Nherring

A new Experience today! Last night I drove home from work - 56 miles, 37 of it on the battery. When i pulled into the driveway, my car showed up with only a remainder charge on the hybrid setting. I plugged in as usual and left the car over night. This afternoon, I unplugged and got into the car to start up and the entire 12v system was dead. Nothing.... My charger was in the trunk and of course it's virtually impossible to open with no power, so I hooked up the car with jumper cables under the hood and the car immediately came back to life - no faults no flashing lights, etc. I let the car charge up for 15 minutes and took it on a four mile hike in EV later mode to make sure the battery was fully charged. So it seems to me that Ford's lastest update altered the programming so that instead of throwing off faults and going into limp mode, the 12v system just shuts down. While this is a little better - driving in limp mode is dangerous as hell - it's still off the charts, especially when you can't get into the trunk. So to fix the trunk problem, i attached a string to the manual trunk latch and ran the string in behind the back seats. Now I can just drop the seat and access the string - no more hassle getting into the trunk without power. Bad design though....

Have been using xi3s for several years and have mounted them on my Energi a couple of weeks ago. Fabulous tires! Quiet, and stick like glue in the worst conditions.

After speaking with TireRack and my Ford dealer, I went ahead and bought 16" steel rims with Michelin IS3 snow tires. Had them shipped mounted and when I attempted install them on the car it was immediately clear that the wheel diameter was too small. The garage was able to find 17" tires and later that day they mounted and installed them on my OEM wheels. I'll buy new wheels in the spring. Neither the Ford dealer nor TireRack had a clue. I ended up paying list for the tires ($400 more than Tirerack's price) and covering the shipping costs both ways because TireRack wouldn't admit their error. Happy holidays, everyone.

Hi all I figured out a new technique that's had an amazing impact on my mileage driving on the interstate at 65-70 mph. I set the cruise control at 70 while in battery later mode. When I hit a spot where the road goes into a modest decline, I cancel the cruise control and immediately reset it. The car immediately cuts the engine and goes into battery only mode until the road begins an incline. As a result, I've increased battery mode from about 30% on my daily commute down Interstate 95 to 52%. As a result, overall mileage on my 56 mike commute jumped to 90 mpg with 37 of the 56 miles in battery mode, including 6.6 - 7 miles I regen. Note that if the decline is steeper, I leave cruise off, and let the car coast in regen. Of course when I'm going down a steep hill, I put the car in low and hit max regen while going 70mph. So by being careful with the various points I do this I can maximize battery usage and minimize engine use. Without using this technique, I was at 80mpg. Clearly a major improvement. Overall fans usage for the 56 miles went from .68 gallons to .61 gallons - a ten percent improvement. Since I get to plug in at work, this method works in both directions. Wow!

I've been focusing on the following two methods of using L. 1) when driving at moderate speeds, drive in normal mode but switch to L when approaching traffic lights, stop signs, steep downhill sections and traffic congestion ahead. 2) when driving in heavy stop and go traffic, leave in L and control speed solely with the accelerator. 3) at high speeds, use cruise control and inactivate during downhill stretches, causing regen in normal mode, even if it causes modest speed loss; re accelerate as approaching level at the vase of the hill. 4) at moderate speeds, back off accelerator when approaching the top of a hill and allow the car to coast over the top, ain't wining a fir speed for those behind you. Be more aggressive on regen if nobody's following closely. Slowing by 10 mph under the right conditions can really add the regen, assuming you don't use it up by heading up a steep hill immediately. As a result, my overall regen has increased dramatically. For example, my commute is ~ 55 miles each way. Initially I typically drove 28 miles on battery/regen and used .85 gallons of gas. As I've improved, I'm now at 33-34 miles battery/regen and using an average of .65 gallons of gas. At the current rate, it'll take me two weeks to use a tank of gas, I'll get a total of 1,250 miles and average 90 mpg. I have an L2 charger at work so my drive is similar both ways. I'm still improving. 100mpg is possible, I think, although only rarely, due to heavy traffic most of the time.

With 4000 miles on the car, I'm beginning to get some good numbers that appear to be consistent from week to week. For the past 5 years I drove an Altima hybrid on average about 600 miles per week and 32 miles per gallon - 34 in the summer and 31 in the winter. So I ended up buying 18.75 gallons per week. With the energy, I'm driving the same mileage but the gas bill is much smaller. I'm getting about 950 miles per 13.3 gallons of gas . So et's compare. Before - 18.75x52 x$3.60 =$3,510 annually. Today using the same average weekly mile count; 436.8 gallons x $3.60=$1,572.48 that's a 55.2% reduction. Or a net savings of $165 per month. There are signs this is getting better. This week my daily trip used about .1 gallons better then last week. My hyper-miling skills seem to be improving. By the way, if you've followed my earlier posts, you know I have free l2 charging at work. So I need to add let's say $360 in electrons to my overall cost.

