hybridbear

Don't you have a ScanGauge? With it you can see the HVB temp. But I'm thinking that the thought that this happens for transmission lubrication purposes is likely right. As drdiesel mentions, the Energi has an electric transmission fluid pump, the hybrid does not. That means that the fluid inside the eCVT isn't flowing unless the ICE is on.

I think the "bystander effect" is one problem. People think, "I don't need to use less gas, someone else will."

This is incorrect. Also, if you're going to count the pollution caused by electricity generation then you need to count the pollution from refining the oil into gasoline. Let's consider the car pollution lifecycle, comparing ICE cars with BEVs: manufacturingmaintenancefuelManufacturing - It's generally accepted that BEVs require more resources to manufacture than a gasoline powered car. I'm not sure how an FCV would compare but it's likely in the middle. Maintenance - BEVs are much cleaner than ICE cars because they don't need oil changes which create a lot of pollution. FCV maintenance is not publicized. Fuel - an ICE car creates pollution during the extraction of oil from the ground, transporting the oil to a refinery, refining the oil, transporting the gasoline to a gas station, burning the gasoline. A BEV creates pollution during the extraction of coal/natural gas/etc from the ground or in the form of nuclear waste, etc, some power plants create almost no pollution such as hydro, wind or solar. There is also pollution when transporting the fuel to the power plant and when burning fossil fuels to generate electricity. However, there is no more pollution after that. There is no pollution caused by transporting electricity across the grid to an outlet and no pollution caused by transforming electrical energy into kinetic energy by the electric motor.

$10k off MSRP might be doable right now after incentives. What kind of incentives are there on leftover 2013s?

There are a couple issues with fuel cells: pollution - to refine one barrel of oil into approximately 19 gallons of gasoline you also need: electricity, water & another hydrocarbon fuel to burn to create heat, an EV can drive the equivalent distance of a gasoline car with 19 gallons of gas just from the electricity used in refining, meaning that an EV leaves you with: all the water, other hydrocarbon fuel & one barrel of oil, creating much less pollution. Fuel cells have a similar issue. The energy required to make H2 available as a fuel is very high and an EV can do so much more with so much less energy. The key to reducing GHGs in the atmosphere and addressing climate change is to reduce overall energy consumption, the efficiency of electric motors and battery packs allows this. Reducing energy consumption solves all the other issues (GHGs, pollution, etc). fuel cost - Toyota says that optimistically a fuel cell vehicle will cost the same to operate as a 20 MPG gas car. An EV costs the same to operate as a 100+ MPG gas car. Why in the world would anyone want to have a FCV when you could drive an EV, hybrid or diesel (or even a 2.5L gas Ford Fusion) for less money? infrastructure - EVs can be charged anywhere there is electricity, which is pretty much everywhere in this country, fuel cell vehicles need specialized fuel stations which are very expensive to build due to the equipment needed to store H2. Another study suggests that a $1 billion investment is needed to bring H2 costs down to $7/kg. This cost would be equivalent to your average new gas only car sold today. Again, this cost is about 4 times what it would cost to operate a BEV sold today. These projections assume that gasoline vehicles become no more efficient or less expensive and that EVs also become no more efficient or less expensive. vehicle cost - FCVs cost way more than BEVs who sells the fuel - the same companies that currently sell gasoline want to sell you H2. The companies selling H2 are also for-profit companies. One expects to be profitable selling H2 in just a few years. Electricity usually comes from utilities which are regulated and are not allowed to price gouge and are even required to return profits to their customers in some areas. Any landowner can also generate their own electricity by purchasing PV panels or through other methods.I don't think that BEVs are practical for cross-country travel or as the only car in a one-car household. Even Teslas with SuperChargers aren't practical for road trips in my mind. What I could envision for the future is a world where a multi-car household has at least one BEV and at least one PHEV or diesel depending on their needs. For residents in rural areas who do a lot of high speed driving with minimal traffic, diesels are the most efficient mode of transport. For city dwellers who spend lots of time commuting in traffic, BEVs are the best option as a primary vehicle. Since most households have more than one car, the secondary or tertiary vehicle should be something with "limitless" range - a PHEV or a diesel. For people who need a maximum amount of cargo space a hybrid or diesel vehicle will suit their needs while reducing resource consumption. The key in all of this is to reduce resource consumption. That is the key to addressing the global issues. Any project that doesn't address resource consumption won't help. FCVs don't fix the resource consumption issue, that's why the oil companies like FCVs. I hate to be cynical, but I don't understand how any car company could promote FCVs over BEVs. The only way I can rationalize the position taken by Toyota, Honda and Hyundai is that they're being paid off by big oil. Otherwise how could they justify the R&D dollars for FCVs when it's clear that they'll never work in the real world. All that they manage is to stall the BEV revolution and keep big oil happy and wealthy. The whole system is corrupt.

