Strategy and overall questions

[RickEnergi]

Background

 

1 week into our new Fusion Energi, previously had a 2010 Fusion Hybrid which got us ~35mpg in warm weather and ~31mpg in cold weather (no heated seats so had to run engine for heater).  That hybrid had a max of 47mph before gas engine took over vs. the 85 on the Energi.  We understand how to maximize hybrid mpg (no sudden acceleration, use heated seats in winter instead of running heat until it's too cold out, efficient braking).  

 

My wife has a 10.4 mile commute, of which 4 miles is local roads and 6.4 miles is highway, 70mph.  In reading about maximizing mpg, it seems the prevailing wisdom is to drive the local miles in EV mode, and the highway miles in EV later mode.  This strategy, based on a few days of driving, uses just under 2kwh of the battery, leaving more than 1/2 of the battery left.  She has no ability to charge at work.  I will drive the vehicle on evenings where we use it (rare) and on weekends.  

 

She returns from work around 3:30PM, we delay charging until 7PM (not using Value Profile yet due to problems with site that MyFordMobile is working on - Value Profile turning off by itself).  We set an alarm on the phone to charge at 7:05PM and go plug it in until the Value Profile problem is resolved by MyFordMobile.  

 

Our cost per kwh is $0.11 from 7PM to 11AM and $0.22 from 11AM to 7PM (switched from a $0.13 to $0.15 all the time plan).  My rough calculation is that a kwh is translating into about 6 miles, so our per mile cost is roughly 2 cents off peak and 4 cents peak.  With gas at $2.75 per gallon, and assuming 42mpg, our gas cost per mile is around 6.5 cents.  Therefore, it's ALWAYS cheaper to use electric if possible.

 

Main driver is my wife.  She will not be hypermiling, and is still getting used to using EV mode, then switching to EV later, then switching back.  Today she went all 10.4 miles in EV mode "lots of traffic, forgot".  

 

Car is leased due to $11,007 rebate and Ford A-Plan.  I analyzed it every which way and came up with a roughly $3,500 difference between leasing and buying due to A-Plan price, large rebate, and A-Plan leasing rate (0.4%).  We will be retired by the time lease ends in 3 years, with the low residual value we might keep it, more likely sell it if profit exists (depends on impact of "No More Sedans" by Ford as well as improved technology making the car worth less), as well as our needs (no trunk space means this isn't the "travel around the US" vehicle, and right now our other vehicle is my F-150).  

 

I mention all this to help the answers be more applicable.  For example, if the answer to #2 is "you will reduce battery life by exhausting it every day", the response could be "but if I'm using it for only 3 years I don't care".  

 

I am an avid forum user for my interests (truck forum, investing forum, boating forum, brewing forum) and am hoping that this forum is active and full of information about how to maximize the enjoyment of our new Ford Fusion Energi.  I look forward to contributing and being active as I learn more.  

 

Questions

 

1) Is there any app/tool that can remind my wife to go to EV later when she gets on highway, then back to EV only when she gets off highway?  I guess I could look for an app that sends text messages at preset locations if such a thing exists ("switch to EV later mode") since the car will read them (but she'll be quickly annoyed).  

 

2) On days where we know that we will not be doing any additional driving after she returns from work, is there any reason not to use Auto mode on the highway home to maximize battery usage since electric is cheaper than gas, switching to EV when she gets off?  

 

3) I plan on getting a Kill-O-Watt from the library (free loan) to measure the usage coming out of the wall vs. what MyFordMobile reports to a) verify the 30% loss I've read about and b) measure the usage during a specific period.  

 

3) What's the best way to calculate overall cost per tank?  One easy way seems to take overall miles driven (from the car) plus gas cost plus electric usage during the period (from car?, from MyFordMobile?, from Kill-O-Watt) and calculate total cost divided by total miles driven.  I'm still learning the abilities of the car to calculate certain things, but it seems there is no measure of this that can be reset (or recorded and not reset) each fill up?

 

4) As it gets colder, wife will want to run the heat in the morning at least, then in the afternoons.  I've read that the 110 volt charger is not very efficient at pre-warming the car, but it's garaged and likely better than not running it.  Started trying it, but due to issues with MyFordMobile the tech at Ford asked that we leave it off and delete the times as they felt it might be interfering with the Value Charge switch (but it's not).  Can't imagine at 11 cents per kwh that running for 15 minutes in the morning is not better than having the gas engine take over to heat the vehicle.  

 

5) Charging stations - while registering for charging networks to take advantage of free charging where it exists (parking structures in town are free but you pay to park), is there any resource that shows the cost per kwh at a specific charging station to compare that to gas cost to see if it's worth plugging in for a fee?  