I posted my experiences today under Advanced Driver Assist section. Interesting how few people at Ford understand this yet. I plan on leaving a trickle charge on my 12 volt battery when I head on vacation for two weeks at the end of August.

Hi all Had an interesting experience last evening. About mid-day, after completing a charge on the Charge-point at work, I pulled the car and parked it nearby before going back to work. At 5:30, I started the car to head home and was confronted by a series of faults, beginning with AdvanceTrac and ending with the check-engine light coming on. I stopped the car, re-started to no avail. The car was running ok, although cruise control wouldn't engage, among other thing. I drove home without incident and parked te car, figuring I'd call the dealer in the morning. When I restarted the car this morning, all the adults had cleared but the check-engine light. Around 10am, I called a dealer near work and set up an appointment for next Tuesday. Later, I restarted the car, after having driven for awhile, and the check-engine fault had cleared as well. At this point I called Rob, the Energi expert at Grappone Ford, in Concord NH, the guy who trained me to operate te systems, and learned what happened. He believes that I must have left the drivers door ajar most of the day yesterday (or left an interior light on) or otherwise caused the 12 volt system to drop blow the critical voltage threshold required by the computer and according to Ford, lost the system, causing the faults. The adults cleared once I drove the car and re-charged te 12 volt battery. So, FAIR WARNING..... It is critical that the 12volt system stay at spec. If it falls too far, the car won't even start until the 12 volt system is re-charged no matter how well charged the hybrid battery is. On a side note, I spoke with Ford customer service and two service managers at other dealers and none understood the problem and what to do to fix it, other than to schedule a service visit next week. Fortunately, Rob went through the same exercise last week with a C-Max that they left a NH Speedway in Laconia for a few days during race week. Constantly engaging the system by opening the driver-side door caused the 12volt system to discharge to the point where it threw so any faults, nothing worked. If you live in NH and know someone who's interested in the car, have team call Rob.... He's amazing. And Grappone sold 8 more Energis since I bought mine 6 weeks ago.

Welcome Mark I waited a total of 9 weeks and took delivery in mid June. Now with 2k miles and still have half my third tank of gas; over 70mpg averaging 50% EV give or take. Incredible! And my commute includes a 30 mile run @75mph twice a day. Fortunately, I re-charge at work on free L2. Neil

Hi all Lots of approaches to try but with all due respect to the Ford programmers, this is nuts! Thanks Neil

I'm at 1833 miles this evening and my commute is 112 miles round-trip with L2 re-charge for free at work. I'm averaging 65 MPGe commuting and ~54 MPGe overall because of a long weekend on the Cape with no charge (close to 300 miles) Overall, it's working out to 70 mpg calculating the old fashion way by filling the tank. So I'm going to typically fill the tank with 13 gallons every 850 miles or so. That compares with my Nissan Altima hybrid where I put 19 gallons in every 600 miles. So basically I've cut my gas bill in half. It's going to save me around $1,800 annually. That works for me although I'm anticipating a material increase in my electric bill, obviously.

I'm trying to figure out how to get the fan on to vent fresh air from outside when no AC is needed but even when I turn off AC it's clear the AC system is cooling and the battery is getting sucked down more than would be caused by just running the fan alone. Anyone succeeded in this? Running the AC when it's 70 degrees out makes no sees.

Ok, just filled the tank for the first time. 12.186 gallons for 793 miles or ~ 65 mpg. I'm a happy camper!!!!

So after 4 days with the same commute, it keeps getting better. My overall mileage is up to 57.6 MPGe and assuming that the gas gauge is accurate, I could be looking at ~900 miles on my first tank. Could I really hit 65 mpg? Stay tuned. A couple of factoids; 1. Fully charged my battery claims 27-31mpg although it seems to be averaging around 27. 2. I've seen te MPGe hit 156 during short trips around town. 3. Overall, I'm averaging 91% braking efficiency. 4. Battery & re-gen together are providing about 58% of total energy, and gas 42%. If someone were to use this car mostly for commuting city-style, gas station stops would be a rare occurance. By the way, when I have time to slow down, I will.

Hi all I completed my first 110.6 mile commute today. Traffic was fine on I95 and I flew along at between 75 and 80 mph for about 35 miles each way. Kept the car on EVlater the whole time. From home to the highway entrance (5+miles each way - full EV mode and the same for a stop and go trip down RT 1 onto the Tobin Bridge and up Storrow Drive to the medical school. I arrived at the garage with 3miles to go, picked up a full charge, and arrived home with 1mile left on the battery. Note, the battery is now indicating 25 miles fully charged, vs 18 when I took delivery Saturday. The results? Overall MPGe round trip 50.2 Total fuel use for 110.6 mies? 1.7 gallons for a net of 65mpg round trip. And this system ain't broken in yet....