MikeB

Paul, I've got a regular drive down I-20 for about 100 miles, and I typically drive right at 70mph. My VW Jetta TDI generally gets ~42mpg on that trip. I'll be watching closely to see how the Energi handles the same trip, and I'd be happy to give your cover a try. I'm currently expecting my Energi to arrive just before xmas, so we might try for something mid Jan. Long term, I'm expecting my Energi to average 50-60mpg, but that'll depend heavily on my mix of local driving vs weekend trips.

I have an electric scooter with a 96v lithium battery. It has a built-in DC-DC converter to provide power to all the usual 12v components on a motorbike, like the dashboard, signals, and headlights. Honestly, I think the DC-DC converter would be lighter than a 12v lead acid battery, though it's probably also marginally more expensive. But there also has to be an alternator of some sort, to charge the 12v battery, adding more weight and cost. The decision to use a 2nd battery is probably more one of reliability: there's safety circuits that will disable the traction battery if something looks wrong, and the car can still drive if that happens. But jump starting raises an interesting question. I was thinking that there was no 12v starter motor on the C-Max, that it used the main electric drive motor and the transmission to rapidly start the engine (that's why you can't start the engine when you shift into neutral). But if you can start the engine without the traction battery, then there must be a conventional starting system for the gas engine. So what do we actually have?

I'd think it's fine. The 12v battery is a standard lead-acid car battery. The biggest oddity is that it's in the rear, just behind the high voltage battery. But there's connection points under the hood for jump starting, you should be able to connect a float charger instead and be all set.

They make cages to block off the cargo area, for people who want to confine pets to the rear of the vehicle. You might look around see what exists in that category.

I think 'home lighting' leaves the lights on for a few min when you get out of the car, so you can see you way to the door. My VW Jetta has 3 different DRL modes embedded in the control computer, people with the right software and a cable can get in and tweak it. I put mine into 'Scandinavian' DRL mode, which turns on both the headlights and parking lights whenever the car is on. Fortunately, the headlights turn off when you move the switch to the parking light position. I'm an amateur astronomer, and need to be able to drive on our dark property without headlights. So while I really want DRLs for general safety, I also need a drivable mode with either no lights or just parking lights. I'm looking at buying the european headlight module for HIDs, from the picture they also have a DRL lamp next to the high beam. It'll be interesting figuring out how to make that switch on at the right time.

There was a comment in one of the automotive magazine reviews that the Energi gets lower mileage than the Hybrid partly because it has a different final drive gear ratio. I suspect that the gear ratio on the Energi was chosen because it allows the electric motor to reach 85mph, even though it reduces the mpg in gas mode. And honestly, I think that's the right choice: drivers in the Energi are very focused on performance during the first 20 electric miles and slightly less focused on performance for the gas miles. Everything is a tradeoff in these vehicles, there's lots of good engineers trying to figure out which solution is optimal.

Nice job, Red. Window tint is a must for me too, though not quite as critical during the winter months, so I'll probably do the exact same as you did. The moldings look sweet, I just might do that myself.

In my Jetta TDI, I always beat the EPA highway rating on my car while driving 70mph. It takes no special effort on my part, other than keeping the cruise control on 70, and perhaps keeping a few extra pounds of air in my tires. I don't know if the EPA is actually biased, but there is clearly something about diesel that does better in the real world than in the tests. My guess is that diesel efficiency goes up under mild load, and that it also improves when the engine gets hot, so a short (and therefore cold) slow-speed EPA test is accidentally biased against diesel. I'll be dissapointed if it takes extreme hypermiling effort for my coming C-Max to match the highway efficiency of my Jetta, but that appears to be the case. (On the other hand, the C-Max will easily beat my Jetta in the city, and doing the first 20 miles on electricity will completely change the game)

I see one in the wild every day, at the front of my office parking deck. A co-worker and I have been talking about the C-Max for months, and he picked up a Hybrid as soon as they became available. I've ordered an Energi, so I'm still waiting. But I'll probably be interested in a meetup of some sort, once mine is in.

Hiya dude, Somebody needs to be the guinea pig for the ebay lights. I'd do it, but I don't even have my C-Max yet. So I nominate you. :) However, I suggest you send a message to the seller, and tell him you don't know if they'll fit in the 2013 model, and want to do a test fitting. I bet he'll give you a more generous return policy, since he'll potentially be getting a good bit more sales. And you can order just one of the pair, since I suspect both sides are symmetric (just reversed), to further reduce your risk. I'm sure we can find a ballast and bulb that will work, there's thousands of sites selling them these days. Getting a Ford OEM ballast would be nice, but probably more expensive than we need. Most HID ballasts for the retrofit market are wired to accept the plug from a halogen light, so I think the wiring will be pretty simple. Mounting the ballast inside the lights might be the more difficult part, if you didn't get a Ford ballast, but that shouldn't be overly tough, and we can always mount the ballast externally as a fallback plan. And I bet the ebay seller with the lights can find the matching Ford OEM ballasts, if you ask him maybe he'll put together a package. I'm not sure what the concern is about voltage drop. HID uses lower wattage than halogen, and the ballast hides all the high voltage circuitry from the vehicle. If anything, HID will have slightly less voltage drop, which shouldn't cause any major issues.