 

6) Charging stations - what's the best place to find promos to sign up for the various networks?  What networks does it make sense to join, there seem to be many (PlugShare, ChargePoint, ...)

 

7) My analysis determined that paying an electrician to install a 220 volt plug in our garage (as well as likely expanding the electrical service in our home), coupled with the cost of a high speed charger, made no economic sense (no rebates here in SE Michigan) - we rarely have need to top off for evening use, and breakeven would be forever.  In addition, given the low capacity of the Energi (which therefore prolongs breakeven period substantially, it also makes no sense to switch to the EV plan (which requires a separate meter) with electric costs of $0.098 off peak and $0.22 peak as the costs are very close to what I'm getting now AND the hours are more restrictive (off peak is 11PM - 9AM vs. my 7PM to 11AM).  It doesn't matter if a type 2 charger is more efficient either, breakeven is forever.  Unless I'm missing something?  

 

That's it for now.  Thanks for any insights.  

[murphy]

The car has a 5 kWh resistance heater to heat the car in EV mode.  That will put a significant dent in how far you can go in EV mode. 

 

That heater is also used for the preheat mode when plugged in.  On 120 volts you get 12 amps = 1440 watts which is about the same as a toaster.  On 240 volts you get 16 amps = 3840 watts.  That is why 240 volts works better for preheating the car.

 

I have a Chargepoint card that I have never used.  The only Chargepoint station in the entire area is at a Nissan dealer.  Fortunately the card was free.  Find out what charging capabilities are available in your area.  That will determine what cards you should consider.  I am retired and charge exclusively in my garage.  99.999% of my driving in the warm 6 months of the year is all electric.  My engine hasn't run since last April.

[RickEnergi]

The car has a 5 kWh resistance heater to heat the car in EV mode.  That will put a significant dent in how far you can go in EV mode. 

 

That heater is also used for the preheat mode when plugged in.  On 120 volts you get 12 amps = 1440 watts which is about the same as a toaster.  On 240 volts you get 16 amps = 3840 watts.  That is why 240 volts works better for preheating the car.

 

I have a Chargepoint card that I have never used.  The only Chargepoint station in the entire area is at a Nissan dealer.  Fortunately the card was free.  Find out what charging capabilities are available in your area.  That will determine what cards you should consider.  I am retired and charge exclusively in my garage.  99.999% of my driving in the warm 6 months of the year is all electric.  My engine hasn't run since last April.

 

Thanks for the reply.  I saw the heater mentioned somewhere.  So does that mean that on 120 I'm using the heater at only 29% of capacity when plugged in?  

[murphy]

Thanks for the reply.  I saw the heater mentioned somewhere.  So does that mean that on 120 I'm using the heater at only 29% of capacity when plugged in?  

Yes, the engine can't run when the car is plugged in so there is no heat from it.  If the car is outside instead of in a garage, remote start can be used to manually warm up the car. 

 

I ran a test by hanging a sheet of aluminum foil in the center of the cabin and measuring its temperature with an infrared thermometer.  Using 120 volts the temperature rise was negligible when it was around freezing in my garage.

[bdginmo]

1. I'm not aware of any.

 

2. Not really. The only thing to be mindful of is that highway driving drain the HVB faster. We believe discharge rate is one factor in battery longevity.

 

3. Be careful. The Kill-a-watt meters aren't really designed for a constant 12A draw. As it a result it may "burn it up". I've seen several reports of this happening. In fact, I had one at one point and it only lasted 3 months maybe.

 

3. I use a spreadsheet to keep track of this. It's pretty trivial to keep track of the gasoline portion of the cost. But, let me give you some tips on the EV portion. You already know about the 72% charge efficiency on 120v.  But, what you might not know is that there are errors in the way the car reports the kwh usage. The car usually under reports the usage due to what I sometimes refer to as a phantom drain while parked. The issue is that while the car does a pretty good job of keeping track of the usage while on it doesn't know about these phantom drains while it's off. The phantom drain will result in the ICE running longer to bring the SoC back up to where it was when you first parked. The car subtracts off this amount of energy from the usage. For me I estimated this under reporting to be as much as 0.2 kwh for each one way 30 mile trip to/from work. So do some experiments and see what the phantom drain is like for your particular driving habits.

 

4. Preheating at 120v is going to be limited. 240v is way better. Most people who use the preheat feature don't do it in hopes of saving money. They do it because they hate the cold. 

