jcdrury2s Posted July 2, 2014 at 03:32 AM Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 at 03:32 AM Energi owners, I currently own a 2013 Ford Fusion SE with the 1.6 Ecoboost engine. With the competetive pricing of the Energi, I'm considering making the switch, but I'm not sure if my daily commutes are ideal for an EV.I typically drive about 150 miles per day, about 90% highway(55-65mph), 10% city. I'm averaging about 32 mpg with my 1.6l, which is good compared to the EPA estimate of 28. My concern is that I drive so many long highway miles...will I still see great MPG numbers out of the Energi? Are any of you making long highway commutes and willing to share your average mpg? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric4539 Posted July 2, 2014 at 04:29 AM Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 at 04:29 AM Hi jcdrury2s, I take frequent 240 mile trips and consistently achieve 43 mpg. I would say the difference is how often will you be able to charge during the day. You will be amazed at how many miles you are able to drive using just the battery around town or during weekend errands. I have the 220 volt charger so my car is always plugged in. The Energi is a terrific car. You will see better than 32 mpg of your 1.6l Fusion. But if you're looking at this from whether or not you will make up the cost of the Energi in fuel savings, it may not make financial sense. But if you're looking for the latest technology and perhaps the next step before going 100% electric (like a Tesla), I can honestly say that you would not regret buying an Energi. I love this car! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerdia Posted July 2, 2014 at 07:07 AM Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 at 07:07 AM the 10% city might get your mpg into the mid 40's, local weekend driving will also help. I guess the short answer would be in the deal you get, I would not trade right now unless it was a deal that was hard or close to hard to refuse.good luck in your decision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russael Posted July 2, 2014 at 11:09 AM Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 at 11:09 AM The MPG you're getting on your 1.6L seems low. It's rated at 37 highway and if 90% of your travels are highway, you should be around that number. A friend of mine who has the 2.5L gets around 32 average and a vast majority of his driving is 70MPH. The Fusion Hybrid should be able to hit similar numbers to the Energi. If you genuinely travel 150 miles a day, I don't see much opportunity to get a cost benefit over the regular hybrid. I do virtually zero highway miles with mine so I can't comment on its fuel efficiency at speed. Plus the hybrid has more trunk space. :) The purchase price is similar now for similarly equipped models after tax credit as well. I suppose your commute could change in time (new job, etc) in which case the Energi could benefit you much more. That's partly why I didn't get a straight BEV - the 'what if' question. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigi Posted July 2, 2014 at 02:26 PM Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 at 02:26 PM You will have to do the math for your unique situation to figure out whether it is economically worth it to buy a Fusion Energi. Factors to be considered: purchase price, tax incentives, miles driven as a hybrid, miles driven as an EV, mpg for your kind of driving, cost of gasoline, cost of electricity, cost of EVSE and installation, projected maintenance costs. Generally, if you can do most of your regular daily driving in EV mode, the Energi should be the best deal. Ideally, that would be a 40 mile round trip commute with the opportunity to charge at work. Somewhere along a continuum, as the length of the daily commute increases and the number of miles driven burning gasoline increases, a hybrid will become more economical. The exact point is a function of all of the factors above. If you put economics aside, driving on electricity is a unique experience. It's quiet. There is no engine vibration. If you think of the math while you're driving, in EV mode, you are driving at a cost of about 3 cents per mile vs. around 8 cents per mile if you were driving a hybrid and more than that if you were driving a gas vehicle. If the comparison of, say, a hybrid vs. an Energi works out that the hybrid is more economical, you might want to go with that, but the experience of driving on electricity is something else. It was mind-blowing enough for me that we went out and got a Focus Electric so that we could get more of the experience. And at the same time, when I went out to get a company car, I bought a Fusion Hybrid because it made better economic sense for driving 3,000 - 4,000 miles per month. Good luck in your decision-making. Both the Fusion Energi and Fusion Hybrid are great cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomastl Posted July 2, 2014 at 04:09 PM Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 at 04:09 PM Our 2014 Energi Titanium. I did a trip to of 115 miles one way on 40% 4 lane 60% two lane. I started w/ full electric charge. Running 68 mph on the 4 lane and 60 mph on the 2 lane w/ a fair amount of hills I averaged 61.2 mpg for the trip.Another trip for 130 miles one way on interstate running 74 mph with hills we averaged 44 mpg.So if your commute is flat or fairly flat ground and you are truelly only running 55 to 65 mph then I would expect to see something very close to 60 mpg for your commute each day. Our total average for 3500 miles is setting at 55.6 mpg. The distance driven each day is approx 60 miles and we can only charge one time at home. Having said all that, what will be the cost to upgrade to the Energi that you want. Will the extra 25 to 30 mpg savings ever overcome the cost of the new car? