Energized

At 75 mph I get 38 mpg with the A/C on. At 80 mph I get 34 mpg.

Another sensation you may feel when the battery is full is the loss of regen 'drag'. If you are coasting down a hill and the battery fills up to 100%, the normal regen you feel in "D" goes away, and it feels like you are in neutral. Braking at this point will be through the regular hydraulic brakes, no regen. You can watch this scenario unfold on the touchscreen power flow pictorial, the energy from the motor stops flowing back to the battery. The swirly regen graphic on the battery display disappears too. If you use grade assist or "L" under this condition, the ICE will turn on to provide engine braking.

Thanks for checking the math. It's about what I was expecting before I purchased the car. The electric company offers several different rate plans for EVs although the only one that offers an economic advantage is the one that requires a separate meter. The other plans increase the On-Peak rates in exchange for a nominal decrease in Off-Peak rates. I haven't run the ROI numbers for installing a separate meter but doubt it would be an efficient investment. I'm just glad I didn't go with the Tesla with a battery 10x larger, and paying the equivalent of $5 per gallon to operate it.

1) With the battery at 100% the battery can't accept any regen energy (or very little). 2) With the gear shift in L, the system is in a high-Regen setting. With the above conditions met, the excess energy created by regen needs to be dissipated somewhere, it can't go into the battery. The excess energy is routed through the eCVT, where one of the two motors will physically turn the ICE. The excess energy spins the ICE, thereby dissipating the energy. The ICE will then turn on for "system performance". It does this for emissions reasons or because it thinks you want engine braking due to being in L, I'm not sure why. I've experienced this on two occasions although there wasn't any "unwanted acceleration" it's more of a jerking sensation as the system quickly changes between multiple states (Hi Regen, ICE On, Engine braking) trying to figure out what the driver wants. I've since made sure I don't use L when at 100% battery.

My marginal cost of electricity is now > $0.30/kWh. Given the high cost of electricity, at what point is it cheaper to use gas? A full charge translates to traveling a distance roughly equal to 1/2 gallon of gas (21 miles per charge, vs 43 miles per gallon combined). A charge costs about 7.7 x 0.32 = $2.46. A half gallon of gas costs (using today's price $3.83) $1.92. If my quick and dirty math is correct, it's cheaper to use gas (at 3.83/gal) than electricity once the marginal cost of electricity exceeds $0.25 kWh. Does this look correct?

Welcome to the group. Was the potato museum as spudtacular as it sounds?

Check out the following video at 4:05, topping off the battery doesn't hurt it. http://social.ford.com/our-articles/cuvs/c-max/ford-social-answers-your-questions-about-hybrid-vehicles/ As for high temperatures, the Energi automatically protects the battery by locking it out and instead will run the ICE until it can adequately cool the battery. This will prevent the problem the Nissan owners are experiencing with battery problems in the Leaf. That's one advantage of having a parallel hybrid system, you still have the ICE to propel the vehicle. The Nissan Leaf doesn't have the option of locking out the battery at high temps, the car won't go anywhere without the battery. The Focus Electric gets around the problem the Leaf has by including a liquid cooled battery pack so the Focus Electric will run in high temps without damage to the battery.

The Fusion Energi is selling at a rate greater than the "10% of hybrid model" rate they were projecting.

Agreed, anything more than $1 an hour is more than its worth to me. However, I can see why they would charge more than that given the cost of electricity, hardware and infrastructure investment.

Do you push the button and wait for the charging to stop before removing the plug?

The Cripple Creek PCS-15 is a portable L1 unit not unlike the one that came with the car http://www.clippercr...reek PCS-15.pdf

What trunk parts had to change? The battery occupies space that was normally air. Even the rear seat still folds down. A large development cost for the SAE standard plug and connector? That's an off the shelf item produced by suppliers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAE_J1772 A large development cost for the plastic charge door? The charge door was 'developed' 2 years earlier for the Focus BEV.

The A/C On/Off button does operate in Manual mode. One only needs to go into Manual mode once and it stays in Manual mode allowing full manual control of the A/C. While in Auto mode, the system is going to automatically run the A/C or Heater when it needs to get to the set temp. I'm surprised people haven't mentioned the heater operation yet and the lack of a Heater on/off button.

Have you looked at the Clipper Creek one? It's more than the Leviton though. http://www.clippercreek.com/uploads/ClipperCreek%20PCS-15.pdf All the L1 charging cables seem way over priced for what they are and in comparison to the L2 chargers. Bosch sells a L2 for $450, why are the L1s so darn expensive?

