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Agreed, there's a lot in common with prior hybrids, but there are a number of firsts. It's a first-gen Li-ion powertrain, industry wide. That's big, as no one has real-world data on Li-ion performance. The Key Life Test is just an accelerated life test, not actual life. It's a new power train, so we're seeing unexpected failures, like the tranny pump in early taxi fleets, and the several tranny replacements reported to date. My car is 100% EV when it's first started; even though the ICE is running. EV uses a different torque path through the tranny, perhaps bypassing the problem part(s) until they're properly lubed/warmed/ready, whatever the issue might be. Then there's 14B07; Porter's in the right date range, but no letter yet. Then there's the market. It's Ford's first-gen dedicated hybrid and first with a plug-in option. That the drivetrain is available as a choice in other models just broadens the test population, allowing comparisons between the "Prius buyer" they targeted and their established drivetrain-option hybrid buyer. They made some guesses, like the 63 MPH EV limit, that didn't work out, and a whole lot of stupid mistakes affecting perceptions more than performance. When looking at advanced technology, there will always be old tech around it. It can be hard to tell which is which. Ford did not license the power split system, and neither did Toyota. TRW patented it in 1972 as I recall, so the patents ran out in 1990. GM patented the neodymium magnet in 1982, so it's patents ran out in 2000. The unique new technology is in the control systems and power converters, as that's where "getting it all to play nice" has great benefit. We don't get to see Ford policy and strategy plans, but it appears they want to be second in line, not the leader in the field, but rather a profitable competitor. If history holds, it bodes well for Ford. HAve fun, Frank

Welcome, and congrats on the new "baby!" Give it time and you'll start to see them on the road. I have another one in my neighborhood, and two more at work, all the same Ice Storm. We don't know why ford doesn't advertise them, either, but they sure are investing in the technology! Have fun, Frank

I'd forgotten about this one until my wife came across the service receipt. We've had PCM reprogram recalls each year... - 13B07 was the big one that gave us EV above 63 MPH. - 14E02 changed some of the warm-up routines, allowing EV sooner? All I noticed. - 15E03 is still a mystery... Given this is Ford's first dedicated hybrid, you think they're using us as guinea pigs? Let's see if we get a "16E04" next year! HAve fun, Frank

It would be helpful if you were as technically competent as you believe yourself to be. Very good examples, of the adage: "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing", and the danger of internet "learning." "The energi has a load rating of 4720. N Blue EV tires have a load rating of 5556. Factory tires have a load rating of 5732." An engineer would say the Energi has a rated load capacity of 2866 lb. on the front axel and 1854 lb. on the rear axel. In fact, they did, on the door placard. I'm assuming rated axel load capacity does not exceed the OEM tire load index rating (about 60/40). What's the placard actually say? The N'blue tires in this size have a maximum load rating of 1389 lb. at 44 psi. What does that mean? It depends if this is an ETRTO tire or a P-metric tire. That's the difference between the two Michelin ES/AS 225/50-17's; the OEM tire is rated 1433 lb. at 51 psi, the other is 1477 lb. at 44 psi. Logical? No, but real. You're using an ETRTO size, so the ETRTO load tables apply. Here's a link to the Toyo application guide, which has the tables. - ETRTO specifies load at 36 psi, so a 92 load index has 1389 lb. load capacity at 36 psi. - P-metric specifies load at 35 psi, so a 93 load index has a 1433 lb. load capacity at 35 psi, consistent with door placard. Here's what a technically minded person would understand about your choice of tire and size. Your car is using its full OEM tire rated load capacity to achieve placard loads. There is no excess capacity available. 93 load index is a mandatory minimum. Assuming a 3900 lb. curb weight and 60/40 split, you'll need at least 30 psi in the tire (per the tables) before you should let the car down off the jack... but you can't get in. Assuming a 34 psi TPMS limit, you'll have a 600 lb. functional load capacity. Taking a family on a long, summer vacation would be foolhardy. You might be safe in a solo commute in an unladen vehicle. Note that this assumes 100% of the safety margin is in the tire load rating, and that non-catastrophic transient loads are not a significant factor in the service life of the tire. There's a reason no one recommends this course of action. Please reconsider, Frank

I did my first DIY oil change this Fall. Only one of the 8 screws was missing... it's replacement is in the console. I won't remember it until the next oil change. Frank

Interesting link there obob.... There's something interesting going on with that tire. I found the mfr. specs. Hopefully this is instructive (if somewhat confusing due to header mismatch). (table completely scrogged, no point in post without it)

Use a hat. We had this discussion in 2013 over DRLs. In "auto" mode, if you cover the sensor at the base of the windshield, the headlights come on. I keep a hat in the car, so I just throw it over the sensor when I want headlights on in daytime. No issues with them staying on, and it fixes the auto wipers-with-no-lights. Frank

Learned something new today; thanks Tomasz!

