fotomoto

So the OP wants a portable charger that will easily recharge the battery. Hmmm, how about the 2.0L ICE that Ford so conveniently included? For about 30 cents/tenth of a gallon, it will recharge the battery in a few minutes.

Bob999 if your presumption is correct, then an easy solution would be a longer headlight time out after auto-activation (say 2 minutes?). That would eliminate any possible strobing/flashing affect.

How big is your wallet? http://www.re-involt.com/Plug-In_Conversions_for_Hyb.html No C-Max version yet but I'm sure they would work with you to build a custom solution for a few bucks more! <wink, wink> Trading in your c-max for an Energi model with a factory backed warranty makes a lot more sense/cents.

Interesting idea on the trash bag solution. I'm going to give it a try. Currently I'm using the door pockets for dry refuse only but would rather have a solution for moist things too. I believe the ducts under the seats are for heat only. The rear passenger cooling vents are routed through the center console. I have some spare change in the hidden shelf of the console and it gets very cool to the touch so, yes, those tubes could also benefit from insulation.

Think of the avg. meter as a ball & chain pendulum. When you first let go of the ball, it will swing wildly from side to side but eventually the cycles slow down and will "average out" as the ball comes to rest at the bottom. For overall tank mpg, use one of your trip meters to "keep score" as you refer to it and use the avg meter to learn how the car works. Reset set it often to see how different driving scenarios affect mpg's. Yesterday, I reset mine while in EV mode and it swung from 250mpg to 30mpg in less than a hundred feet after the ICE kicked on during acceleration. Now that's a HUGE swing! But I left it alone through the rest of the day and it eventually "bottom out" at 46mpg for the day. I won't even look at my trip 1 (tank mpg) until I go to fill up.

Yup, I'm in the middle. I won't get the big summer time numbers because I need a/c 24/7 but nor will I suffer large drops in the winter because we don't have much of one.

Uggh. That's what I thought from the lack of thumping type bass. Oh well, it sound fine to me. Just wondering what was supposed to be under that large grill since it never vibrates! LOL :) I do like the choice of driver-centric or all seats you get in the sound menu as it's really effective!

There's 4 speakers in the rear doors, two more in the fronts, and two tweets up at the a-pillers. That makes 8. So where is the sub-woofer, AKA, the ninth speaker? Or is it a center speaker?

Heater duct for the rear seat passengers.

Old thread but thought I'd post my findings from this weekend under similar conditions: Interstate @75mph/eco-cruise into a strong, strong headwinds. Low point of 29.9mpg but avg out at 31mpg for the interstate leg. Overall tank avg of 37mpg was brought up due to the heavy traffic and stop/go in Houston during rush hour and about 50 miles of 65mph with tailwind on the last 1/4 of the tank. My return leg via two land highways had a slight tailwind (mainly crosswinds) @ 65mph/eco-cruise with a route through several small towns and netted 42.2mpg. A/C use for about 1/2 of the leg.

Welcome to the site. I'm not an Energi owner but I have owned a plug-in (volt) and have been a former member for years. The number one reason for charging faults is a poor or intermittent grounding issue. The J1772 plug protocol won't allow charging if anything fails the handshake test while plugging in. Before taking it in, I would suggest trying another wall socket or better yet on another wiring leg (different circuit breaker) and see if the problem persists. GOOD LUCK!

I did in my prius because its warning chime was very muted, I was at a street festival with loud music, and I was in a rush. Luckily (fingers crossed), I haven't in the CMAX because its horn warning is much louder.

Yes by all means check but the SD card for mine came in a large, sealed plastic case separate from the OM. My guess is they are removed for theft reasons. And that's a pity since out-of-town renters would benefit the most from a functioning NAV.

I had a trip to Houston this weekend and tried using map quest with a personalized route (scenic along the coast). It was a fail. Basically it loaded the destination and formulated its own route (interstate which I was trying to avoid). :doh: Also on another occasion, I tried to use map quest on my smartphone and it was a major PITA. My understanding was googlemaps did work with this feature but has been neutered. Not sure who's to blame, Ford or Google, but I wish they would kiss and make up. :waiting: OTOH while in Houston, I needed to quickly use the sirius travel link to find a certain restaurant via voice commands. Even without using a live operator, it worked like a charm.

Hey I had them on my Prius! $4,000 option (along with NAV and JBL sound) and they did not charge the HV battery. Only delivered about 22w to run the fan during the day which helped greatly with interior temps.

Especially being in Phoenix, are you going to tint the car? If so, I'd recommend going with 302A instead as it adds the rear view camera, which IMO, is very important and near mandatory at night with tint. Again, IMO.

You have five MPG displays which can be confusing or overwhelming at first. The main MPG meter can be reset at any time from any of the display modes (except "My View") by pushing and holding the left OK button. Trip 1 & 2 can only be reset while on those screens, lifetime can only be reset by digging deeper into the settings menu (generally not reset), and finally Trip Summary which is displayed after you power off and is automatically reset. These are all independent of each other so resetting one won't reset the others. When first reset, meters will swing wildly in either direction much like when you first let go of a ball and chain pendulum.

