Doc Rock

Bought my 2017 Energi in August of 2016. After 6 months of ownership, I was awarded an "achievement" of 25,000 EV miles. The odometer read 4,000 miles at that point. After 11 months, I was awarded an "achievement" of 50,000 miles. The odometer read 9,000 miles at that point. Besides the fact that those "achievements" were physically impossible to achieve, MFM always knows my odometer reading. Head scratcher!

My cost for each additional kWh is about 12 cents (that's generation plus transmission and distribution plus taxes). During the winter, I can go a mile on EV for about 4 cents. During the summer, it's about 3.5 cents. I would love to get my electricity (generation plus transmission and distribution plus taxes) for 6 cents per kWh! I pay a flat 7.5 cents per kWh just for generation.

Some info first: My work commute is roughly 4.3 - 4.5 miles one-way (depending on where I park), all on city surface streets; It typically takes me around 12 - 15 minutes one-way; My Fusion is garaged at home, so on a cold day, I start with a battery that is slightly warmer (5-10 degrees F) than the ambient air temperature. Not garaged at work; Fuel economy using the ICE really drops off below 40 degrees F since I have a relatively short commute (engine is still warming up during most of the commute); I always charge at home using the OEM wall charger, and have a kWh meter connected between the charger plug and my 110V outlet. My charger efficiency hovers around 75%; Using the fuel economy I would get using the ICE, I measure the eGallon Price when using EV. My results: Even though battery efficiency suffers in cold weather, it doesn't suffer as much as the MPG I get using the ICE. So, I don't even think about using the ICE for my commute in cold weather. During January and February, the ICE came on during my commute only twice - both times because I activated the defroster at a temp well-below freezing. Based on my electric cost, charger efficiency and fuel economy I could have gotten using the ICE, I am averaging the equivalent of $1.50 per gallon using EV in cold weather. That's even better than in warmer months when EV gives me the equivalent of about $1.57 per gallon. Since gas here in the Peoples' Republic of Pennsylvania is about $2.50 per gallon (thanks to the highest gas tax in the nation), I have yet to put a drop of Pennsylvania gas in my Energi. Plan to keep it that way. Cheers!

In colder weather, I use the seat heater and steering wheel heater. I cycle the defroster on and off to keep the windshield clear. Range is very sensitive to ambient air temperature. I get about 20 miles at 40-45 degrees F; 17 or so at 25-30 degrees F. Use EV mode only on surface streets below 45 mph. Range actually improves in stop-and-go traffic as the regen from braking adds to range. Hybrid range also drops in colder weather - about 40 mpg highway at 40-45 degrees, and, about 33-35 mpg at 25-30 degrees. Still cheaper to run EV around town than hybrid as those of us in the Peoples' Republic of Pennsylvania pay almost 78 cents a gallon in taxes. Through careful management and trip planning, I have yet to put a drop of PA gas in my 2017 Platinum.

Welcome. I, too, have a Mustang GT Convertible - a 2000. My wife has a 2011 Lincoln MKZ; our younger daughter drives a 2011 Focus, and our son drives a 2012 Escape. Our older daughter drove a 1999 Sable during med school (courtesy of dear mom and dad), but has been driving Hondas since graduating med school. Haven't taken her out of the will. Yet. My Mustang GT is our top-down-weather-only car (less than 19K miles in 16 years). It has seen rain exactly once in those 16 years (I mistimed a drive home - it got a brief sprinkle). Hibernates all winter. Still completely stock and looks brand new. So, I'm kind of a Jekyll-and-Hyde driver now as well. We love driving through the country, hills and mountains pushing the GT to the limit. The Energi? Well, I drive it like a little, old lady - squeezing every possible mile out of the battery (and ICE on the highway).

MFM is now fully-functional on both the website and my iPhone app. However... On my iPhone, MFM does not require me to log in, or, enter my 4-digit PIN. It goes straight to the Home screen when I select the app.

Welcome. Know the the Butler area well - Cabot and Saxonburg, especially.

For the second time this week, MFM has gone down during daylight hours on the East Coast. Tuesday, the "maintenance" issue caused a loss of data and non-functionality of both the website and the iPhone app. MFM went down again this afternoon - again, presumably, for "maintenance." The website is back up, but the iPhone app is still non-functional. I logged off my iPhone, then tried to log in. MFM refused to let me log in. No error message, just didn't permit me to log in. Annoying. Very annoying.