You can also fit the 120V charger from Ford under the hood if you use a heavy duty extension cord. The extension cord runs from the outlet under the front of the hood near the Ford logo, the EVSE can sit near the firewall on the driver's side. The J1772 connector for the car can come out near the wiper blades and be plugged in. No cords are pinched this way. This doesn't stop someone from unplugging your car, but you can set up the alerts in MyFord Mobile to send you a text message or an e-mail if that happens.

The 9 MPG difference of 29 versus 20 is a much greater decrease in fuel consumption that 47 vs 39 relating to the C-Max. Check out this article for more info: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1019426_miles-per-gallon-is-just-stupid-no-really-it-is

It's 11 key cycles in a certain period of time. We've found that locations visited once a week do not register. Locations visited three times a week do. I'm not sure about places visited twice a week. The theory is that on start up the ICE will be cold and thus will not be able to turn off immediately. Thus, having a low SOC allows the car to place more load on the ICE during that warm-up period. I don't find it useful because I know that I can get better gas mileage by keeping my SOC near half when arriving home because it allows me to get out to the main road before engaging the ICE the first time. Then, acceleration on that road is long enough to get the ICE up to operating temp in the summer so I never have the ICE running at idle. If I have too low an SOC when I get home then the ICE turns on too early and I sit at a red light with the ICE idling.

The car does have tables that adapt to driving style. For example, after we drive a long distance on the freeway with minimal EV mode, the car revs the ICE much higher than normal when driving in the city because it's used to running at a much higher RPM on the highway. After awhile it reverts back to normal. Check out the links in this thread.

Is there an electrical supply near your space? As is mentioned above all you'd need is a 120V outlet, nothing more. Our apartment complex paid for the 240V EVSE unit for us because they want to encourage residents to switch to EVs. They have an electrician on the maintenance staff who could do the installation. They did not bother to run this circuit to a separate meter because that would have been expensive. They just wired our 240V charging station into an existing panel that had open capacity. We then pay them a fixed rate of $35 per month for our electricity use. This was calculated based on a couple assumptions: We'll drive about 1000 miles/month We'll achieve the EPA rating for Wh/mi which accounts for charging lossesTo validate these assumptions we're using one of the trip odometers to track our monthly mileage and electricity use. I then save these pictures and send them to our community manager. You might be able to work out a similar arrangement. Their goal was to promote EV adoption by residents by providing free access to 240V EVSEs for any residents who own a plug-in vehicle. They also do not want to make a profit on the electricity because they believe that would be unethical, thus the method for calculating electricity use and payment. However, payment must be simple, thus the fixed amount per month.

Ummm... 29 versus 20 is a HUGE improvement, a 45% improvement in fact!

A foot pedal e-brake is a common source of injuries in collisions. I'm glad that Ford doesn't do that. Toyota has much worse crash test results than Ford in general and if you dive into the details their foot pedal e-brakes are often a partial cause of their lower test scores since that pedal becomes a blunt object which can cause severe leg injuries.

No & no. I hated the fact that the Prius took away the odometer to show the trip odometers and that those were the only mpg displays. I also agree that the Prius is far inferior. Now if only Ford would do advertising to show this. They should compare acceleration between the Prius & C-Max, handling, noise level, etc. Then they might actually sell some cars.

The Energi charges the 12V battery when the HVB is being charged. I don't think there have been any Energi owners with 12V battery issues that didn't have a specific cause (like leaving the lights on). Fusion Hybrid owners have not had battery issues.

The BBB process is outlined in the OM. Using that program makes things go more smoothly than just hiring a lawyer. That's why it's in the OM.

What insurance company did that? I'm surprised that the insurance company would be so difficult. Fortunately we were not injured. My wife had the vanity mirror down and was putting on makeup at the time. When we were hit, her face hit the mirror and she got a small cut on her cheek, but that was it for injuries. We did get a police report. We were driving in a very low crime suburb at the time, so the police have nothing better to do than to respond to fender benders. If we had been in Mpls proper, the police would not have come. However, the insurance company didn't even bother to get a copy of the police report. We were stopped at a red light and this lady hit us. End of story. She admitted that to her insurance and her insurance took care of everything. I asked the adjuster if she wanted the police report information and she said that it wasn't necessary since her insured had admitted fault and thus her policy would cover everything. I've been rear-ended 3 times and each time the other person's insurance has been very easy to work with. Our experience from two weeks ago was dealing with The Hartford. The claims adjuster was very pleasant and helpful. I have never gotten a quote from them in the past for insurance but definitely will the next time our policy is up because of this good experience. When the Prius was scraped by someone parallel parking we dealt with State Farm. They were also very easy to deal with. When I was rear-ended in my Saab back in December 2010 the girl who hit me had Progressive. They were very quick to help me out. I was hit on a Saturday and time was short since I was leaving to go out of town the following Thursday on a road trip in my car. I brought my car to a body shop Monday morning and Progressive got their adjuster out to the body shop Monday afternoon. The body shop finished my car on Wednesday and I was able to take it on the trip. Progressive had said that they would cover the rental car for my road trip if they couldn't get my car repaired in time, but they rushed their inspector out to the body shop within a few hours of my first contact with them so that they could save the expense of paying for my rental car for an extra 11 days. My first time being rear-ended we dealt with Farmers. They also were easy to work with, but my memory of this incident is a bit fuzzy because it happened in 2005. Something I just realized now when thinking back about this. All four incidents happened on Saturdays. I wonder what the statistics are for car accidents by day of the week. Interesting, I had a very positive experience when rear-ended by someone with Progressive as noted above. Perhaps some of it depends on the adjuster assigned to your case.

