by voltage. ForScan does not allow you to create a display that shows the power from the HVB by multiplying voltage and current. You are going to have to compute it in your head.

If iOS supports Bluetooth, I wonder why ForScan and the other apps don't support Bluetooth OBD II adapters. The Bluetooth adapters are cheaper and more secure than the Wifi adapters. ForScan is only supposed to allow you to select valid PIDs. Every PID that you select should work.

There should be some way to change the unit of measure for the gauges. Tire pressure in kilopascals is not the measurement standard used the US. The Windows version allows you to change the unit of measure. Also, it seems strange that they don't use a round number for each tick mark in the tire pressure gauges. Each of the tick marks is 22 kilopascals. It would be easier to read of each mark were 20 kilopascals. ForScan had errors in several of the PIDs in the Windows version that I pointed out to them. They appear to have errors in the iOS version too. Why is there a Bluetooth symbol at the top the screen by the battery? I thought the adapter was WiFi.

Yes-you can avoid the system faults by requesting ForScan not attempt to scan the MS-CAN bus. To determine if there are problems with the scanner, you would need to monitor for adapter errors. I don't think ForScan provides that capability. Torque Pro does provide that capability. If you see adapter errors, I would not use the adapter. Many of the cheap scanners from eBay and Amazon are from China. They are definitely suspect. Make sure that the displays on either side of the steering wheel do not go blank and then are reset.

The iPhone/iPad require a WiFi OBD II scanner. I would use caution when using any of the cheap OBD II scanners from Amazon or eBay. They interfere with communications on the HS-CAN bus, causing various system failures. The only adapter that I trust is the OBDLink MX. I'm not sure if the WiFi version of the adapter is available yet. ForScan advertises that it will be available for Windows (WiFi/Bluetooth), Android (WiFi/Bluetooth), and iOS (WiFi only). Note that ForScan attempts to also communicate with modules on the MS-CAN bus when you have an adapter that is capable of communicating on the MS-CAN bus. However, that feature doesn't appear to work properly on the Energi. It instead causes system faults (cross traffic and blind spot) the first time that you run it. For subsequent runs, it no longer attempts to communicate on the MS-CAN bus.

In the summer, the usable energy from the HVB is around 5.7 kWh before the ICE turns on (maybe up to 6.0 kWh of you are careful). For my commute to work in the summer, the car consumes about 0.23 kWh of energy per mile for a range of 5.7/0.23 = 25 miles. In the winter time, the chemical reactions in the HVB slow down. The HVB cannot supply as much energy. When it is around 0 F, the usable energy from the HVB drops to around 5.0 kWh. If I used the heater for my commute at around 0 F, the electric heating element would draw approximately 2.2 kWh of energy from the HVB. Thus the usable energy from the HVB to propel the car drops to around 2.8 kWh. Finally, friction and aerodynamic drag increase by 40% when it is 0 F vs 70 F. It takes a lot more energy to propel the car in the winter. At 0 F, it now takes 0.32 kWh of energy per mile. Thus the total range of the car is now 2.8/0.32 = 9 miles. In summary, you lose the following amounts of range to these various factors in winter at 0 F: HVB capacity falls with temperature: 3 miles Increased friction/aerodynamic drag: 3.5 miles Heater consumes energy from HVB: 9.5 miles The heater is the largest source of loss of range. Use it sparingly.

The VHR doesn't report any problems with the car. The sporadic communication failures causing the "U" codes do not cause any indicator lights to illuminate.

If car cannot communicate with the RCM, the airbag light should come on. I see communication error DTCs ("U" codes) when I read the OBD II port.

During regen, the kWh meter on the trip odometer runs backwards. You can observe this during a long downhill grade. Regen is recyling plug-in energy for later reuse. You used plug-in energy to get up the hill, now you reclaim some of that energy back when going down the hill. Similarly, you use plug-in energy to accelerate the car up to speed. Regen reclaims some of that energy when you stop--the kWh meter runs backwards.

You can approximate the amount of energy used by the charger. For the 240 V charger, approximately 82% from the energy from the wall is stored in the HVB. For the 120 V charger, it is approximately 72%. Use one of the trip odometers to keep track of the amount of energy consumed by the car. Then divide by 82% or 72% depending on the charger to determine the kWh consumed from the power company. Note that the car does not keep track of energy consumed for preconditioning or charging the 12 V battery.

Are you in EV mode or is the ICE running?

The car will start reducing power output from the HVB to reduce any further rise in temperature when the HVB temperature reaches about 113 F

I do not use value charge.

There is no heater for the HVB. The only way to warm it up is to charge it (raising temperature by at most 4 F) or draw power from it (much more effective). The HVB temperature on my car has been as low as -10 F when left outside in the cold. That does not damage the battery.

This is from the FAQs at MFM: Q: Why does my vehicle start charging immediately when I have a Value Charge Profile created for this location? A: The vehicle overrides the Value Charge Profile if the State of Charge of the traction battery is less than 10%. After the vehicle charges up to 10%, it will delay the remainder of the charge until the lower-cost times selected in the Value Charge Profile.

For my car, simply asking MFM for an update from the car will start charging the 12 V battery when the car is plugged in. But it doesn't do it every time.

Contact Meagan with Ford (User ID FordService) to see if she can assist you.

A permit is required for a plug-in EVSE installation in my area. You will have to check your local code to determine the requirements for an EVSE.