ClaveMan, I bought a 2017 Fusion Energi Platinum in August. So far, I'm liking it very much. My commute is much shorter than yours (~9 miles R/T), but I take monthly road trips to visit the grandkids who are about 220 miles away. So, I'm electric locally and hybrid for the road trips. Mileage and electric range are heavily dependent on the ambient temperature. Above 60 degrees, you're likely to get great mileage and great range especially if you are easy on the accelerator and the brake pedal. Below 60 degrees, you'll see a drop in range and mileage (the battery isn't as efficient in colder temps). The FFE Platinum has great safety features including adaptive cruise control, BLIS, and lanekeeping as well as pedestrian detection (both ahead and behind). It is also a very quiet car with virtually no noise - even at highway speeds - except some minor tire noise. The heated seats work better than the ones in the MKZ I traded for the FFE and, on chilly mornings, I am able to extend my battery range by using the heated seat rather than turning on the defroster/heater (which suck up a lot of electricity).

Hmmm. You say you are "just a teenager" who acquired (presumably new) a 2016 Lincoln MKC, and, after one year's worth of (heavy) depreciation, you dumped it for a new 2017 Fusion Energi Platinum. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would like to know how "a teenager with a very limited income" arranges that kind of financing. Please share.

One thing I have noticed (using the OEM 120V Charger) is that when the battery level reads 99% on my iPhone MFM App, the blue lights extinguish. But, the charger usually pumps another 0.5 kWh before the charger shuts off. Is that extra juice going into the hybrid battery?

Murphy, Horsham, know it well. Lots of industrial parks. And, cigars!

Murphy, Thanks. I'm about 25-30 miles north of you if you are in the Lansdale area. My weekday commute is less than 10 miles R/T. Right now I'm paying about 3.5 cents per mile for electricity, and am very happy not to have spent a nickel on gas in PA. My breakeven point (based on NJ/Virginia/Delaware gas prices) is about 4.5 - 5 cents a mile (when compared to the mileage I get in hybrid mode). I know both EV and hybrid mileage will drop off in colder weather. If it becomes a push in terms of cost, i'll probably go hybrid most of the time.

I bought my 2017 FFE Platinum about 9 weeks ago. I have a little over 1,900 miles on the odometer of which about 400 miles has been EV. Love it. After one month, I received an "Achievement" badge on MFM for 5,000 EV miles! After two months, I received an "Achievement" badge for 10,000 EV miles! Funny. Weird, but funny.

Murphy, I live in PA as well. How much of a drop off in range do you experience in the winter? I presume the drop off is related to the ambient temperature. Also, does there come a "cold point" where switching to hybrid drive makes economic sense?

IMO, at least two things have to happen before EVs will make it without huge government subsidies (Elon Musk is a political entrepreneur above all else): 1) A nationwide network of charging stations at reasonable prices. Here in PA, public charging stations are few and far between (only a handful along the entire stretch of the PA Turnpike). The cost? A mere 39 cents per kWh for Blink members; 49 cents per kWh for everyone else. And those are Level 2 chargers, not Fast Chargers. Pointless, feel good gesture. In the metro area where I live (population ~750K) there is not a single public charging station. Not exactly sending a shiver down my leg; and, 2) Gasoline has to get a lot more expensive. Funny thing about most people - they can actually do the math. They know the current cost tradeoff is, all things considered, at best neutral for those who don't have easy access to "free" charging. Believe me, if the public was demanding EVs to any large extent, every auto manufacturer - including Ford - would be producing lots of them. I believe Ford has the right strategy. PHEVs allow interested consumers to get a taste of EV life without locking them in a dungeon without a key. Of course, there are those who write articles criticizing any car that isn't a pure EV. By and large, these are the same people who criticize the production of electricity from anything except wind or solar.

I purchased a P3 Kill a Watt to monitor actual kWh flow into the battery. Yes, it is higher than the onboard computer indicates - roughly 20-25% higher at 120V. Still, I'm at about 3.4 cents per mile in EV. Not likely to be that low as the weather turns colder.