Have you talked to your apartment management about an EV? Do you have an assigned parking space? Do you park in a garage or outside? I brought up the idea casually to our community manager at our apartment complex last winter. One day I was at the office to pick up a package and he came over to me excitedly to say that the family that owns our apartment complex is a big fan of EVs and that they want to encourage residents to "go green" by driving electric. That set things in motion where now we have a Focus Electric. Our community manager is planning to get an EV soon to replace his 8-cyl turbo Mercedes that gets less than 15 MPG and costs him over $100/week in gasoline. You never know what can happen if you ask the question.

There certainly are. We got rear ended two weeks ago today by a lady who was fasting for religious reasons and had a momentary lapse so she didn't brake for the red light and plowed into us. Fortunately her insurance was very quick to respond and cover all the damages to our car, provide a rental and offer to pay for any medical bills.

Some FFH owners have had battery issues, but not in the volume of the C-Max owners. Only 1 or 2 FFH owners have reported online that their cars were bought back by Ford due to 12V battery issues. And most FFH owners that have had the issues have only had persistent "Battery Saver" messages, not dead batteries. This only affects 600 vehicles. Only 32 had been delivered to dealers and none were sold. The rest were stopped at the plant and fixed. http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140821/AUTO0102/308210108/Ford-recalls-2014-Focus-C-MAX-Hybrid-cars-potential-steering-gear-issue

Pick the dealer you like best? When they said they "looked up the wrong car" did you have the VIN in any of the e-mails or a stock # so that they could prove that. If the stock # or VIN in your e-mail was really the same car then I wouldn't stand for them playing games like that.

A good place to start for negotiations is invoice price. You can search to find dealers who have a car in stock with the features you want. E-mail them and say that you want to buy a C-Max for invoice price before incentives and see how many will sell it to you. If a dealer knows that you're serious and won't waste their time then they're usually willing to deal more on the car since time is money for them. The more time a salesman has to spend with you, the less revenue/hour the dealer makes. They want to sell cars as quickly as possible, that's how they make the most profit. Regarding dealer document fees: some states put a limit to them, in MN the fee is capped at $75. X-Plan pricing caps the fee at $100. Normally X-Plan is not as good as negotiating invoice price yourself. However, if you live in a state which doesn't cap document fees and thus dealers charge ridiculous prices like $500 for this then X-Plan can be better than negotiating invoice price yourself because X-Plan limits the doc fee to $100. When negotiating you don't usually want to talk about the out the door price because this allows the dealer to hide things. Make sure they give you the detailed breakdown of the price of the car before incentives, a list of available incentives (confirming that you really qualify for all of them since some dealers list incentives that you don't qualify for and then they raise your price at the last minute), a detailed breakdown of taxes & registration fees, a detailed breakdown of any other charges and an explanation for why you're being charged each line.

I think the key question is: why does he no longer want a hybrid? That's really at the crux of this whole discussion.

We've had no issues with our Fusion Hybrid in the snow in Minneapolis and my parents have no issues with their C-Max Energi. I've driven their C-Max in the snow and it's very solid, the same is true of our Fusion Hybrid. If you're concerned about snow traction then I'd recommend getting the C-Max and using the gas savings versus the Escape to buy snow tires. Remember that AWD doesn't help you stop, it only helps you accelerate. A C-Max with snow tires would stop better than an AWD Escape with regular tires and it would probably be as good or better at acceleration & turning in the snow as well.

Is your C-Max your only car? We were able to get the Focus Electric as our second car. We drive the Focus Electric as much as possible, but we still have the Fusion Hybrid for long trips. I agree that until BEVs don't work as your only car until they can be quickly charged like Teslas. But BEVs work great as a primary car for normal day-to-day travels.

I believe that is Ford's right under the BBB Autoline program. After the dealer has tried & failed to fix the problem the required number of times for Lemon Law the manufacturer gets one final chance to fix everything. If they still are unable to fix it then they're required to repurchase it. If you refuse to work with them and allow them to make a final attempt to repair your car then you cannot expect them to work with you.