How to Drive a Fusion Hybrid/Energi to get Great Gas Mileage

[ptjones]

For those FFE drivers that haven't been on the other  Fusion/CMAX Hybrid/Energi Forums.

 

I have made three YouTube Videos for driving a CMAX the way it was designed to be driven Called How to drive a CMAX Hybrid to get great gas mileage, Also CMAX Mods to improve MPG's and Hypermiling to improve MPG's.

 

 

 

 

Efficiency and Aerodynamic Mods:  The First thing to do is to raise your tire pressure of your Michelin's to 50psi which is safe to do and I got 64k miles for each set of tires on my CMAX. 

 

 

 

Hypermiling Video not recommended for those who can't focus on situational awareness of traffic around you all the time.

 

Let me know what you think, any improvements.

 

Paul

Edited by ptjones, 09 April 2017 - 10:42 AM.

 

 

Current Record:  12/30/2014  902.2 mi.  63.8 mpg  14.13  gal. (Actual GPS:  922 mi.  68 mpg  13.5 gal.

• Quo

Edited August 23, 2018 at 05:45 PM by ptjones

[ptjones]

Just filled up and got 58.3 mpg/ 770 miles / 13.2 gal. and 50% Hwy with some A/C, temps 70-95*F and have averaged 55.1 mpg for last 10 fill ups.  YouTube views are up to almost 10k now. 

 

Paul

[ptjones]

I drove up to Silver Comet Depot to bike ride about 49 miles on State routes (50-55 mph) and got 63.4 mpg.  Going Home 43 miles, 27 mi. FWY, 16 mi. SR's got 61.9 mpg with speeds 75-45 mph. Every is working great with temps 75-85*F and 208K miles on the car. 

 

Paul

[jj2me]

208K, nice to hear. Is that the NiMH or Lithium battery Hybrid? Any major repairs or strandings? (I've never seen 45 mpg hybrid on a long trip, though rightfully so since I'm always adding 5-10 to the speed limit.)

[ptjones]

208K, nice to hear. Is that the NiMH or Lithium battery Hybrid? Any major repairs or strandings? (I've never seen 45 mpg hybrid on a long trip, though rightfully so since I'm always adding 5-10 to the speed limit.)

CMAX has the same drive train as Fusion Energi/Hybrid, Lion HVB. Ford paid for my trans being replaced 110k mi. ago and I just replaced right side half shaft. It wasn't to bad and $150 cost. If you use all the info in my YouTube videos you should be able to get 50+ mpg. :)

 

Paul

[ptjones]

Well my Fuelly average went up to 49.1 mpg now and  this is some encouragement for others that even with 208k miles your average can still go up. Last Tank I got 61.3 mpg.

 

Paul

[ptjones]

I replaced my two rear tires with 78k mi. with new Michelin OEM tires and already have 5k mi. on them, it seems I have lost maybe a 1 mpg with the new tires. This backs up what people have said that mpg's improve with tire wear. That being said I'm still getting 61 mpg on Smart Gauge and looking to get 800 mi. on this tank. Currently have 620 miles.  My old Michelin OEM tires on  the front have 83k mi. and should make 90k mi. using 50 psi tire pressure.

 

Paul

[ptjones]

Well I finished the tank with 825 mi./59.3 mpg with 50% HWY and my Fuelly.com average went up to 49.2 MPG with 212K miles on the Odometer.

 

Paul

[ptjones]

And it just keeps going up.   Life Time Score 50.2 mpg and Fuelly.com average 49.2 mpg, 55.5 mpg average for the last 10 fill ups.  Also I haven't reset trip 2 in about 76k miles and My Smart Gauge average is 54 mpg. Bottom line is even with 212k miles on the Odometer  you can improve your Life Time average MPG's if you want too.    

