jsamp

My 07 Escape Hybrid had to change the rear pads for the first time at 140k miles. Not because of wear, but because one of the shoes lost its pad. Still had about 30-40% left on the other shoes. Fronts still haven't been done and we're over 160k miles.

Count your blessings while you have them. The Fusion Energi forum has been down for 2 months now. You can still read posts, but can't write anything anywhere on the site. Even if it does come back will there be anyone checking it?

I have to laugh at my old post. Here it is 11 years later and sure enough, I'm paying $.34/kWh now. Yikes. Of course, gas is more now than 11 years ago too, so EV driving is still (slightly) cheaper than ICE.

Unfortunately murphy moved on a while ago. Both the hybrid and Energi forums have his most recent login as Feb 2022. Any moderators here that can help reach the Energi forum moderators? jeff_h or meyersnole are alternate moderators there. Please help!

Thanks... at least I know it's not just me.

There are 2 ways to do this. One is to have preconditioning turned on via using a 'Go Time'. It will turn on the A/C to reach the desired temp at the prescribed time. The other way is to turn on the car manually (either by getting in, or remote start) and turn on the A/C 5 minutes or so before you want to leave. Note that the "Go Time" method is less effective with 120V charging, which only delivers ~1440 Watts. As noted above, the car can pull more than that running the A/C. On preconditioning in heater mode (cold mornings) it will only use what is being delivered through the plug. I assume the same for cooling. However if you start the car manually, it will draw from both the plug and the HV battery as needed.

Sorry to crash the Fusion hybrid forum, but the Energi forum has been down for me for over a week. Keeps saying "a configuration or server error has occurred" and error code EX6. murphy, any idea what is going on?

Posting these because they include the Fusion Hybrid in them: http://news.consumerreports.org/cars/2013/07/the-penalty-for-speeding-a-loss-in-fuel-economy.html http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2013/08/the-mpg-gap/index.htm While the accuracy of Consumer Reports is questionable, in the mpg gap article they do an "across the board" comparison of different manufacturers and come to the same conclusion that everyone falls short of the EPA MPG estimates. This indicates that it is not a hybrid issue nor a Ford issue, but rather a testing issue. The speed vs fuel economy article is interesting in how large the % decrease in efficiency is. That is probably a large part of the issue with those claiming the Fusion Hybrid falls so far short of the EPA 47mpg combined number.

Hey acdii, is there any chance you could do a compression test? If you truly are getting blow-by, I would think it would show up in compression readings (ring issue?).

An Atkinson 2.0 liter 4-cyl by itself should be quite efficient (though gutless). It should easily get into the mid 30's by itself, with the electric adding ~20% or so to get well into the 40s.

B25Nut - 34¢/KWh ?!?! for real? I think the national average is about 1/3 that much. No, you won't get the added cost of the Energi back at that rate.

Hey acdii, As more 'documentation' for your issue, I was wondering if you wanted to take the car to a mechanic who can do an exhaust measurement to see what is coming out the tail pipe (in CA any smog station can do this). You could get a printout of the results and compare that to what it should be. The dealer would be hard pressed to say there is nothing wrong when you have proof on paper. Just a thought.

One of the tricks for "pulse and glide" that I learned on my Escape hybrid is what I call the "brake tap". There are two ways to do it. First, overshoot your desired electric speed by ~5mph, then let off the accellerator. Here, you either lightly tap the brake twice waiting a second in between taps, or watch for the rpm to drop just slightly then tap the brake once. That brake tap tells the hybrid system to shut the engine off (it assumes you are slowing down or coming to a stop). then you have to *LIGHTLY* press the accellerator until the motor maintains the speed. Too hard on the pedal and you'll bring the engine back to life. This works well on the FEH, but that car was limited to <40MPH on electric speed. With 62+ mph on the Fusion, I'm not sure if it will work the same. Give it a try anyway.

Bob, you may want to rethink your order. Hybrids do increase mileage, but if you're an admitted aggressive driver, you won't see anything near 47/47. I'd bet you'll see mid-high 30's MPG with the hybrid if you don't change your driving habits. That's still an improvement over your Focus, but not high 40's That said, the hybrid "SmartGauge/Eco-guide" will help coach you into better driving habits, but that will require a willingness to change on your part. Have you ever driven a car with a CVT? They perform much different than you're used to. May want to try one before getting the hybrid. Just my 2¢

Same price as the std Titanium with AWD and 2.0l Eco-Boost

Coach, You were at one time considering the Energi. Don't you want to wait at least until the pricing is announced for that before deciding FFH or FFE? Though it's pure conjecture, I'm estimating the FFE at ~$35K, which makes it competetive after rebates. Of course, it depends on how long your commute is as to how long it will take to reach payback on the Energi price premium.

Different file type: Updated specs on 1/7/13

I figured this forum needed a new topic. Here is my collection of competitor info gleaned from various web sites. Hope it helps. - sorry, the attachment didn't work.

Too bad that doesn't include the Hybrid or Energi. Those two will be assembled in Mexico. :-(

It's a hoax. Don't waste any time or money on it. HHO is a fake name for water. You can't get more energy out of water than you put in. It is not physically possible.

Wait until you are at least sure on the wife's job status. Too many people bought houses on 2 incomes then lost one (and the house). No point in losing your car. Safe is boring, but it's still safe. My 2¢.

Yes, the Hybrid tax credit has expired for Ford. They've sold more than the max number of (std) hybrids and no longer qualify. They reached that threshold back in early 2010. The new tax incentive is for plug-in vehicles (both BEV and PHEV). It is pro-rated based on the battery size. The Energi gets $3750, the Plug-in Prius $2500 and the Volt and other BEV's get $7500. The formula is something like this: $2500 base line for 4kWh batteries and below, plus $417 per kWH above the 4. So the Energi's 7kWh battery is $2500+3*417 = $3751 (I guess they round off?)