My last few cars have been silver or silver-gray, but I wanted more color this time. So Candy Blue is my choice. Even though I'm in the South, I mostly have covered parking, so the car rarely bakes in the sun, or I'd be looking at silver again.

I think the Hybrid just doesn't have electric heat, though the Energi does. The user manual mentions how the Hybrid has to start the engine and bring it to operating temps, especially when heat is needed, but the Energi will heat the cabin using battery power when it's in EV mode, as needed. But it would be very intersting to see what the electrical demands are for heat on an Energi, I suspect it's larger than you might think, perhaps 3-5kW.

I don't think so. That forum has no traffic from europe at all, and it had links at the top to this forum and the the Energi forum. I'm pretty sure all 3 were started at the same time by the same people, and all were aimed at the US launch of the C-Max. The problem is that the moderators didn't really understand the relationship between the Energi and the Hybrid, so they ended up with 3 redundant forums.

People, a reminder: Ford didn't pick the 47/47mpg number out of a hat, it was given to them by the EPA test. The EPA test has it's flaws, including the fact that it doesn't actually involve high speed driving on the road, but it's the exact same test for everybody. It's done on a dynomometer under carefully controlled conditions, and gives very reproducable numbers. They may not match your driving, but they are a valid point of comparison across brands and models. Ford is going to advertise the numbers from that test because those are the numbers they are allowed to use. Don't blame Ford if you don't get the numbers provided by the EPA, blame the EPA. That said, the EPA adjusted their methods a few years back, in order to better match their resutls with real-world driving experiences. My current car, a VW Jetta TDI, actually gets better than the EPA numbers, but that's probably the nature of a diesel rather than any particular aspect of the testing. You can provide feedback to the EPA and tell them to refine their testing methods again, this feedback is more effective if you can show long-term numbers for your vehicle to use as a reference point.

My guess is that the re-conditioning is a full discharge/charge cycle: going all the way down to empty and then filling all the way up to full. This allows the electronics to accurately measure the remaining capacity of the battery, as well as balancing the charge between the different internal cells. As for an effect on drivability, you won't be able to get lots of electric assist once the battery is empty, and probably won't be allowed to get as much electric assist while the car is trying to bring it back up to full. The gas engine will just have to work a little harder for a few miles, but that's about it. This is a guess, but it's an educated one.

I'd like to see this forum unified with the C-Max Energi forum and the C-Max forum. Almost everything is the same between the Energi and the Hybrid, but people are going to miss relevant information because it's not on the forum they are favoring.

Nice trip report, thanks for the info. But I should mention that Ford doesn't make up mpg numbers, they simply advertise the numbers from the EPA test. The test has problems, partly because the highway portion isn't really done at speed, but it's the same test for everybody so it's a fair comparison. And driving with a luggage box on the roof is guaranteed to reduce mileage significantly, so your numbers are probably about what I'd expect. Actually, in addition to the aerodynamic effect of the roof box, extra weight also cuts mpg. Needing a roof box implies a good bit of cargo and/or passenger weight, which isn't part of the EPA test either.

Yea, given the recent power outages due to severe storms, I'd really like to see a way to power my house from the Energi I'll own shortly. The big 7kWh battery would easily be enough to cook dinner on an electric stove, or I could be more reasonable and run just critical electronics and lights for a week. Of course, that needs a pretty hefty inverter, both in terms of input voltage and amperage. But if you're going to spend money on a generator, you might end up gettiing a big inverter and a small generator and being just as happy. Actually, there is already a small inverter installed in between the front seats, but I don't think it's driven from the traction battery. Especially for the Energi, it might be interesting to be able to use that at any time, rather than just when the car is on. Wonder how it's wired?

For those who want to keep you car really shiny, I ran across Zaino Brothers (http://zainostore.com/) products some years ago. They are popular among car show people, but make a product that gives a good shine and lasts a good while. I've used them for a number of years. and always have a good finish. Also, before you do the first coat of wax, you should clean your vehicle with detailer's clay. Especially if your vehicle has been transported by rail, there's abraisive dust on the surface that you want to get off.

I've seen a couple ads on TV so far, so the ads are out there. I wasn't exactly expecting a billion dollar advertising blitz, but I'm sure Ford is dumping a few million into media buys. And if the car sells well in it's first few months, expect that to increase.