MikeB

mtb, I've pulled off the foglight cover once, and it's wasn't easy. Not because there's lots of steps, but because it's all just a matter of applying force without breaking anything. The cover has a series of tabs that fit into slots in the bumper cover, and you basically just pull until the tab lets go. Start at the top and work to the bottom, then the back. To get access to the back of the fogs, I removed the headlights and reached down. But it's probably just as easy to remove the aero cover below the engine and come up. (Removing headlights is also a royal pain, since the fit is so tight) Reusing the fog switch as a DRL switch would be a good plan, but the fogs only come on when the running lights are on, so you have to turn those on first (not a big deal, but something to remember).

They can't just invalidate the warranty, that's illegal. What they have to do is demonstrate that your modification to the car (the hitch) was somehow responsible for a specific failure, and they they could avoid warranty coverage of that failure. So if you have an electrical issue, and the hitch isn't involved, they still have to cover you. But if your rear frame is bent right where the hitch bolts on, then it's probably your problem not theirs. And installing a hitch alone isn't evidence you were towing, since you could be installing a hitch-mount bicycle rack, they would really need to show that you actually towed something. Of course, they can always claim that your warranty is invalid and ask you to pay for a repair, and you might have to fight them. You'd win on the merits, but might still have to pay for a lawyer.

On my previous VW diesel, the frost heater consumed just about 1kW. I used it on a timer, so it was on no more than 3 hours before I expected to drive off, for a total energy usage of 3 kWh.

I probably shouldn't tell you this, but now my last two tanks were both over 700 miles, and I had 1/4 of a tank left each time. :) The secret is to have a very large battery, a charger, and a plug. The C-Max Energi is what I have. I drive all week without starting my engine, and all my gas usage is from weekend trips.

That's from the owners manual. But consider that the Energi could do that whole distance without any significant use of the ICE, it's not that impressive. Ford is probably guessing that around 50% of Energi miles will be done in EV mode, so they will need oil changes half as often. That 50% number is pretty close to my actual usage, and I seem to be about the middle of range based on forum posts and Fuelly entries.

Something else to remember: WSJ has the same owners as Fox News. So if it's possible to find an anti-EV and pro-Oil analysis, those are the people who are going to find it (or fabricate it).

There's already an on-board charger, it's just connected to MG2, which is connected to the ICE engine. Pull the plug off that, plug it into an external 300v power supply, and the car will charge very nicely. Of course, who knows how deep you are inside the engine compartment before you get to that plug, and you still have to have a 300v supply sitting around. Or skip the electrical connection, and just mechanically start the ICE, and it'll spin MG2 and start charging up again.

Attaching a charger to the lithium battery is the easy part. Actually using it without burning down your house is the hard part. The real issue is that a lithium battery has to be charged very carefully to avoid going over the upper voltage limit, or you risk destroying the battery or potentially igniting it on fire. And you can't just throw 300v at the battery like do with lead-acid, you have to manage each individual cell within the battery, and there's something like 70-80 of them in the Hybrid. Our cars have a sophisticated Battery Management System (BMS) that is watching each cell of the battery and preventing overcharging (or over depleting). If you try to hook up a charger and bypass the BMS, you are going to fry your battery. If you try to use the existing BMS that Ford put in, then you have to make sure the computer is awake and aware of what you are doing, which probably requires talking to the internal software. And if you try to implement your own BMS, then you have some serious engineering and $$ in effort. That's all a very long-winded way to say that Valkraider is right, it's a costly an difficutl task, and it's better to just buy and Energi in the first place.

I've had a few times where the MFT screen showd no phone, but my phone was actually connected. I think it was a display glitch, not a pairing glitch. But I went into the phone screen, hit disconnect and then reconnect, and it showed back up properly. Sounds like this isn't quite the issue you are having, but it's another thing to keep an eye out for.

Ok Valk, interesting subtle difference here: if you don't have the auto park feature, the right side buttons are wider, and there's just Fuel Door and Rear Hatch.

The button on the dash for the Hybrid is used for EV Mode on the Energi. But in my Energi, whenever I'm in reverse, there's a popup window on the left dash display to turn off the rear park assist. Looks like just the down arrow button on the wheel will get you what you want.

Yea, I was looking at the space under the rear seats for some of my basic emergency gear, like a reflective triangle, jumper cables, and tow strap. I used to have space under the floor of the cargo area in my VW sportwagen for such items. Then I noticed how the seats drop down when you fold the seat backs forward, and gave up on that plan.

