True ICE fuel economy

[acdii]

I was thinking about this this morning on my drive in. The MPG calculations are done with the combination of the Hybrid system, Gas/Electric, but what is the ACTUAL MPG of the engine. So when I got to work, I marked down the usual, and also the EV miles. I subtracted the EV from total miles, and divided gas used by that and came up with 17 MPG. OUCH. The 2.0 EB does better than that, shows just how much of the hybrid combination goes into getting high MPG.

 

So the real question is, without the engine charging the pack while propelling the car, what does it really get per gallon? It is pretty easy to find out in the 2010-12 Hybrids, just drive over 50 MPH, no electric is used unless you hammer the throttle. The 2.5 is pretty efficient, 36 MPG on the low end, and I have seen if much much higher than that, as high as 50.2 MPG.

 

We know that anything over 65 on the 13 returns not so good numbers, so is it a design of the car where wind resistance really impacts it, or is the 2.0 just not that efficient? My guess is the latter, considering how the Cmax is also suffering, and worse than the Fusion due to its COD being higher.

[brcd131]

I found that the wind makes a huge difference. Drove about 45 miles with strong tail wind and got about 45 MPG (62 MPH). Then drove back with strong head wind and got about 32 MPG. With the head wind, the car rarely went into full EV mode, ICE ran almost full time.

[coach81]

good question.. I would think with the 4 cylinders.. gas economy should be pretty good?

[jsamp]

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.

[acdii]

You would think so, but not from what I have seen so far. It spends most of its time in the 20's regardless of SOC of the battery. The only time I do see it in the upper 30's is when its too cold to go into EV, and I take the load off it.

[hybridbear]

You would think so, but not from what I have seen so far. It spends most of its time in the 20's regardless of SOC of the battery. The only time I do see it in the upper 30's is when its too cold to go into EV, and I take the load off it.

 

I've watched the instant gauge a lot while on the highway to see how the ICE does by itself. I've found that when the battery has a low SOC and lots of gas is being used to recharge the battery then the instant shows only in the 20s, but when the battery SOC is high I've seen the instant fuel economy climb up above 40 MPG on flat highway. Using the fuel economy screen with the bar chart and an app on my iPhone to check my elevation I recently tested this on our trip home from California and found that cruising at 60 MPH on the highway the ICE is pretty consistent on flat terrain. With temperatures around 20 degrees we would see 6 minute averages around 45 MPG very consistently on flat ground. Those 6 minute intervals generally had very little or no EV mode because on flat ground the car doesn't go into EV mode at highway speeds, it only goes into EV mode when descending a hill and then can stay in EV mode on flat ground, but a long stretch of flat highway will not get the car into EV mode. So that was 6 minutes of ICE only, no EV mode, with an almost full battery so minimal energy is being diverted to charge the battery and the ICE returned 40-45 MPG at 20 degrees. I think that's pretty good.

 

acdii - I hope you can get Ford to fix your car or replace it. With the comments you've made about the plugs being fouled, the oil you've seen etc, it's clear that something is not built right on your car. I find it surprising that you've gone on this long with all those issues and Ford has not fixed this.

[acdii]

I use a Scan Gauge ii to monitor different aspects of performance, and can see real time MPG by the numbers, and the bar chart in the car is slow. In fact all the numbers on the dash are off by 1/2 mile, to 2 MPG. On the gauge screen I have RPM, Avg MPG, Instant MPG and temp. I can see that for the most part the MPG on the ICE is under 30 MPG, only when the SOC is full, does it get into the 30's.

 

As far as Ford goes, if I dont hear from them soon, I may bail on it. The frustration and concern over this is wrecking me. I like the car, but not getting the gas mileage expected out of it when our 3 year old car does better aggravates me, especially when I know it can do it. The thing we are trying to decide on is what to replace it with. Finding something with enough room for 3 adults and two car seats for taking road trips is top of the list, the Fusion doesnt really cut it. Short trips are OK, but to take a trip for any length of time, it just wont do. We also need cargo capacity, turns out the Pickup would have been used a few times since I got rid of it, getting horse feed 4 bags at a time is time consuming, we used to get a months worth in one trip, now its more like a weeks worth.

 

I never really thought how much we used the Flex for these things, and now that we dont have it or the pickup, and just the two cars, we are thinking, maybe it would be good to get another Flex, or MKT, or if possible a Highlander Hybrid. Used of course, if it will reduce our monthly payment. Right now, it's in Ford's court, so if no response from them after my dealer has contacted them several times and basically told them to call me, and the right deal comes up, it will be so long Fusion.

 

Now maybe a new 2012 FFH will pop up for the right price, we might grab that, since we know how well they do, and we are keeping the 2010 for a long time, been a good car so far, and should be one for years to come.

