Recumpence

I had a trip yesterday that was 45miles at 60.9mpg. Matt

I think 700 is possible, but very difficult. I still had 1/2 a gallon left and my mileage could be a touch higher per gallon. I am trying......... Matt

I just logged a 45 mile trip that averaged 60.9mpg. I had one P&G trip that was 77mpg. That was the highest I have ever seen without an elevation change. It is possible, it is just not the easiest thing in the world. Matt

I am at 52.2 mpg indicated (51.2mpg actual) for 700 miles so far. I will see if I can keep that up for 300 more miles. Matt

A new benchmark........ Matt

Well, I am at 313 miles on this tank averaging 51.6mpg so far (indicated). I have about 55% of my tank left according to the gas gauge graph. It says "366 miles left". I highly doubt it. But, I am pushing for 650 miles on this tank. I am on to a good start. Of course, if the weather goes bad, I am screwed........ Wish me luck. :) Matt

Thanks John. :) Matt

Thanks Guys. I appreciate it. I have no problem taking things apart. I just wanted to know if there was an easy way, or if the clip needs to be removed. So, now I know I need to remove the clip. No big deal. I jsut need to make sure I set aside enough time to do it. So, here is a second question about the front clip; Does anyone here know anything about the cool looking front clip I see on a couple pictires of Cmaxes out there? I see pictures every now and then of Maxes with a front clip that has one black grille in place of our lower two grille openings....... Just curious. Maybe it is a Euro style front end? Matt

I agree. I live in norhtern Illinois. Our roads are rough (we live in a politically crooked state. They seem to refuse to fix the roads). We have lots of rolling hills (mourain hills). My average speed through the say is about 30 to 35mph. The speed is what is keeping my mpg up so high (44.2mpg lifetime). Those miles were all done through our harsh winter. I do in home appliance repair and this is my work car. I really need to post a picture of the interior of my car. It is hillarious. I have my parts filling the entire rear of the car and the cockpit has my scan-gauge, a DVD player mounted on a TIG welded bracket fastened to the dash, and my Samsung 7.7 tablet on my visor for parts research. I spend the majority of my day in my car. I love it! The only downside of using this car for work is, I cannot pay as much attention to P&G when I am talking on the phone with a customer. On the flip side, this car is so quiet and the hands free works so well, it makes a wonderful mobile office. Part of the reason I bought this car is because I let my secretary go so I could do all of my own office work and use that money to pay for the car. Turns out, the car is nearly free from the gas savings over my minivan. I also closed my shop down and moved it to my garage. That saved me enough per month to make the rest of the car payment. So, in the end, I have a $30k car for.... Wait for it..... FREE! I am blessed to have a business that allows me to drive such a nice car. My mileage deduction is $.55 per mile. I will drive 35,000 miles this year (or more). So, I actually am being paid to drive this thing when I think about it........ I just hope it proves to be a reliable car. I hate to think about what an inverter would cost me....... Anyway, back on topic. :) Matt

Well, I finally reset my trip odometer for this tank. That way I can get a good picture for all of you. Here is what is strange, when I pulled into the station to fill up, the car said I had one mile of fuel left. But, I filled up at only 12.77 gallons. I even reclicked the filler to make sure it was topped off. Strange........ Anyway, I am at 93 miles on this tank at 54.4mpg for those miles. The gas guage has not even dropped the tiniest bit yet. I had a couple cool trips today. One was 9.7 miles at 62.2 mpg and one was 4.2 miles at 71.7mpg. It is a balancing act between terrain, temperature, speed, driving style, etc. If you max everything out (pun intended), the mpg absolutely skyrockets! I also took a video of me doing some P&G today. It is a bit shaky, though. I need to get a Go-Pro. I love this car.......... Matt

I just filled up. I did 604 miles on 12.77 gallons. My last 3 tanks have averaged 47mpg. I am averaging 54mpg for the first 74 miles on this current tank. I am shooting for 650 miles. If the weather stays above 50 degrees, I should make it. Wish me luck! Matt

Hey Guys and Gals, Does anyone here know how the front grille comes off? I am a fabricator and I would like to make my own carbon fiber front grilles. However, I have no idea how to remove the center large grille. The uppre grille is obvious and the lower one can just be covered over. But, the center grille protrudes on the sides and I would love to make my carbon fiber flat grill sit flush within the plastic nose of the car. This requires removal of the grille. I used my inspection camera to see behind the grille and I can see some clips, and I tried to release them. They are really tight clips. Before I break anything I figured I would ask if anyone here knows exactly how to pull that grille? :~) Matt