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff_h Posted July 2, 2014 at 04:39 PM Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 at 04:39 PM cost of electricity, cost of EVSE and installation Very good point - I don't see the location noted for the OP (sorry if I missed it), but if it is one where the cost of electricity is high (some users from CA on here really take it in the shorts) then it really diminishes (or eliminates) the cost benefit of paying for electricity vs gasoline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcdrury2s Posted July 2, 2014 at 06:17 PM Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 at 06:17 PM (edited) Most of my driving is done in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois. Electricity here is about $0.10/kwh and gas is $3.44 at the moment. Iwork at a utility company and think there is a chance they will add ev chargers in the future, at least at a few of the offices I commute to. I can get X-Plan pricing, approximately 4,000 tax credit, and a $1,500 additional rebate from Ford along with 0% financing for 60 months. There's two problems: I don't know if I could face losing so much money on a car I've only had for one year(but put 45,000 miles on it), and I'm having a difficult time finding any '14 Energi's in the area. Edited July 2, 2014 at 06:18 PM by jcdrury2s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russael Posted July 2, 2014 at 07:25 PM Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 at 07:25 PM If you're driving 45k a year, I seriously think you should go Hybrid if you really want to replace your ride. 94 miles a day is about the break even point before the hybrid starts exceeding what the Energi can do (for an MPG standpoint and having the Energi charge once per day... but I figured that with the original MPG estimates). Even if you could charge at your destination and at home, I still don't think you'll make up the difference. Still, to go from 32MPG to about 42 is fairly substantial, but I don't think it's worth the price to replace what you already have and have spent. You'd have to run the numbers to see if it's worth eating the trade-in for a new car, running the MPG numbers, and then running your expected cost for electricity especially if this is purely a gas savings/financial move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Checkers Posted July 2, 2014 at 09:09 PM Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 at 09:09 PM I drive about 750-1000 miles a week and my avg mpg has been about 43. I am pretty happy worth that. If I drive more on the weekend when I can charge more often that is a bonus. I came from a Kia Optima getting about 37 mpg and even at only 6mpg improvement I am seeing a savings. It helps that I got a killer deal on a used 2013 Energi with only 5k miles and it has far more tech than the Kia. I get reimbursed by the mile so essentially my fuel and monthly payment are covered with some to spare. I installed a level 2 charger so on the weekends so I can charge and drive a few times each day if needed on EV ONLY. I have been lucky to find a few hotels where I stay that allow me to charge overnight too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volleyguy Posted July 5, 2014 at 01:17 PM Report Share Posted July 5, 2014 at 01:17 PM We have only had our Energi for 10 days but I am shocked at how good the fuel mileage is, just awesome. I am curious if you really are driving as much highway as you think? We have put 70% of our miles on EV so far more than I thought we could. That being said getting rid of an old car to save gas is one thing but a new one? We averaged more than $600 a month on gas some months $800 and I expect a 75% reduction. How much do you spend now? Your reduction % would be smaller than ours as you are starting better with a Fusion compared to a Uplander van and BMW 325ci. Love driving in electric though so not sure of that value to you?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryh Posted July 5, 2014 at 04:22 PM Report Share Posted July 5, 2014 at 04:22 PM (edited) I spent $600 for the entire first year I owned the car on gas and electricity, including a lot of preconditioning for most of the winter months. I drove 12,000 miles, 70% is highway driving. Edited July 5, 2014 at 07:08 PM by larryh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcdrury2s Posted July 5, 2014 at 04:26 PM Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2014 at 04:26 PM I'm spending about $500/month on gas. On my highway estimate, I included interstate driving (which obviously does not yield good mpg) I've found alternate routes I can take to avoid the interstates so much in the future. Something else I was thinking about was that although I'm driving so much highway, a lot of it is (for example) drive 15 miles, stop, turn on different highway, drive 20 miles, etc. I think the hybrid would really help there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volleyguy Posted July 5, 2014 at 06:44 PM Report Share Posted July 5, 2014 at 06:44 PM Jcdrurys2s $500 is still a fair amount on gas but in all honesty I am not sure the Energi would solve it for you. A Tesla MS might though? Other than the cost why not? Energi less than 8kwh battery Tesla 85... I love our Energi which does a lot of short runs in electric but long drives electric really does not do much 20 miles and your out. For highway driving you need a BIG battery... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meyersnole Posted July 9, 2014 at 05:40 PM Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 at 05:40 PM Energi owners, I currently own a 2013 Ford Fusion SE with the 1.6 Ecoboost engine. With the competetive pricing of the Energi, I'm considering making the switch, but I'm not sure if my daily commutes are ideal for an EV.I typically drive about 150 miles per day, about 90% highway(55-65mph), 10% city. I'm averaging about 32 mpg with my 1.6l, which is good compared to the EPA estimate of 28. My concern is that I drive so many long highway miles...will I still see great MPG numbers out of the Energi? Are any of you making long highway commutes and willing to share your average mpg? Thanks Are you planning on keeping the 1.6 Ecoboost Fusion? If you are simply looking at economics you will also have to factor in the depreciation that you suffer from the quick trade in addition to the increased cost of the new car. As mentioned above, if you can do a lot of shorter trips on the weekend (gas free) that may help some... but you might need a L2 charger (additional expense) to take advantage of that as well. Economics aside, it still may make sense to do it. I like the idea of using fewer fossil fuel resources (my local energy plant is nuclear), and this month I am 99% EV. Even when I take trips that exceed my battery I like that I can drive around in fairly large vehicle that still manages to get ~40mpg at highway speeds. If you are simply looking at $$ than I think you will have a hard time making the numbers work. If you are looking at "is it worth it to you" to make the trade, the answer is maybe. What is it worth to you not to have to go to the gas station as frequently. Do you like the Fusion enough to buy it again? Can you trade storage space in the trunk for more gas mileage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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