 

Paul

[ptjones]

BTW Grill Covers protect your shutters from being damaged from snow and ice. :)

 

Paul

[ptjones]

I filled up  yesterday and got Premium for $2.63/gal at Sam's Club Buford, GA 13.1 gallons for $34.46.   With average temps going down MPG's are going down a little too. I started out yesterday at 57.6 mpg with 525 miles on the tank, drove to North Georgia Mountains taking pics of Fall Leaves changing colors and Water Falls. About 200 miles later my MPG's had dropped to 56.6 mpg when I filled up and actual Fuelly 54.8 mpg.  If you haven't put Grill Covers on your car yet maybe you should. Oil Pan Heaters help to  warm up the ICE quicker too. 

 

Paul

[ptjones]

Yesterday I drove to Lexington, KY and back, 800 miles on I-85/I-285/I-75, all FWY with speeds 80-55 mph and averaging 59.2 mph.  Temps were 40-50*F/ went 670.8 miles/13.2 gal and got 50.8 mpg, Fuelly.com actual mpg's. I got Premium for $2.57/ gal. :)  This is another good example how well Grill Covers work.  With a 20 to 30*F drop in temps from 70*F, you lose 4-6 mpg's in gas mileage.

 

Paul

[Electriffic]

You're making me jealous! I just did a 7.4 mile trip (one way) with a fully-charged battery. I opted to run the ICE on the short highway part of the trip. Each way my I got about 47mpg. I live in Montana and it's cold, so that plus the heater reduces my all-electric range to about 8 miles or so. On the highway I get 38mpg.

[ptjones]

With Grill Covers you should gain 3-4 mpg's and maybe up to 1 mpg for 50 psi. in the Michelin energy saver tires. :)

 

Paul

[ptjones]

I had a heater hose fitting start leaking back in Nov. which I tried to fix myself, but turned to be a big  job so I ended up getting FORD to fix it for $1,100, ouch!   Well with 218k mi. things are bond to break down.  I took MADMAX with only 40 miles on the tank and around 50 mpg and I got it back with 16 mpg  and it took 550 miles HWY driving to get it to 44.6 mpg.  I learned something that I suspected for sometime that MADMAX gets better MPG's running WT temps between 218*F to 230*F with center and bottom Grill Covers on than 206*F to 220*F with partial bottom Grill Cover on for an improvement of .5-1 MPG.

 
Shows bottom Grill Cover with holes to let more air through.

 

Paul

[ptjones]

Got Premium gas last night at Sam's for $2.67 and Reg. was $2.41 so I'm getting pretty close to break even point of cost vs mpg improvement now. 

 

Paul

[ptjones]

Someone wanted to know what GAS PODS look like.

With 223k miles on my CMAX my Fuelly.com average went up to 49.3 mpg. 

 

Paul

[ptjones]

15k miles later after replacing the fronts with sidewall hole, moving the rears to the front, new one's the rear and 95k miles on my front Michelin's using 50 psi, they still have 4/32" tread on outside, 3/32" tread on center and inside. Anyone else getting that kind of tread wear? Just another example of the advantages of using 50 psi in Michelin ES tires. BTW I had a panic stop yesterday when someone tried turning in front of me. I slammed on the brakes and turned right to avoid hitting them.  Anything that was loose came flying to the front of the car. Tires and brakes worked great!

 

Paul 

[ptjones]

Now that it has been 6.5 years it is time update what it means to use these MPG Tips in my videos.

My Videos show what I have done for over 6 yrs/224K miles and how I get 52 actual mpg's average/yr for the last 2 1/2 yrs with 78% Hwy driving all over the country using my driving tips. My BlackStone Labs oil analysis are better now than when new with going up to 14k ICE miles/ 30k odometer miles between oil changes.   Grill Covers improve mpgs and don't hurt the ICE as testing the oil shows and I'm getting as good of MPG's as I have ever have gotten.   I have sold around 40 sets of Grill Covers and many more members have made their own and not one member on the 4 forums has said they don't work or has had any over heating problems. Only JUS and I (OK granted we are pretty motivated and both have gone over 900 miles , the only ones on the 4 FFH/CMAX forums in Hybrid Mode, I have the record of 930 mi. on a single tank) have experience the alarm coming on and it went away as soon I let off the gas a little, no power lost or long term problems. This is very hard to make happen as it took over a year of trying to get it to happen for me. Using my fuelly numbers I have saved about $4,129 in gas using my tips which would easily pay for tires, battery and all other maintenance items  for the last 6+yrs.