I have found 43mpg is always doable with my car using this method. The 53mpg you saw was for a stretch of road that was a few miles long. When I saw the mileage greeping up as I experimented with speed, I grabbed my phone, turn on the camera, and took several pictures until I got one that was clear enough to read. All the while, it was 52 to 54mpg. It stayed like that for some time. Now, I have to say that this is not as simple as hitting cruise and going. You have to run up to a few mph higher than you feel is correct, then set the Eco-Cruise. Once set, drop 1mph and observe. Drop one more mph and observe. My drive went something like this; 69mph, 38mpg -- 68mph, 40.2mpg---- 67mph, 43mpg---- 66mph, 47mpg---- 65mph, 53mpg. It was really weird. There is something going on with the overall layout of the areodynamics, the ICE and EV interaction, computer programming, and rolling resistance that somehow all hit a sweet-spot (like the planets coming into alignment) and all of a sudden the MPG skyrockets. You have to realize, however, that any variance in road incline, wind, or other negative things can adversely affect this. But, I have to say, I am a believer at this point. Oh, also, I have found it impossible to maintain this high MPG manually. You absolutely have to use cruise to see these high numbers for any length of time. Matt

I found the highway sweetspot for my car. It is right at 64.5 to 65mph. Above 67mph, the mileage drops noticeably. Below 64, EV kicks in. This was a perfectly flat, level stretch of expressway with no wind that I know of. Temperature is 55 degrees outside. This was sustained speed, I was not decellerating or going downhill at the time. The trip averaged 47mpg by the time we arrived at home. So, the entire trip was not over 50mpg. But, this gives you an idea of what is possible if you pay attention to your car and are willing to experiment a bit. Oh, you will notice the battery was charging when this picture was taken. It was not a high MPG anomaly due to electric aid being given or some other reason. Again, I obviously did not average 50+ mpg on this trip. I arrived home at 47. However, highway speeds can be high MPG if you drive just out of EV speed, but below 70. I am sure each car differs a touch in this regard. Also, there was no Hyper-Miling done on this trip. I was not drafting (my wife hates it when I draft, so I do not when she is with me). Oh, I noticed that Engage is cool when running at ICE only speeds because you can see just how much EV aid is being given when road inclines approach. Matt

No kidding...... This is my concern as well. I have heard horror stories about controller (Inverter) problems costing way more than the battery in a hybrid. Of course, we have a 100,000 mile warrantee on the inverter. That is only 3 years for me, however, due to the huge amount of driving I do. Matt

Absolutely untrue....... Thermal runaway has more to do with internal resistance than chemistry. Case in point, I work with lithium polymer batteries in RC and electric bike applications. These are the cells that everyone thinks about relgarding battery fires. That is because, early on, all lithium chemistries had a very low "C" rating (how much amperage can be drawn from a cell related to their overall AH rating). The early cells were rated 1 or 2 C. This means their internal resistance was high resulting in voltage sag. This increased temperature in the cell, which increases the internal resistance. This increased internal resistance increased temperature and the cycle repeats intself. This is thermal runaway. However, the new lithium polymer batteries are upwards of 35C. So, a tiny 10amphour cell can put out 350 amps before any appreciable heat builds up. Therefore, these new high C cells are far more stable than the lithium iron cells eveyone raves about because of the high C rating and resultant very low internal resistance. Matt

I am going on a trip on the expressway today. I will do some more highway testing and let you guys know if I learn anything new. I plan on testing the difference between 62 and 66mph to see what I find regarding engine only running and ev hybrid running. All testing will be done with eco cruise. Matt

I normally do not use the trip odometer to keep track of each tank and the mileage. I have a 3X5 card with each tank mileage written down. I will post my numbers when I fill this tank up (in a day or so). Then, I will reset my trip odometer for the next tank. You will not have long to wait for a picture. I fill up more than once per week. :) When the weather is above 50 degrees, my mileage is at or above 52mpg. That is why I figure, once the weather stays nice, I can hit 700 in a tank. Matt

I am on my way to a 630 mile tank. Warm weather is one major thing to consider. I am dertermined to hit 700 on a tank sometime this summer.