[hybridbear]

I use a Scan Gauge ii to monitor different aspects of performance, and can see real time MPG by the numbers, and the bar chart in the car is slow. In fact all the numbers on the dash are off by 1/2 mile, to 2 MPG. On the gauge screen I have RPM, Avg MPG, Instant MPG and temp. I can see that for the most part the MPG on the ICE is under 30 MPG, only when the SOC is full, does it get into the 30's.

 

I've found that the trip computer is spot on when it comes to gallons used when I fill up. The variation is minimal.

[GrySql]

I've found that the trip computer is spot on when it comes to gallons used when I fill up. The variation is minimal.

Mine too, two clicks of the auto shutoff handle and it is almost exact.

[acdii]

Mine is consistently under what is actually put in at the first click.

 

From my logbook.

 

Scangauge miles driven, 282, Trip miles driven, 278.5. Gallons used, SG, 8.3, Trip, 8.03, actual 8.286, MPG SG, 33.8, trip, 34.6, actual, 33.611,

Previous tanks, I didnt mark down the miles, just used the odometer readings

prior tank 9.102 actual, 8.71 trip, SG calibration 9.3 down to 9.1, calibration completed as the last tank was right on the money. MPG, actual 34.608 trip 36.1.

 

I have about 30 trips logged so far and the only ones that have different readings between the two are short trips, the dash shows lower or very close, but majority of them are between 1-2 MPG higher on the dash than actual. This cars calibration is way off.

 

I am waiting on a call back from my dealer this afternoon on a different vehicle, but if for some reason we cant work something out, I will see if doing a hard reset on the entire car helps.

[GrySql]

I had the 'hard reset' done on my car at 1600 miles because of the 'Traction Control & Hil Saver' warnings, now have 2800.

I zero'ed the Avg mileage when that was done, at that time my average mpg was 35.

Since I zero'ed it out my average mpg is 37+.

Over half my miles are on the L.A. freeway systems combative & evasive driving free for all - at 70+ mph.

I no longer drive this like it will break, maybe 30% of the time I try to play the EV game locally.

 

I could get better mileage if I tried but that tires me out, more relaxing to let it do it's ECOcruise and forget it's a hybrid.

After driving my Expedition for 12 years, this is cake.

[hybridbear]

17 MPG isn't bad for the ICE considering that when it runs it is not only powering the car but also charging the battery.

 

My FFH was in the shop yesterday because the CEL came on and as a rental they gave us a 2012 Fusion SEL. We got 17 MPG in the gas Fusion and I drove it like I drive the Hybrid. So even when the Hybrid is only doing 35-40 MPG in the cold it is still doing DOUBLE what a gas Fusion does.

[acdii]

Well damn, my V6 Sport did better than that, even when I was playing with it, and I did play with it, A LOT! That car was a blast for a family Sedan. That is one car I actually shed a tear over when I got rid of it.

[Fynack]

17 MPG isn't bad for the ICE considering that when it runs it is not only powering the car but also charging the battery.

 

My FFH was in the shop yesterday because the CEL came on and as a rental they gave us a 2012 Fusion SEL. We got 17 MPG in the gas Fusion and I drove it like I drive the Hybrid. So even when the Hybrid is only doing 35-40 MPG in the cold it is still doing DOUBLE what a gas Fusion does.

 

Fuelly has the 2012 Fusion SEL at mid 20s for almost every car but you only get 17. But then some how you get 42.9 on the 2013 hybrid in Minneapolis, MN where the average temp are in 20s and 10f. Interesting.... scratching head.....whats going on !!!

[hybridbear]

Fuelly has the 2012 Fusion SEL at mid 20s for almost every car but you only get 17. But then some how you get 42.9 on the 2013 hybrid in Minneapolis, MN where the average temp are in 20s and 10f. Interesting.... scratching head.....whats going on !!!

 

Haha, not sure. The rental Fusion SEL was the V6 too. We only put about 45 miles on it so it's not a large sample. The MPG was only around 15 in the city until I got a few miles on the highway back to the dealer which brought it up to 17 in the end. It kind of makes me wonder if Enterprise is putting E85 in it to save money. I know when I topped it off before going back to the dealer I put in E85 because it is cheaper...

[hybridbear]

E85 is still pretty big in MN, even though it's been found to not be worth it because of lower energy content and prices that aren't low enough to make up for that

[acdii]

Haha, not sure. The rental Fusion SEL was the V6 too. We only put about 45 miles on it so it's not a large sample. The MPG was only around 15 in the city until I got a few miles on the highway back to the dealer which brought it up to 17 in the end. It kind of makes me wonder if Enterprise is putting E85 in it to save money. I know when I topped it off before going back to the dealer I put in E85 because it is cheaper...

1. its a rental

2. its a rental

 

'nough said! LOL

 

 

I had rented a Prius in San Jose for a week and I could not get that thing over 45 MPG, who knows how it was driven. The one I had I easily got it over 50 MPG, and had seen 75 for well over 200 miles on the highway, so if I can do that , but not on a rental, probably means the computer is so fouled from different drivers only a reset would fix it.