Exactly right, the game is all about what you do with that energy. This is how I think of it. The first step is getting as much energy as possible out of the fuel. Look up "brake specific fuel economy" (BSFC) to learn about the factors that drive it. You can get a measure of how well you're doing, by calculating "ICE MPG." ICE MPG = (total miles - EV miles)/fuel used. In this case, the lower the better. I get down to 16.5 ICE MPG when I'm pushing 55-60 MPG, yet highway trips I'm usually in the 25 ICE MPG range, with mileage in the low 40's. This requires low speed, high load ICE operation, which is hard to do at speed. Next is what you do with it. I include some numbers so you get a sense of scale. Yes, 10m in elevation is the same as going 30 MPH, so you can store 30MPH of kinetic energy by going up a 10m hill. You can't eliminate the parasitic losses, but you can minimize them (air pressure, Paul's grill block). Then you play, taking energy out of the fuel tank, and putting it into elevation, battery charge, and the vehicle's speed. Store speed energy with regen, and use of hills. Release that energy, in concert with ICE/fuel, the road, and your driving preferences. HAve fun, Frank

You are going to do what you want to do, regardless what we say. Our job is to make sure your eye are open. The best we can do is point out the cliff, and hope you see it in time. Your Energi is 18% more massive that the Soul EV, before you even open the door, yet you continue to think they can use the same tires. That's poor judgment. You got the wrong load ratings in your post (5732 is 4x OEM rating, your goal), which leads one to suspect other technical errors in your estimates. That's a sign of poor understanding. Poor understanding combined with poor judgment is unlikely to result in a happy outcome. I hope it's one you have the opportunity to learn from. That's the best good intentions can do.

Indeed it is. In the early 80's, you started to see car makers looking seriously at mileage in their designs. BMW developed the "eta" engine, limited to 4500 RPM by all the internal efficiency mods (reduce frictional losses), but with all the torque of a much smaller, conventional engine. They included an early MPG meter, and it was tied to the throttle; poor mileage if you didn't run wide-open - when accelerating - so you got to top gear sooner. I did the same experiment in my cars. With fuel injection, best mileage came when combining WOT acceleration with very short shifts, so you get to 5th gear as soon as possible, without running the engine over 3000 RPM (it's gutless range). Use the fewest engine revolutions to get up to speed, and you use less fuel doing so, is the idea. Of course, we're not driving a car, but rather a power station, run by a stationary motor operating in an optimized manner for the level of load imposed. I like it. Frank

Paul, this is GPS- and OBD-based data, right? That is, you're using your GPS as a speedometer, and the OBD scanner to measure fuel consumption simultaneously. This allows you to take accurate data over short stretches, without the confounding factors found in all trip data and tank data, like starting and stopping. That ability, in turn, allows you to select test conditions that show the greatest effect (within reason). I say this because such data cannot be replicated without similar instruments. We won't see a big an effect in tank or trip mileages because of lower speeds, more fuel used overcoming inertia, starts and stops, cold engines, etc. Improvement, yes, just tempering expectations. Frank

Interesting observation. Mine is that engine speed for a 2-bar burn can be anywhere between about 1500 and 2300RPM, depending on load and SOC. Managing RPM is the key. When first driving the C-Max, I spent a month developing a hybrid driving technique based on input here, before recording standard route data. My understanding was to "accelerate as fast as you can while still charging." As long as you saw a ^ above the battery, you were good. As I thought about it, I realized in my case, this was a bad thing. I wasn't giving the battery enough charge time, so EV was limited. I started looking more at RPM than Empower bars, because I could hear the engine speed wasn't following the Empower display. The next season, I tried to keep RPM below 2000, corresponding to a 1.5-2 bar burn in Empower, depending on SOC. I accelerated more slowly, but for a longer time, so average speed didn't change (still a 15 mile, 30 minute trip). - mileage went up 12-15% (more benefit in warmer temps) - fraction EV went up from 67% to 71% Now... 2000 RPM many not get you up to highway speeds, or up steep hills. I'm driving 35-45 speed limits on generally flat land, so no one should take any of this as an absolute. Just think about charging time when selecting ICE run modes, and you'll gain EV miles. HAve fun, Frank

Well, here's my data. Comparing the last 15 points before the service, with the first 15 after (all I have logged as yet). It's confounded by fuel; I went back to 87E10 when the update was done, so you have to estimate the fuel effect and subtract it. The temps also rose after the update, so there's a temperature correction as well. Before 15E03, on 91E0 52.24 MPG at 48.1F After 15E03, on 87E10 50.00 MPG at 53.9F Corrections: applied to Before data Temperature: 0.2MPG/degree means we add 1.16 MPG to Before Fuel: +4MPG observed at 87E10 to 91E0 switch, but at +20F ambient, a 4MPG effect. Assuming equal fractional effect due to fuel (percentage change, not absolute change) let's subtract 10% of the improvement ... subtract 3.6 from Before. Before is now 49.8MPG, After 50MPG. I'd estimate the standard deviation of my data at 2.5MPG, so it's both statistically insignificant, as well as practically insignificant. Get the update. Frank