Again I'm not telling anyone what to do, just showing the testing I have done and the results. You decide what to do.  

 

Happy Gas/Money Saving  Driving   BTW Gas Prices Are Going Up    You have options.

 

Paul

[ptjones]

Posted Today, 04:05 PM

 

 

Now with the consistent 70-80+ degree temps and no significant rain my average on this tank is 57.5 mpg with 306 miles and climbing  with speeds between 35-55 mph around home and no Interstate driving using my MPG Tips.    Combining miles driven and Estimated miles to empty gives 815 miles estimated total for this tank  and 66% EV miles or 209 miles so far. 

 

Paul

Paul Jones - A true FORD man!
2013 Ford C-MAX SEL
2013 Ford Explorer Limited EcoBoost

Current Record:  12/30/2014  902.2 mi.  63.8 mpg  14.13  gal. (Actual GPS:  922 mi.  68.3 mpg  13.5 gal.)

 

[ptjones]

Posted Yesterday, 10:01 AM

 

Filled up and this is what I ended up with 58.4 mpg/13.14 gal/768.8 mi.  Actual Fuelly.com 58 mpg/13.5 gal/ 782.6 mi./ temps 56-95*F/ 50% City so I could have gone at least 25 mi. more. 

 

Paul

 

Paul Jones - A true FORD man!
2013 Ford C-MAX SEL
2013 Ford Explorer Limited EcoBoost

Current Record:  12/30/2014  902.2 mi.  63.8 mpg  14.13  gal. (Actual GPS:  922 mi.  68.3 mpg  13.5 gal.)

 

Edited May 28, 2019 at 03:07 PM by ptjones

[ptjones]

raja I moved my GasPods to your location in front of rear hatch for a month and I didn't see any noticeable improvement in MPG's. Yesterday I moved them back to on top of the hatch as shown and my mpg's started getting better.    I think it is safe to say my location for GasPods is at least as good as raja's and seems to be better.  When we first started using GasPods we did alot of R&D to determine best location and that is why I installed mine where I did. I think the GasPods are worth less than a mile/gal.

 

Using Cruise/ECO Cruise you can expect to lose 1 to 2 mpg compared to driving yourself.  I would expect ECO Cruise to be better than straight Cruise, because ECO Cruise slows down going uphill and speeds up going down hill which is more efficient. On flat ground at FWY speeds our CMAXHybird's/FFH's act like Prius with ICE running most of the time with the electric motors assisting. This is very inefficient from the ICE stand point, if the ICE is running you want to be running at 2 Bars power and it doesn't do that in Cruise Control. Now on hilly FWY's ECO Cruise starts to imitate Pulse and Glide which you should be doing not using Cruise Control. Going uphill you should be doing 2 Bars ICE Power and downhill Gliding in EV mode.

 

A couple of weeks ago I filled with the temps in the 80's-90's*F I was getting 61.5 mpg for the first 200 miles with speeds around my local area of 35-55 mph. But then I had to make a number of trips on the FWY's so that I ended up with 57 mpg for that tank, but does show the potential of getting low 60's around town driving.

 

I hope this is some useful info for those working on their MPG's.

 

Paul

Edited June 25, 2019 at 10:54 PM by ptjones

[ptjones]

I just filled up and got a Fuelly.com 56.7 mpg and so with my total miles of 227.2k miles my average since new has gone up to 49.4 mpg.

 

Paul

[muzicman61]

I just don't find myself too concerned anymore about the amount of electric miles.  When I lived in Illinois and had a 100 mile round trip to work each day, I found myself filling the tank once a week.  Now I'm in Phoenix and my drive to work is only 20 miles.  So I get to work on EV and 6 or 7 miles of the way home is EV.  The bottom line for me is now I fill up about every 7-8 weeks.  So I drive the way I want and don't concern myself whether the dash says 26, 27 or 28 miles EV on full charge.

[SuPaTooX]

Using L I've been able to get close to 50% Regen.