I believe it was Reagan who said, "If you subsidize something, you get more of it; if you tax something, you get less of it." Both factored in my decision to buy a FFE. With the $4,007 Federal Tax credit and a $1,000 rebate from the State of PA, the FFE costs less than a FFH in the same trim level (which doesn't qualify for either). Check Number One. PA has the highest gas tax in the nation (even higher than CA) at about 70 cents per gallon. I live 15 miles from NJ where gas is 30 cents per gallon cheaper, and take frequent trips to Delaware and Virginia where gas is also about 30 cents per gallon cheaper. I have yet to fill up in PA, and don't expect to until, well, forever. Check Number Two. My driving consists of a short weekday commute (9 miles R/T), plus routine errands typically of 5 miles R/T or less, plus weekend trips to visit family (in those cheaper gas states) of 200-400 miles R/T - mostly on Interstates. The FFE is the perfect compromise for me - EV during the week and Hybrid for long trips. Even with gas in NJ, Delaware and VA around $2 a gallon, running on electricity for my commute still provides a modest cost saving. And keeps gas in the tank until I return to a lower gas tax state.

bdginmo, I agree with almost all of your points. A couple of my observations about increasing economy: 1) I coast a lot, especially on lightly traveled neighborhood streets, and particularly when it is a downhill grade (however slight). Of course, I don't do this when there are cars directly behind me; 2) Gentle pressure on the brakes yields very high brake scores. I have taken to braking earlier (and gentler) when approaching a stop sign or a traffic light. I also find that letting up on the brake just before coming to a complete stop, and then pressing the brake yields brake scores reliably at or near 100%; 3) I was concerned about using an existing 120V garage outlet for charging as we have a refrigerator on the same circuit. However, the circuit breaker has never tripped; 4) I don't dispute that a 240V charger is 10% more efficient than a 120V charger. However, I expect my total kWh demand for charging (based on the amount of in-town driving I do) will only be about 2,000 kWh a year. Saving 10% (200 kWh) will save me about $24 a year. Compared to the cost of a 240V charger and installation of a 240V line in my garage (guessing at least $1,000 for both), $24 is paltry. Using the existing 120V outlet in my garage, I can fully charge from 0% to 100% in a little less than 6 hours. That's not a problem for me as charging overnight is just fine. And, we have two other cars should the need for a short trip arise while the Energi is charging; 5) I am having to mentally adjust to driving like a little old lady when piloting the Energi. When the need arises, I go for a spin my Mustang GT convertible to clear the cobwebs!

Failed again! After only 2 hours! I am not a happy camper. Ford is pretending this is a problem with only my car.

Took my Energi to the dealer today. They pulled Fuse 10 (fuse was fine), the reinserted it. MyFordMobile is now up and running again on my iPhone and on the web. Be advised that trying to pull the fuse yourself is not that easy. First, you have to pull down the finish trim piece under the steering wheel, then reach way back to the fuse panel to the left of the steering wheel - making sure you have located the correct fuse (it's amber and marked "5" for the amperage), then manage to pull the fuse. As my service rep remarked, the design was done by engineers who will never have to pull a fuse!

I'm having the same problem with my 2017 Fusion Energi Platinum - also at two weeks after activating MFM. Will take it to the dealer to have the system checked out. And, to have the problem documented.

Here's a fairly simple method I use to calculate the energy cost tradeoff between running in EV Now and EV Later modes for my daily commute. First, I note the kWh used for daily R/T in EV Now mode. The R/T is 9 miles (4.3 miles to/4.7 miles from - I use a different route coming home due to traffic). I use about 2 kWh per R/T. Second, I note the amount of gas I use on the same 9 mile commute in EV Later mode. I get about 45 MPG for the R/T on average. That's about 0.2 gallons for the 9 mile R/T. So, on a weekly (5-day) basis, I would use 10kWh in EV Now mode, or, 1 gallon of gas in EV Later mode. Electricity costs me just at $0.12 per kWh. Gas costs me about $2.20 per gallon (I'm in PA, home to the nation's highest gas tax!).. So, in EV Now mode, the weekly energy cost for my commute is $1.20. My gas cost is $2.20 in EV Later mode. The tradeoff is likely to be less favorable as cold weather approaches, but right now, I'm plugged in!

I don't recall coming across that option when I created the account on my PC. Perhaps my mistake was starting by downloading the app as the app then sent me to the website to finish.

I bought a 2017 Fusion Platinum Energi 8 days ago. Yesterday, I took a 230 mile road trip (all hybrid, no all-electric) and got 50 mpg for the entire trip - with the A/C going full blast the whole time. I'll save the plug-in for more moderate weather. The car is whisper quiet on the highway, and has enough power to keep me happy (my other car is a 2000 Mustang GT convertible). So far, so good!