Muting Nav is a good add! Given the issues with confirmation, and at least one case of dealer resolution, it seems prudent, if you've done the update, to check back where you got it: owner.ford.com > Sync & How To's > Check for software Updates. I get an "You're up to date" message, with a recent "last update confirmed" date. If you don't, put it on the list of things the next time you're at the dealer. This is covered under 12M04 APIM warranty extension. It may not make a difference to you, but a subsequent owner might be grateful. Have fun, Frank

This message isn't getting through. He's going to buy an incompatible tire, regardless the advice to the contrary. Frank

I find it hard to judge differences on the highway. Too many confounding factors, like wind speed. When driving Rochester to Baton Rouge, and back, mileage didn't vary with temperature (it was February), it varied by direction. To BR is against the prevailing winds, coming back, the wind was at our back. I guess I'm saying, YMMV, or not. HAve fun, Frank

I had the same result, but the update was received and I how show 3.8. Reporting is the one aspect that needs improvement. Frank

There's a post with a picture of Paul and Kellytoons as I recall, standing in front of their cars. Paul has add skirts to the rear wheel well, a well know drag reduction technique. Early Honda Insights had them, too. Frank

A couple comments. The update file comes in a zip file. Compression is so integrated into Windows you may not have noticed the decompression step. The resulting files include a directory, which contains CAB and ZIP files. You want to leave these alone. No issues with my update being recorded, but it wasn't as seamless as the update itself. As I recall, it completed, but didn't notify me until I tried a second time. HAve fun, Frank

There are two kinds of size, file storage size and image dimensions. Both can be issues, as cameras/phones gain increased resolution. 800x384 images in less than 1.5MB files of JPG, PNG, GIF and BMP format should work. Frank Note: Photographs with extremely large dimensions (i.e., 2048 x 1536) may not be compatible and appear as a blank (black) image on the display. Your system allows you to upload and view up to 32 photos. To access, press the Settings icon > Display > Edit Wallpaper, and then follow the system prompts to upload your photographs. Only the photograph(s), which meets the following conditions, display: • Compatible file formats are as follows: .jpg, .gif, .png, .bmp. • Each file must be 1.5 MB or less. • Recommended dimensions: 800 x 384

Instructions for uploading wallpaper are in the owners' manual, under My Ford Touch / Settings / Display, page 498 in mine.

I wasn't worried about the update... I mention it so anyone else with a similar experience will feel similarly at ease with the result. "TSB14-0037 R/R GPSM" was the service action listed for my GPS module replacement. Here's hoping it's covered, WNY; could be part of 12M04 recall extension on MFT if you're past 36K. HAve fun, Frank

Someone's been listening... Two things I haven't seen mentioned. DASH FEEDBACK Select the left side display that tells you the most (see Information Displays in the manual). There's a menu of selections (trip odos are here) and under "Display" a series of hybrid powertrain informational displays. Many of us use EMPOWER as the base display, for it's "Blue Outline" showing available EV, along with a blue bar of what's being delivered. Getting this feedback between your right foot and the drivetrain state enables much better fuel economy. The first secret to mileage is being able to select when you stay in EV mode, and when you use the ICE. Your right foot is the control. EV LIMIT You will never get more than 2 bar of EV when running on battery. Yes, there's 88KW of generator capability in there, and a 1.5KWh battery, but the best you'll ever get is 2 bar of EV when running on battery because peak battery power is 35KW. The reason is Ohm's law, Power = current x voltage, and let's say the system's running at 350V (ballpark range). 35KW is 100 Amps at 300V. My house has a 240V, 200 Amp service, for comparison, and do you think I've every used all 48KW?. Then consider the battery is DC, the motor/generators AC, so that 100 Amps isn't flowing through a wire, but rather a DC-AC converter. You should temper your expectations about EV mode; this is not a Tesla. Once you establish the link between hybrid state and right foot power requests, start to think of driving in terms of energy use. Here's a model of hybrid driving. When using ICE, you take energy out of the tank. You can put that energy either into the battery, or into energy of motion, kinetic energy. When you drive up hill, you store kinetic energy as potential energy. When you use regen braking, you store kinetic energy as electrical energy. When you drive down a hill, you release potential energy as motion. When you use EV, you release the kinetic energy stored from braking. The final piece is engine efficiency. Low RPM and high load get the most energy out of each gram of fuel. The metric is "brake specific fuel consumption" or BSFC, if you want to learn more. Now, you live in West Virginia, which is fairly hilly. I live just South of Lake Ontario, where it's fairly flat. We'll likely have very different optimum driving styles as a result of the differing terrain. I can charge-while-accelerating uphill most of the time, if I'm patient, and coast on EV down hill. With steeper hill, you need regen to control speed on the downhill side, so you have to use EV uphill, to make room in the battery! Knowing if it's about to flatten out makes knowledge of the route important too. I treat it like a game. HAve fun, Frank

Maybe two visits to the Ford update site? Yes, but I only downloaded the file once. Second time was to verify instructions. Only one set of files on the thumb drive. I understand, you have to ask!