jeromep

I'm sorry to hear of the theft. I'm glad you were able to find it with MyFordMobile. I'm even happier that when you did find it, it wasn't damaged. It may be possible to determine volume of car thefts based on some insurance think tank's research about claims made on stolen vehicles, but I don't think that manufacturers have information available to them, other than information that would be complied by law enforcement and insurance. I suppose that the vehicle locator which is part of the MyFordMobile package which is part of all the Energi series vehicles and the Focus Electric could be akin to LoJack, however it is operated by the special information logging module that is part of Energi vehicles. As an Energi owner I have the option of signing up my vehicle at the MyFordMobile web site and then I can get some intersting statistics about my driving and charging. The vehicle locator is part of that package along with various vehicle charging tools which are also geolocated. It is an impressive feature.

Correct. Eco Cruise does work to maintain your speed at your selected set point but without jerking around your throttle when hills, valleys, headwinds and tailwinds change. So, here's a little chestnut of experience from Prius-land which might paint the difference between Eco Cruise and standard cruise. In my Prius, if you hit an incline while using cruise the vehicle will throttle up as soon as it notices an incline and senses reduced speed. The Prius's cruise is so sensitive that when you hit a hill and you are doing highway speed (70mph in my neck of the woods), the vehicle will throttle up, sometimes quite noticeably, to compensate for the hill. The Prius is the only vehicle I've ever driven which can hold a cruise set-point without loosing speed. When you set it at 70, it stays at 70. It is remarkable. The Prius does not have an Eco Cruise equivelant. I've never turned Eco Cruise off on the C-Max, so I'm not sure what it's behavior would be in changing topology, but I suspect that with Eco Cruise off, the vehicle would behave much the same, speed control behavior as the Prius, using aggressive throttle response to maintain the set point. Eco Cruise reduces the aggressiveness of the throttle response, allowing the vehicle to drift down to a slightly slower speed when hills are encountered and then more gradually coming back to the set point without goosing the throttle.

The general engineering concept behind Ford hybrids is similar in concept to Toyota's hybrid system. Identical, no! But there are only so many ways you can skin a cat and there are only so many ways you can successfully hybridize a vehicle. Most of my knowledge comes from over 10 years of living with a Prius and becuase there is engineering similarity I felt supremely comfortable purchasing Ford hybrids. I need to find some links to the varous Prius based explainations of how this hybrid system works as it is a good baseline for explaining the mechanicals behind the C-Max (and the current Fusion Hybrid, and the previous generation Fusion Hybrid and the former Escape Hybrid). The remainder of my comments will be very general. Inside the transmission case are 3 major components which make this whole hybrid thing work. There are two motor/generators and a planetary gear pack (this is where a graphic would be useful). Let's define some terms (I tend to use Toyota's definitions as that is what I'm most familiar with). Motor-generators are electric motors which also act as generators depending on what the on-board computers want them to do. A planetary gear pack consists of an outside ring gear, a series of planet gears and in the center a sun gear. All the gears are meshed together permanently. A hybrid of this design has 3 potential sources of motive power; motor/generator 1 (MG1), motor/generator 2 (MG2) and the gasoline engine (internal combustion engine or ICE for short). All three of these motive devices are connected to the three major components of the planetary gear pack. The two motor/generators are of different physical sizes. There is a large, lower RPM motor generator (MG2) and a smaller higher RPM motor/generator (MG1). MG1 is connected to the sun gear at the center of the planetary gear pack. The ICE is connected to the planet carrier which is connected to the planet gears at the center ring of the planetary gear pack. MG2 is connected to the outer ring gear and in turn the outer ring gear is connected to the wheels through the final drive. The only motive device which is actually connected to the wheels of the vehicle is MG2. MG1 and the ICE cannot independantly motate the vehicle unless MG2 is instructed to move the vehicle by the onboard computers. To muddy the waters further, a hybrid vehicle gets its motive power from two sources, gasoline and stored electricity. The stored electricity all comes from the ICE or regenerative braking. So effectively a hybrid vehicle gets all of its electrical power from gasoline, no matter how you cut it. The engineering and science behind all of this is that a hybrid system that is programmed properly gains its increase in fuel economy over a conventional vehicle by doing numerous activities which optimize the efficiency of the varous components of the system. Internal combustion engines have efficient sweet spots, most easily described as RPM levels in which the best performance is achieved with the least use of fuel. The programming of the hybrid system works hard to operate the ICE at RPM and power levels which are the most efficient. The hybrid system also reduces or eliminates idiling of the ICE which is the least efficient running state of a conventional engine. Going down the road the onboard computers are taking in numerous factors to make wholeistic powerplant operating decisions. How much throttle demand? How much resistance on the vehicles forward momentum (environment, geography, vehicle weight, drag)? How much and what kind of demand from the A/C system? Accessory power utilization? And many other factors which I can't even imagine. The computer takes into account all of these factors and then combines the most efficient combination of gas and electrical power to acomplish that task. These decisions and transitions between power sources or the relative combination of power sources are occuring continuously. In some drive states the vehicle might make a decision to run the ICE while moving, but will direct most of the ICE power through MG1 to generate power to place in the battery while MG2 does most of the motive work. In a high demand situation, such as heavy acceleration the system might instruct all devices, MG2, ICE, MG1 to combine forces to put power to the wheels. When coming to a stop the vehicle will turn MG2 which typically moves the vehicle forward into a generator and will use electrical resistance to slow the vehicle and gain energy from the stopping process (rather than turning it into heat which is what conventional brakes do). There is no spot where the vehicle is all electric or all gas, it is an ongoing combination of the two which maximizes the efficiency of the two energy sources with the overriding goal of reducing tailpipe emissions and increasing fuel economy.