Eh, I got my 32G USB drive to work for a week or so, then it crapped out. Went back to the iPod, and it hasn't gone splat yet. I hope your external drive works, but I'm skeptical it'll last.

I reall a story about Pike's Peak, on the way down there's a mandatory stop, and the park rangers check your brakes with an infrared thermometer. Obviously, most cars have serious problems with overheating brakes, which can lead to failure, so this is a very reasonble precaution. Of course, someone came down the hill in a plugin of some sort (I don't recall which one), and their brakes were perfeclty cool. They got measured repeatedly, and the rangers were certain their thermometers had broken. I gotta say I love the ability to capture that energy rather than wasting it.

I had mine done Friday, got the Formula One Pinnacle stuff. Nothing on the sunroof, 6" strip on the front, 35% all the way around the rest. I'll see if I can get some picks soon. I'd kinda like to get some clear on the front and sunroof, something that blocks IR and UV only would be nice. The good stuff, correctly installed, never has bubbling issues. Window tint is one of those areas where you pretty clearly get what you pay for.

That's just spectacular, Valk. I managed to add about 3 miles to my batt after getting down to hybrid mode, but you've gone way beyond me. Well done.

Good testing, Oakland. I guess I was wrong. But if charging the Energi doesn't also charge the 12v battery, then it seems less likely that the DC/DC is simply undersized for light driving. Our typical short drives must be enough to keep the battery charged, even with the additional load of keeping the car active while being charged. That points back to a defective something causing additional load on the 12v batt, rather than a design defect not letting it charge enough. Which is a good sign, it means that the broken cars can be fixed, and the rest of us won't have problems.

Yes, and no. There's limits to travel, and the biggest limit is not fuel costs but time. People may double their fuel economy by going to a nice hybrid, but they mostly aren't willing to double their commute times. So there's still a net reduction in fuel use, at least on average. Yes, historical trends do show increasing fuel use despite mild fuel economy gains, but I think there's limits to that, and going forward we're going to see more radical reductions in fuel consumption.

It doesn't make sense that short drives alone will kill your battery, especially in the Energi. I've got a 5 mile commute, so I'm doing 10 miles a day, plus sometimes another 2-7 for a dinner run. I used the climate system and headlights for most of my driving in Jan and Feb. (I do long trips on the weekend, but that's another story) That's short enough that I should have serious battery problems based on low daily mileage, but mine has never failed. I'm sure the 12v systems are active when the battery is charging, the fans are running, the computer is monitoring the charging process, and the cell radio is actively telling Ford that the charging process is happening. That type of power draw is enough to justify turning on the DC/DC converter to feed the 12v battery off the (charging) traction battery. Personally, I think there's a defective module somewhere causing extra power drain. But if there really is a design flaw, if the DC/DC charger just isn't big enough for someone with consistently short drives, then either I've got a charmed vehicle or the Energi is charging the 12v battery at the same time the big one charges.

Andrew, since you've got such a nice short commute, and you clearly like the C-Max, why not look at the C-Max Energi? You're pretty close to the battery-only range, but think about driving your whole day without even starting the engine! As for battery failures, there has been only one in an Energi that I know of. The fact that we plug in for ~7 hours each day helps keep our 12v battery charged, even when we aren't driving long distances. In fact, I don't think my car has ever spent a night without the comfort of a plug.

Valk is back already, saw a post over on the Energi side of the house.

It's amazing how many people don't quite understand how the plugin hybrid works either, I keep getting people thinking I have to plug in every 20 miles, not realizing that I have a perfectly good gas tank once the battery is mostly depleted. They start getting more impressed when, after driving down the interstate for a few minutes, I sigh and explain that I'm finally going to have to start the engine.

I think NAVTEQ just provided the raw map and POI data, there's probably a different group responsible for the onscreen map display, and yet another team responsible for the the GPS reciever software (that translates the satellite signals into a location). It's this last group that appears to have messed up, and we really don't know who they are yet. (Ok, I've got some complaints about how the map data is rendered onscreen too, but those are mild compared to the location bug)

It's in the center of the dash, a little bump between the defroster vents. Way far forward.

I applied a small strip of black electrical tape to the sensor, just partially covering it. I don't feel the need for headlights in full sunlight, but want them when the clouds are heavy or closer to dusk/dawn.