Another +1 on the NAV/sony package. I've had no real issues with mine (March build). On trips, I like to show my kids the ETA time display which eliminates the "Are we there yet?" questions. Another great yet somewhat hidden feature within the sirius travel link is a realtime weather/radar map. Sirus also has traffic updates/warnings which can be very important for some.

Yes and no. Upon powering down, two readings are displayed: Trip Summary which is the last power cycle (on to off) and lifetime. You can toggle back and forth between them with the up/down buttons on the left controller until you open a door which powers down the screen.

Here's a great article that helps explain the process and failings of the current EPA test cycle: http://www.caranddriver.com/features/why-is-the-epa-so-bad-at-estimating-hybrid-fuel-economy-feature Here are some excerpts for a quick summary: We were impressed when Ford announced that the 2013 Fusion hybrid earned an EPA ­rating of 47 mpg for both city and highway driving. Here was a generously sized and relatively conventional-looking sedan rivaling the efficiency of the ­Toyota Prius. Then we racked up a mere 32 mpg in our road test [December 2012]. That’s par for our foot-down driving style, but even when we drove more sedately, we had difficulty coaxing the Fusion’s trip computer to show any number that started with a 4. It turns out we weren’t alone. The second cycle is called the Highway Fuel Economy Test (HFET), also established in 1975. Unless you live in traffic-besotted L.A., it’s laughably slow by modern standards, with a maximum speed of 60 mph and an average of 48. But, back in the day, Congress had also mandated a 55-mph national limit, and the HFET reflected the intent, if not the reality, of American driving. these tests are irrelevant to contemporary real-world driving. For example, the maximum acceleration on either test is 3.3 mph per ­second. At that rate, it takes more than 18 seconds to hit 60 mph. Another difference between hybrids and conventional cars is the effect of off-cycle driving. For example, propelling a base Fusion and a hybrid Fusion through the test cycles requires the same amount of energy. But the hybrid gets better fuel efficiency—both in the real world and during EPA testing—because a good chunk of its energy requirement comes from the electric power­train that receives a significant share of its energy from regenerative braking. What happens when you start driving faster? Both hybrids and standard cars require about the same amount of additional power to run at higher speeds. But on the hybrid, the extra power can’t be supplied by the electric motor because most hybrid power­trains don’t operate at high speeds, and there is less energy to recover through regenerative braking on the highway. So the hybrid’s extra speed comes primarily from its internal-combustion engine. manufacturers are allowed to use their pocket ­calculators instead of actually running the three additional test cycles. Two scenarios enable such a certification. One is called the “mpg-based” approach, which, in many circumstances, allows the application of a mathematical fudge factor to those two hoary CAFE tests from the 1970s to adjust their results in a way similar to the three new tests. The mpg-based method looks like you’ve run all five tests, even if you’ve in fact conducted only the two old ones Examining the raw data from the hybrid Fusion’s original FTP and HFET results, it appears that Ford used the “mpg-based” approach to determine its window-sticker numbers, a perfectly legal option. But while the “mpg-based” correction factor might do well projecting a conventional car’s five-cycle fuel-economy results based on the two basic CAFE test cycles, hybrids behave differently, as noted above. We believe that if you take the fudge factor derived from conventionally powered cars and apply it to hybrids, or even small engines with turbos, you will run into trouble, with on-paper results better than what hybrids can actually achieve on real roads with real drivers. That speed limits are going up in places such as Texas, which has a new 85-mph toll road, will only exacerbate this situation. That’s government-speak for “Ladies and gentlemen, start your fudgy calculators!” A lot of manufacturers are taking advantage of this strategy.

Lifetime is, well, for a lifetime so no you shouldn't reset it. You have two trips plus the avg meter which is independent of both of them so you'll have three to use on your trip. I would use trip 2 for the overall trip, trip 1 for tank to tank readings, and reset the avg meter for special circumstances like mountains, coastlines, cities, pure hwy, etc. to see how the car behaves in those environments. I just remember you also a fourth economy meter in the non-resettable readings displayed when you power off. If I want to catalog those values, I take photos of them with my camera phone. Edit: it's called the Trip Summary.

Sounds like you are a good, efficient driver and would get good mileage in just about anything. The C-Max is now available as a rental or maybe you can get a 24 or 48 hour test drive like I did and see for yourself. Generally speaking, hybrids do great in town but OK on the hwy.

Robert, trailer that KR down here to the TexasMile and let all those 850 horses run free! http://www.texasmile.net

Good point about testing repeatedly. I think if you try testing again with the car locked after a lengthy period of time (how much TBD?), you'll find it usually needs two kicks. That's been my experience.

Heresy! Burn the witch, burn her! Everyone knows you can only get 50+ mpg on gamed short trips! :drool: Seriously, nice driving. :worship: :rockon: