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Hi all, Just bought a 2014 energi with 22,000 miles on it. I feel like I got a great deal and only paying .99% financing. I am in the NE and this morning it was cold. My commute to work is about 17 miles but it is mostly down hill in the mornings. When I get to work I usually sill have about 16-17 miles left of battery charge. This morning when I put the defrost or heat on the ICE immediately came on. I realize that the electric drive doesn't produce heat. When the ICE comes on is it just heating the car or is it being used to drive it? When I monitored it I noticed that it initially said heater operation but quickly switched to engine on for normal operation. I tried turning off the heat and it went back to electric drive but the ICE went right back to normal operation when I turned the heater on. Is there reason why it wouldn't be used just for the heat? Is there a setting that can be adjusted for that? Any insight? Thanks

Every post that I have seen on the internet assumes that I know what the acronym "ICE" means with reference to the hybrid drive infrastructure. I cannot even guess. Can someone clue me in?

The following plot shows the preferred operating regions for the ICE for a recent trip obtained driving on highways by recording OBD II data from the car. The x-axis is engine RPMs. The y-axis is Absolute Load (Volumetric Efficiency), i.e. the percentage of maximum airflow into the engine. Absolute Load is linearly correlated with brake torque (force) of the engine. Engine power is then proportional to torque x RPMs. One would expect the car to operate in the regions where it is most efficient. While the ICE is warming up, it operates at a constant 1500 rpm. Only the load varies. The electric motor makes up any difference in required power. At highway speeds, it likes to operate at around 2000 rpm and vary the load between 45% and 75% as needed to supply the required power. The ICE runs the generator at times which increases the load on the engine. Only when power demand is very high (for example accelerating to pass), does the engine speed exceed 2300 rpm. The results may be different for city driving. It would be nice to also show normalized fuel consumption at each operating point (such a map for a Prius can be found here: "http://fordfusionhybridforum.com/topic/6775-what-is-an-ecvt-how-does-it-work-here-is-the-answer/?p=74047"). But that would require a lot of data. The OBD II measurements are not synchronized. There may be more than a second difference in time between when each of the measurements (rpms, load, fuel rate) are taken. A lot can happen in one second. This following chart has errors due to this issue.

I understand the ice is supposed to run to warm itself up if the weather is cold enough. I would not think between 17 and 24 C would qualify as cold enough for the ice to require a warm up. Can anyone tell me at what temperature the ice should require a warm up or what other reasons my ice would run while idling or coasting?