 

5. No comment.

 

6. No comment.

 

7. You're right. Installing a 240v EVSE probably won't have an ROI. But for what it's worth the charging efficiency jumps from about 72% on 120v to about 82% on 240v. I installed one mostly for the 240v preheating and because I wanted a subpanel in my garage anyway.

 

Also, it's a bit of a pet peeve of mine, but resident electric service in the United States is 120v from hot-to-neutral. It's 240v from hot-to-hot.

Edited September 28, 2018 at 05:33 PM by bdginmo

[Russael]

Yes, the engine can't run when the car is plugged in so there is no heat from it.  If the car is outside instead of in a garage, remote start can be used to manually warm up the car. 

 

 

Er... if you use "Go Times", that solely uses power from the wall to heat the car (and yes, 120v quite frankly does nothing, it needs 240v and even that doesn't run the heater at full power).  The car CAN and WILL start the ICE if it is cold enough if remote start is used, regardless if it is plugged in or not, so be mindful of that.  I have a detached garage so I'd remote start the car if I was going somewhere outside of my usual go times.  That, or open your garage door before you remote start when it is cold.

 

Remote start can run the A/C, no problem.  Never saw the ICE kick on with that.

[jsamp]

Agree with others but have this to add.  You "can" preheat at full heat with 120V, but it will draw from the HVB.  This is done by using "remote start" instead of "Go Times"  You have to set the heater/defroster before going to bed and then in the morning remote start it (alternately you can go out to the car in the morning and start it on EV mode and turn on the heater).  But since the heater draws up to 5kW, and the 120V charger is 1440W, you are running a negative which is supplied by the HVB.  I do this on cold mornings for ~10 minutes and it'll defog my windows.  Ice may take a little longer and use more HVB.

 

Using Auto at 70MPH will use the HVB most of the time since auto prioritizes EV use.  This is not recommended as it degrades the HVB faster, but as you said you don't care about that if you give it up at end of lease.

 

 

Edit: Russael beat me by 1 minute on the remote start.  If you remote start in EV mode, the engine won't turn on.  In "Auto" it does apparently (I haven't tried this).

Edited September 28, 2018 at 11:39 PM by jsamp

[Russael]

Edit: Russael beat me by 1 minute on the remote start.  If you remote start in EV mode, the engine won't turn on.  In "Auto" it does apparently (I haven't tried this).

 

If it is cold enough, yes it will regardless of what mode you left the car in.  I do have a 2013... that MAY have changed in newer models, but when I remote start when it is 0F outside, that ICE immediately kicks on, every time, even jacked in to 240.

[RickEnergi]

Thanks for these responses.

 

Plan on using Go Times, but right now having issues with MyFordMobile.  Utility company is listed with no plans (yet the Ford video shows that company, DTE, with lots of plans), so I had to set up a manual Value Profile.  The switch for Value Profile gets turned off every few hours.  MyFordMobile support is investigating, I was the topic of their weekly meeting...  Can't use Go Times yet.

 

I got to drive it yesterday for the first time beyond at the dealer when we picked it up.  Had 33% battery, left house with it set on EV Now.  Drove a few miles to highway, set it EVL later, noticed it was at 17%.  While driving saw EV come on more than once, figured that's the hybrid mode going back and forth from battery to gas.  Then discovered battery was at 13%.  In a while it was at zero and only Auto mode was available.  Need to read more I guess.  

[jsamp]

If it is cold enough, yes it will regardless of what mode you left the car in.  I do have a 2013... that MAY have changed in newer models, but when I remote start when it is 0F outside, that ICE immediately kicks on, every time, even jacked in to 240.

 

Since it rarely gets below freezing here, I haven't experienced starting at 0°F.  I'll take your word on it.

[cr08]

As far as the charging network apps, first that is highly recommended is Plugshare. That is more a catchall service that will show all known chargers regardless of network, standalone, plug type, etc.. Also allows comments from other users in case of issues or known concerns.

 

Once you get an idea of what network types are more prominent in your area you can go get their apps as most will often require those accounts for access to those chargers. Often you'll see ones like Chargepoint, EVgo, Blink, etc. as the top main ones but it'll depend on your area. In CA/West coast you'll probably have a different and possibly much wider variety. But again, Plugshare will get you started in determining what IS available.

 

Also when you get those individual charging network apps, be aware of what processes they use for activation at the charging station. Chargepoint for example is exclusively NFC/RFID (although I think in a pinch you can call their customer service to activate, but not 100% sure on that process or reliability). If your phone is capable of NFC you can use that, otherwise they have a keychain card you can request for free.

Edited October 17, 2018 at 12:49 PM by cr08