In general, these sales numbers probably ensure that the C-Max will continue to be manufactured for a number of years to come. Remember, all the car makers have CAFE standards to meet and fuel efficient vehicles in their product line up are essential to help them continue to sell less fuel efficient vehicles that are generally more profitable. In an ironic sense, thanks to CAFE standards we are the lucky benefactors who are able to purchase remarkable hybrid vehicles.

I would prefer to be helpful, but... In general hybrids whine. However, that whining may be a combination of capacitor noise, hybrids are throwing around a lot of voltage and amperage as they move around, and motor/generator noise. You will hear more whining when breaking or when accelerating. When cruising there isn't much whining. Also, the whining will change depending on if the vehicle is or isn't using the ICE in conjuction with its electrics. You will always hear engine compartment sounds like whining and ICE revving, however it shouldn't be exceedingly loud. Without having a good sound track to share, it is difficult to explain how the vehicle should sound when operating properly.

The "Key Life Test comparison" is about the best thing I've read yet about the new battery chemestry Ford is using and its lifespan potential. As a Prius driver, in addition to the C-Max, I've had no concerns about the battery in the Prius. Mine Prius is now over 10 years old with 75k on it and the car drives just like the day it was new. Even if the battery did act up, I'd replace it or have a specialist do cell reconditioning to keep the car going. It is much more valuable as one of the household vehicles and will cost less to repair than it will be to replace it. Between the sheer volume of Toyota hybrids on the street, and the volume of Ford hybrids, too; I think it is safe to say that the whole hybrid technology package is pretty much tested and proven. Now the real challenge is scaling it up past the size of the typical small and mid-sized vehicle and putting it into application with larger/heavier platforms, like trucks.

I've seen a few i3s bumping around my area. Early adopters. Good for them. I could see having one and enjoying it, but the price tag is just a little bit too rich for my blood, and I'd have to have a range extender to be comfortable with it as a daily driver.

It's nice to be on a car posting board again. I used to post on a couple of the Prius boards many years ago, but the Prius went from being a novelty to a regular old car and the boards I was on just kind of died out. Nice to be posting about a new technology vehicle in a active place.

I have a 2005 Prius, in addition to the C-Max (I much prefer the C-Max over the Prius). I purchased the Prius in December of 2004 and by February of 05 Toyota had issued a recall that applied a software change to the vehicle. Toyota actually called it a recall. Anyway, it was nothing more than a software update which changed some aspect of how the car operated. I didn't actually notice any changes, but it supposedly made starting and turning off the vehicle more reliable. Frankly, software updates to vehicles done as the vehicles age is a very logical way to improve vehicle performance without causing a lot of pain to the end-user. And yes, you are correct, it won't hurt a bit.

The A6 should be an improvement. I have an example from the region I live in. There is a double round about on an exit on I-90 westbound on the far east side of Bellevue, WA. This particular traffic control item has been in place at least 18 months if not 2 years or possibly longer. I don't live in Bellevue, but I visit it a few times a year. The A5 chip didn't have the roundabout structure in its map database. The A6 chip does. So, I'd say that if there have been road changes or improvements in the past 18 months in your area and they are not reflected on the A4 that you are currently using, then you'd probably see some, if not all of those changes reflected on the A6 chip. Incidently, I purchased my A6 chip off from eBay for half of what Ford's official side was offering it for. The A6 chip came shrink wrapped and packaged in the same material as my original A5 chip that came with the car, so I know it was legitimate. I have a Garmin Nuvi and I still believe that the portable navigation makers do a better job and keep their maps updated to a higher level than the auto makers. What I do like about in-dash nav is that it is in-dash and you don't have to have a device on top of your dashboard or stuck to your windshield.

I've been reading this thread and thought I'd pipe up since my nav was acting goofy until recently. A few weeks back I noticed that my nav position on the map would become more and more out of whack as I drove. To illustrate, sorry I don't have a video, but my nav plot on the map would be accurate at my starting point, but 2 or 3 miles of driving and the map would show my position as being a few hundred feet, or possibly a half a block ahead of my actual position. So, If I were sitting at an intersection the map would show my vehicle halway up the next block. In this condition, if you makde a left or right turn, the GPS would have you between roads in the middle of the block. Sometimes the GPS would correct itself and get the marker back on a road, sometimes I would not do any correction. I called Ford's in-vehicle support line and they told me that I'd have to contact my dealer. I took the vehicle into my dealer and according to the work order there was some kind of update or nav system update that they applied. The work the dealer performed didn't have anything to do with the map data card, it was something they had to apply with their diagnostic computer in the shop. I'm under warrenty, so no charge. I have no clue what it would cost to do that work if I were not under warrenty. My C-Max came with the A5 map card. I recently acquired an A6. Because I had two map data cards, I was able to test the map location accuracy with both map data sets and I had the same incorrect plotting on both cards, so the issue isn't with the map card, but with what the onboard navigation computer is doing to plot your place on the map.