Yes, while in hybrid mode, the ICE charges the small battery at the same time it's powering the vehicle. You can watch it on the power flow pictorial on the touchscreen. Under high load conditions, the vehicle draws from both the battery and the engine. Here is an example of 100% EV later, Hybrid mode. The EV miles shown came from the ICE. The Regen miles are a small amount of this trip because it was more highway than city. The bottom line is it took 1.08 gallon to go 50.4 miles. If you only counted the miles traveled while the ICE was on, you might conclude (incorrectly) that the ICE is inefficient and only getting MPGs in the 20s. That's not how the car works. While the ICE is on, it's storing EV miles to use when the ICE is off. For this trip, the ICE was basically only running for half the trip.

What different parts are you referring to? Ford's Plug-Ins use the same architecture as the regular Hybrids and they both share many of the same parts with the obvious difference being the battery. The video linked below and this excerpt describes what I was saying, which is that Ford "is the only manufacturer – the only one out there – that actually uses the same components for the motors, the power electronics, the cables and the controllers between our hybrid and our plug-in hybrid.” Using the same architecture and the same parts for both Hybrid and Plug In Hybrid models means the development costs are spread over a greater number of vehicles. Ford recently reported they're working to increase hybrid production for 2014 since demand has outstripped supply. That's a good position to be in rather than the position GM finds itself in with the Volt. http://social.ford.com/our-articles/cuvs/c-max/ford-social-answers-your-questions-about-hybrid-vehicles/ "But with advanced batteries and new technology comes additional cost. With all of these fancy new parts and expensive electronics, how does Ford prevent sticker shock? According to Nancy, “To help make this as affordable as possible at Ford, we’re the only manufacturer – the only one out there – that actually uses the same components for the motors, the power electronics, the cables and the controllers between our hybrid and our plug-in hybrid.”

It's not as difficult as it sounds. Go to Manual Mode by pressing the "Vent" symbol. Once in Manual Mode you can control things manually.

When in Auto mode, the AC button doesn't do anything, even though the light turns off and on. The system will do what it takes to get to the set temp as long as the Auto light is on, and that includes turning the AC or heater on if it needs to. To avoid the AC from turning on you have to go to Manual Mode. To get out of Auto mode and into Manual Mode, go to the Climate part of the touchscreen and press the Vent symbol (or floor symbol), this takes the system out of Auto mode. You can then manually use the AC button. The Fan will also be in Auto until you manually change the fan speed via the buttons or via the touchscreen. Running the AC doesn't use as much energi as you would think. I use Auto unless im hypermiling. The heater is the real power guzzler and something to watch out for because there is no heater on/off button.

That's what I did too so I don't forget to close the door 1) Left Hand on charging handle, remove charging cord 2) Right thumb on door indent. Press door close 3) Store charging cord. Do not skip Step 2

Volt owners complain about the push button release for their charge door. GM is rumored to be deleting it on the 2014 Volt, at least that's what Volt owners are hoping for. Volt owners have had high failure rates for the release mechanism. The release also has a habit of freezing shut in the winter. Having a release on the inside makes it less convenient to start charging. You need to do one more step and have your keys available to start charging.

I've been waiting for someone to take their car in to get the TSB process rolling. I haven't had to take my car back for anything, and this issue is too minor to me to make a special trip. I guess I could call the dealer and ask them if there is a TSB out yet. Has anyone noticed if the regular hybrid Fusion has this issue, or is it exclusive to the Energi?

I just noticed that the ambient lighting in the doors changes color when the door is opened. It will change to red from whatever color is currently set. I assume this is to provide a warning light to oncoming cars while the door is open.

Volvo has City Safe in the US which is a system like City Stop. Ford used to own Volvo and I think its the exact same system. Mercedes and some other luxury brands I think have similar technology here in the US.

Thanks MFM App guy. Love the new passcode feature !

What Ford did with the Energi is a scaled up Fusion Hybrid. The Fusion Energi shares the basic architecture and much of the major hardware like the eCVT with the Hybrid Fusion, C-Max, and Lincoln MKZ hybrid. The Energi battery is a basically a larger version of the hybrid battery. The 3.3KW charger and fender plug are common items in the EV world, the wall chargepoint is nothing unique. By spreading these costs across multiple model lines, and by building these models on the same production line as the gasoline models, Ford is getting the scale they need to keep the costs reasonable. These are two major failings on GM's part with respect to the Volt. If you compare the combined sales of the Fusion Energi, Fusion Hybrid, C-Max, C-Max Energi, and Lincoln MKZ Hybrid, and compare it to the Volt, you can see how the economics are clearly in Ford's favor.