New Energi owner, questions on charging and driver aids

[xxxthebxxx]

Hi all,

I just got my Energi in late January and have a few questions about it. First, the dealer didn't even have a Level 1 charger for it. They are shipping me a new one, but I also bought one used and it's been great. I'm getting 17 miles or so per charge, but it's the dead of winter in New England, so I'm fine with it.

 

I normally coat the undercarriage of my used vehicles ahead of a winter to help the chassis not rust, but I'm assume that may not work the same with the Energi? At least the battery is in the trunk.

Sync 3 in the car constantly asks for Wi-Fi updates when I get in, and when I say yes, it doesn't seem to do anything, even when I stay in home Wi-Fi range. Is there a reason why?

Also, my iPhone doesn't automatically play media right away. I'm coming from a 2012 Ford Focus that had My Ford Touch, and while that system seems universally disliked, I never had issues with it and it always played my phone music right away without asking. Is there a setting I'm missing here? (The active park assist will also be missed)

And finally, Lane Keep Assist must be turned on every time I get in. Is there a way to make it come on by default?

Thanks so much!

[Paul Creed III]

Updating Sync 3 via a USB stick will be far easier than waiting for the wifi update process to work:

 

Update Ford SYNC® & Navigation Maps | Ford Owner Support

[xxxthebxxx]

On 2/6/2023 at 6:31 AM, Paul Creed III said:

Updating Sync 3 via a USB stick will be far easier than waiting for the wifi update process to work:

 

Update Ford SYNC® & Navigation Maps | Ford Owner Support

Thank you, this was super helpful and I got the update in quickly. I was surprised to find Sync 3 looking a little different now, but it's nice!

[jsamp]

Not sure on the 2019, but on my 2015 there are a lot of sound-deadening fiber panels on the undercarriage.  I'm not sure spraying  the undercarriage would do much as it would just coat the panels.  Maybe if you took the panels off (assuming yours has them) and sprayed the metal then replaced the panels, but that would be a pain.

[xxxthebxxx]

On 2/8/2023 at 1:26 AM, jsamp said:

Not sure on the 2019, but on my 2015 there are a lot of sound-deadening fiber panels on the undercarriage.  I'm not sure spraying  the undercarriage would do much as it would just coat the panels.  Maybe if you took the panels off (assuming yours has them) and sprayed the metal then replaced the panels, but that would be a pain.

Good to know, maybe I will avoid it. The car is new enough where I can probably get away with it for a while without coating anyway, but I'll have to be better about just washing the undercarriage in the winter if that's the case.

[theterminator93]

On our '17 there are plastic fairings on the undercarriage designed to smooth out the flow of air under the car and reduce drag at highway speeds. I don't know if there's sound matting underneath of them, though.

[xxxthebxxx]

On 2/9/2023 at 10:50 AM, theterminator93 said:

On our '17 there are plastic fairings on the undercarriage designed to smooth out the flow of air under the car and reduce drag at highway speeds. I don't know if there's sound matting underneath of them, though.

Thanks for that, and nice MPG on your Energi! I've been a Fuelly user for a long time. I'm guessing computing MPG on a plug-in hybrid is difficult all around, because it depends on how many times you plug in, right?

[theterminator93]

Fuelly doesn't have a way to record MPGe (which factors in the electricity used as an equivalent amount of gasoline) but I do record the kWh between fillups. If I go back and do the math to factor that in, the actual average MPGe of the car since we've had it is about 66.2. The last time I topped off the tank at a gas station was 2 months ago.

 

MPG on the long highway trips in HEV mode tends to average 40-45 MPG, depending on the temperature/wind. When we're in EV mode in town, I've measured the efficiency at about 170 MPGe.

[xxxthebxxx]

That's smart, I see you put notes in there to mark it. I will probably take that idea! 40-45 MPG in HEV mode is still excellent, even as I'm coming from a Focus that averaged around 32.