I think I am the high miler on this forum (about to turn 18,000 on the odo). My lifetime average is 44.1. That has been through the winter with a full load of equipment on board. With weather over 55 degrees, I see 52+mpg every day without fail. So, my average MPG should be up over 48 by summer's end. That being said, as I have mentioned, my driving is 75% in town and town to town below 50mph. It is hilly here, but small hills. We have bad roads and a lot of idiot drivers to contend with. Highway only driving is killer. The hybrid system does assist on the highway. But, for highway only driving, the frontal area is too big on this car to expect huge mileage. Honestly, this car is phenominal from a mileage perspective considering its size, wide tires, weight and performance. Knowing what is common knowledge now, dealers should sell the car with a statement something like this----- "This car is rated at 47-47. It is also a quick car that handles very well. It is actually capable of well over 50mpg if driven softly, but the car is so fun to drive, you may see under 40mpg depending on your driving style." Maybe that is not the best wording, but you get the idea. I did a lot of reading before I bought. I innitially considered a Prius-C. However, the small size and comments like "The car has absolutely NO driving excitement what-so-ever." pushed me away from it. However, I also heard there are people getting over 70mpg in town with the little "C". Then when I saw the Max, I also read the comments about mileage numbers being suspect. I figured, "Hey, I do mostly in town driving and I do not mind Hyper-Miling it. So, I bet I can hit 50mpg with the Max, have more fun, more room, and overall enjoy the drive much more. I have not been more happy with an auto purchase! All that to say this; I LOVE my Max. Assuming it remains reliable, I will keep it for the long term. I know what it is capable of and what its limitations are. But, that is not what everyone feels. That is fine. We also love our Highlander. But, I have read reports from people who hate the Highlander. To each his own. Heck, I would have bought a Volt if it sat 5 and did not cost $40k...... Yet others have traded their Volts in on C-Maxes...... We on this forum need to be patient with those who are unhappy with their C-Maxes just as much as we accept those who LOVE it. Matt

I have to say a few things here; First, to John, I hear you. Actually, I am an avid bicyclist. I ride a few thousand miles each summer (I live in Northern Illinois). I also manufacture extremely high-end electric bicycles and conversion systems. I am completely in agreement about bicycles. However, it is also obvious from other threads you are frustrated with your C-Max mileage. It is also obvious you are determined to drive it hard. That is fine as well. Every day I have my streak of hard driving. Normally it is related to being cut off or some other such nonsense. I get annoyed and get on it to get around the guy who is driving like a fool. That being said, however, the vast majority of people who buy hybrids understand their capabilities and drawbacks. As I said in another thread, "The right tool for the chosen job". Now, I also feel that you can drive this car casually without doing anything related to Hyper-Miling and still get mid 40s mpg. However this is IN TOWN, not on the expressway. The 45 to 48mpg is found between 25mph and 50mph. Above 50, the mileage drops. That is just the way it is. Now, back to the P&G, I can say that I have alot of fun trying for high numbers on occasion. This is not the way I drive the majority of the time. Most of the time I am using the Bluetooth on the phone with clients for my appliance repair business, or just relaxing between service calls. However, I do find it entertaining to try for higher MPG numbers. This started with my 2002 Caravan (4 cyclinder). I bought a Scangauge and found my mileage went up from 18.5-20mpg up to 23-25mpg by simply paying attention to the efficient points of accelleration and maximizing coasting (also only hitting the AC on coast down cycles). This proved to be a fun diversion from an otherwise boring long day on the road. So, when I bough my C-Max, it was an obvious move to install the Scangauge on the Max and see what was possible. My last tank was 46mpg for the entire 601 miles. This is getting more and more insteresting! In fact, this tank is on track to top 700 miles (though I doubt I will actually get anywhere near that due to the weather we are having). One other thing, I truely enjoy technology and seeing what is capable with a given system. So, I always tend to analyze the products I buy. So, when I spend $30k on a car, I want to know what it is capable of. I know what the car is capable of from an accelleration standpoint, but I want to see how many MPG I can get out of it. That is not as easy to figure out. Lastly, I am a unique driver in one main area, I did not buy this car for any political reason. I have no agenda to push and I am in no way trying to convert anyone to Hybrids or EVs. I just got tired of spending $30 per day in gas. This car costs me $13 per day in gas. The gas savings pays for over half of my car payment per month. So, I am driving a $30,000 car for the cost of a $13,000 car. That is a pretty good deal. Now, back on topic. :) Matt

That could be. My wife and I have done two interstate trips with the Max averaging 70mph. One averaged 41.2mpg and the other averaged 38 one direction, and 42.3 the other direction. Matt

