Potential New Owner

[McGarnagle]

Hi Everyone,

 

My wife and I are looking at buying a new car. We rented a Fusion Hybrid not long ago, which we really liked, but I'm thinking about going with the Energi Titanium. This car will be mostly used for family traveling, errands, and I'll be driving to and from work, about 35 miles round trip. 

 

I have a few questions that hopefully someone can answer. 

 

1. After the EV battery is drained, and you switch to the gas engine, does the gas engine along with regen braking slowly recharge the EV Battery? 

 

2. When the car is plugged, can I warm/cool the car in the mornings without having to start the engine?

 

3. The battery is 7kwh, with an estimated range of 20 miles. With regen braking what's the furthest you have driven? I know it's best to go EV while city driving and use the gas egine while on the highway. 

 

4. How well does the car handle in snow?

 

I'm sure i'll have more questions once those are answered.

 

Thanks Everyone!

 

 

 

 

[murphy]

1. No and yes.  In normal driving it will not recharge the EV part of the battery (there is only one battery).  However if you were to come down from the top of Pike's Peak it would fully recharge the EV battery.  In other words the engine will not recharge the battery but regenerative braking will recharge the battery.

 

2. Yes if you install a level 2 EVSE (commonly called a charger, but it isn't a charger).  The level 1 EVSE that comes with the car is limited to 1440 watts which does a poor job of heating the cabin.

 

3. The most I have done on a regular basis without heat or air conditioning is 22 miles.  Heat or air conditioning will reduce the range.  Heat is a lot worse than air conditioning.  Winter will also reduce the range.  You don't get the entire capacity of the battery.  The part reserved for hybrid operation is 1.1 kW I think.  Also it can't be fully charged or discharged since that is very bad for a Lithium-ion battery.

 

4.  I live in snow country (south east PA) but I don't drive until I get my driveway cleared and by then the plow has cleared the streets.  Maybe some of the people from the real snow country can comment.

 

Any chance that you could charge the battery at work?

Edited November 17, 2015 at 09:34 PM by murphy

[Platinum15Ti]

Murphy did a great job on answering the questions. My answer for # 3 is different however. My 2015 Titanium regularly gets 26-30 miles on EV in the warmer months and drops with the AC. Now that it's getting colder at night (I park outside), I get 20-22 miles on EV and less with the heat and defrost.

 

I charge only overnight with the charger that came with the car and my round trip to work and picking up my son afterwards is roughly 40 miles. My best tank was 2,002 miles and my worst was about 1,000 miles when I got it last winter.

 

My lifetime avg mpg on the dash is 126.7 mpg.

 

My car is lowered, so I'm curious to see how it does in the snow this year. I missed most of the snow last winter, as I got it in Feb 2015.

[lonzo71]

yep, some great answers above, but # 3 if you havent noticed yet, depends on how you drive. Some goes faster than others, break harder, wind, weather, ect...I can and have hit 31 on it but the stars have to line up for it..so my lifetime avg is 64.4. Not bad, I dont think,  since I cant charge at work...44 miles one way.

 

The snow part..I'm in the dc metro area, so I havent had it when we got that much snow as you might get, but a few inches, its a so-so...

[Hybridbear]

Snow handling is more dependent on tires than the vehicle. Just about any car with winter tires will do better in snow than the best handling car with non-snow tires.

 

We can see close to 30 miles of EV range in the summer under ideal conditions. We see closer to 15 miles of EV range in the winter with the heat on.

 

For 35 miles round trip I'd buy a Volt, not a Fusion Energi. The EV range of the Energi is too short.

[bdginmo]

3. I have a 58-65 mile (depending on route) commute. If I'm really careful and choose a route that keeps me at or below 40mph I can get up to 28 miles on an EV charge in warm weather. 22-24 is more typical though. Now that it is getting colder it's closer to 20 and I suspect that will still drop as winter sets in. In hybrid mode I can get up to 50 mpg in warm weather. I'm guessing I'll be close to 40 mpg in the winter. You can see my lifetime average below.

 

Check your electric rates. Here in St. Louis it is $0.12/kWH in the summer and less than $0.06/kWH in the winter. So for me charging is a highly effective cost saving measure. Averaging out the electric rate and EV range differences between summer and winter I would say my breakeven point on electric vs gasoline is about $1.50-1.60/gallon. We have some of the lowest rates in the country though. There is a thread on this forum where we have discussed the breakeven point and how to calculate it.

 

By the way, gasoline can be found for $1.51/gallon here right now. But with the lower winter rate in effect gasoline would probably have to be under $1.00/gallon for it to be cheaper for me.

Edited November 18, 2015 at 09:14 PM by bdginmo