Hello All, I have been doing some experimentation with Pulse and Glide on my Max. For those who are unfamiliar with this, it is basically just accellerating and coasting. Guys with stick shift cars have been doing this for decades. Prius owners swear by it. However, the C-Max is a bit different in its behavior, making Pulse and Glide a different animal to tame than in a Prius. Here is what I have figured out. I am sure this technique can be refined. But, this will give you a base line to start with........ What I do is accellerate to around 5mph over the limit (you can stop accellerating at any speed if you desire). I accellerate typically in Empower mode with the engine power bar at the second line. This gives enough accelleration to keep the cars behind you happy, while not overdoing it. Once up to my desired speed, I let off so the engine shuts off. Then I apply a tiny amount of throttle, just enough to see the tiniest blue bar. This assures that I am not dragging against the engine regenerating into the battery. It allows the greatest coasting distance. So, the car is coasting, with a tiny bit of electric propulsion thrown in the mix. This method has yeilded the best mileage I have ever had. As a side note, I have only refined this technique today. So, all of my previous posts about mileage have been made with normal modest driving, not Pulse and Glide........ Anyway, my results are roughly 8 to 12 mpg increase in mileage depending on the terrain, temperature, and speed. Here are some things to remember when doing this; #1 The higher the speed, the less affect Pulse and Glide with give. The reason for this is, the aero drag will slow the car too repidly to gain any appreciable mileage. The sweet spot seems to be around 30 to 40mph. Above 45mph, the Pulse and Glide will gain you very little. #2 The longer you glide the better the affect. Example, lets say you accellerate up to 40mph, then glide all the way down to 20mph, then you Pulse back up to 40mph and repeat the cycle. This will gain you more MPG than pulsing to 40mph, gliding down to 35mph and pulsing back up. I am not sure the reason for this. But, it does make a difference (quite a difference). #3 The proper amount of accelleration is key. The sweet spot seems to be the second bar on the left side of the gauge in Empower mode. If you accellerate more slowly, you will run the engine too long and reduce the MPG. If you accellerate too quickly, you will burn more gas for that short accelleration time, and you may skip out of charge mode and use the battery to help the accelleration. This may seem like a good thing, but I have found optimum MPG accellerating right at the second bar. On my Scan Gauge, this is roughly 40 to 45 horsepower of accellerating and battery charging at the same time. #4 Be careful not to get too carried away with this. It is easy to take you eyes off the road for too long a period. Taking your eyes off the road is obviously dangerous. #5 Experiment with how much electric propulsion to throw in during the "Glide" phaze. You may find that a bit more electric assist during glide, or less will gain you more MPG. Just have fun and see what works best for you. One of the major benefits of this technique (beyond the increase in MPG) is the fact that, at least in my testing, the battery stays charged at a much higher average state of charge than any other method of high mileage driving I have found. This morning, I went for a drive in 41 degree windy, drizzling weather. Normally, my best MPG is around 42 mpg if I really try HARD in weather like that. However, I averaged 57.4mpg! This was at an average speed of 30mph starting and ending at the same location (therefore there was no decrease in elevation to account for the high MPG). Also, my drive ended with more battery charge than it started with! As the day wore on, our weather went down into the 30s with heavy thunderstorms, massive winds, and local flooding on the streets. However, I am still up at 44.5mpg using Pulse and Glide. This is awesome! The last time I tried driving in such horrible weather netted me mileage in the high 30s (around 38mpg). Now, the better the weather, the greater the affect would be. But, I found it encouraging that this works even in bad weather. I must say, I am thrilled with this. It really does not take much effort to get this technique figured out. It does take some concentration at first. But, I have gotten used to it very quickly. If I need to pay closer attention to the road, I just drive normally. But, when I have the presence of mind to focus a bit, I kick in the Pulse and Glide and watch my MPG skyrocket. Oh, one other major affect of this is, you will notice the % of time the engine runs versus electric running will change drastically. My lifetime average shows my engine runs 47% of the time. However, with Pulse and Glide, that number is 35%! And, remember, I have been doing this in inclement weather. In sunny weather, at a 30 to 40mph average speed, I bet you could achieve 25% engine running average. I want you guys and gals to try this and let me know how it works for you. :) Matt

And what where your MPGs around town in that minivan? What drives me crazy are people who buy a hybrid that was specifically designed for high MPG in town driving and complain that driving at high speed on the interstate isn't as fuel efficient as around town. You are using the wrong tool for the job. Why complain that your small framing hammer does not drive 1/2 inch diameter spikes into railroad ties? Use a sledge hammer for that. I bought my Max specifically for IN TOWN driving. I do appliance repair and drive many miles town to town and in town, very little highway driving over 55mph. Therefore, it is very easy for me to hit huge MPGs. I also live in northern Illinois where we do not have any huge hills to deal with. If I were doing mostly expressway driving, I would have bought a Cruze or another innexpensive car with 40+mpg highway mileage. Now, that being said, I have had many issues with the darn Sync system. I agree it is a buggy pain in the freakin rear! I find the bugs completely unacceptable in a $30K car. So, I am with you on that. Nothing is perfect, however. But, again, I go back to the fact that hybrids are specifically honed for high in-town MPG. Your other van would barely hit 20mpg in town and that only if you were hyper miling it (I know, I have owned two of them). But, your Max would be getting over double that number without any hypermiling. It is all about application, not improper claims by Ford.

I drove 150 miles today with an average of 52.4mpg for the entire day. :) Best single trip over 20 miles was a 30 mile trip at 60.4mpg. Matt