Smiling Jack

Yes. And the "beat" goes on..........

Too bad for us that they did not make Hybrid and Energi versions of the current Escape.

For What It's Worth: At the time I purchased Energi in April 2013, after the Federal tax rebate the price was essentially the same as price for a comparably equipped Hybrid SEL. Not drawing any conclusions, just providing info.

Since Kostby has the data organized, perhaps we could impose on him to plot the ratio0 or the difference between the two (Hybrid and Energi 6-month average curves. That might shed some light. Edit: As I think about it, I suppose that the ratio would be the most meaningful.

For quite some time I have been watching the slow convergence of the Energi and Hybrid sales. Look at the 6-month average curves provided by Kostby. In the early months, the Hybrid outsold the Energi by a factor of 6, but since then the Hybrid sales have been on a significant long term decline with annual bumps; the Energi sales, less so. Last year the Energi sales started a bit of an upward trend. It looked like the two would converge. Now for the last few months they have indeed converged. In fact, over the last 6 months the Energi outsold the Hybrid 5044 to 4663. Interesting to speculate as to why. Will the recent trends continue?

My 2013 Energi uses noticeably more electric power for the electric heat than for the A/C. The impact of the electric heat is less, however, when running the ICE Otherwise I agree.

Thought I posted this yesterday. Perhaps I did not click "post." Interestingly, Energi sales have surpassed Hybrid sales for the first time. There has been "handwriting on the wall" in the trends indicating that this would happen eventually, but I did not expect it to occur quite this soon.

Around here, lately, we wouldn't need heat from the engine or power from the 110V outlet to do the cooking. Most sunny days we could fry eggs on top of the hood with a cold engine - or on the roof for that mater !! With the pano roof, cleanup would be easy.

Livesmith is correct about this.

Paul, Yes, and ithe acceleration is perhaps even more "surprising" in the Energi. It has been well discussed on the Energi forum, and I believe pretty well accepted that the larger battery pack in the Energi can simply deliver more current, but still not enough to max out the motor. Jack

Exactly ! Both the Hybrid and the Energi are limited by the amount of current that can be delivered to the electric motor, but the Energi can deliver more current.

I've lurked on this thread for a long time and read most of the responses. Some of the answers that occurred to me have been discussed, but several have not. Thought I would sum up. Here's smiling Jack's list of the top 10 advantages of the C-max Energi vs. the Hybrid that can be realized even if you don't plug in: (several of which have been discussed in posts above) 10. The rear load floor is between waist and thigh high - the perfect height to load and unload heavy objects without straining you back. Think of a case of beer, for example. (No kidding - I REALLY enjoy this!) 9. When the Energi rear seats are folded down there is a rise where they meet the rear load floor. This means that you can put a slide-able package there and not need to worry that it will slide back when you "floor it." 8. The Energi has a larger gas tank. 7. The Energi can deliver more power to the wheels. IIRC it is about 30 HP. This, combined with the Energi's lower final drive ratio can make the Energi quicker in acceleration (particularly at street speeds) in spite of its greater weight. 6. The heavier battery in the rear results in more even front-to-rear weight distribution. This should promote better handling. 5. (As has been discussed above) You might qualify for an HOV sticker. 4. (Also as ha been discussed) The Energi could be cheaper to buy. As was the case when I bought my 2013 new, the current sticker prrice of a Energi is higher than the (similarly equipped) Hybrid SEL by almost exactly the amount of the Federal tax credit; so if you qualify for the whole amount of that credit and you also qualify for a state tax benefit or rebate, the Energi would be cheaper in the end. 3. (Also as has been discussed) It is indeed possible to re-charge the whole battery without plugging in, either while under ICE power or while regen braking. Depending upon the nature of your trips, this could result in significant boosts in EV range and/or overall mpg. 2. The charging port on the front fender is like a Badge of Honor. The green-wise public definitely notice it and admire you for it. In some circles its a status symbol. I even got a "thumbs up" form a Tesla driver. 1. (to be continued)

Yes

A few details: The unit was originally conceived for the Prius, and by far the greatest number of installations were in Prii, but installations were successfully made in a number of other hybrid vehicles including Highlanders, Lexi and Ford Escapes, The unit consists of a bank of lithium ion batteries (parallelled and seriesed to 48 volts), a 110 VAC to 48 VDC plug-in charger, a DC-to-DC converter (48 VDC up to whatever DC voltage matches the car's hybrid battery bank), a battery control, monitoring and balancing module, a control switch and wires and cables, The basic unit is 4 KWH, but there was also a 2 KWH version. A number of enthusiasts made 6 KWH and even 8 KWH I first tried 2 KWH and then upped it to 4 KWH. The Camry Hybrid has a 1.6 KWH HV battery; so the total for me became 5.6, The list price of the 4 KWH unit was about $4000, but I obtained the unit at a big discount because I was the first pilot tester for a Camry Hybrid installation. I did the installation myself, and I had to work out all of the Camry-specific installation details, mechanical and electrical. There were some Camry-specific settings that the manufacturer needed to make to the DC-to-DC converter. The unit mounted in the trunk. It took up about as much space as is lost in the C-max Energi vs. the Hybrid. The system worked very well. At street speeds, I could do about 20 miles before the kit battery was depleted and I could get 75 or 80 mpg. In the end, I discovered that a Plug-in hybrid was exactly what I wanted - plug-in efficiency and outstanding fuel economy with zero range anxiety. Maintenance and reliability, however were serious problems. I wound up wanting a factory PHEV rather than a DIY aftermarket solution. I have been completely satisfied with the C-max Energi. The car has never been back to the dealer coming up on 3 years. I've lost a little HV battery capacity, but I still get about 20 miles of EV range, I get a couple thousand miles out of a tank's worth of gas, and my lifetime average is about 150 mpg, and the impact on my electric bill has been minimal. In fact, I often say that plugging in my Energi actually caused my electric bill to go down. That happened because the chore of trying to calculate the impact caused me to discover that I was paying over 16 cents a KWH; so I shopped around and got that down to 9 cents. Given my experience with the Camry conversion and the experience of others with Ford Escape Hybrid conversions, I would think that one of the "Prius" units - as the OP put it - should work out ok either to convert a C-max Hybrid to a Plug-in Hybrid or even to add more EV range to an Energi. But, considering the maintenance and reliability, if I had a C-max Hybrid, I would trade it in on an Energi rather than do a PHEV kit conversion.

To clarify: I had a Camry Hybrid. I converted it to a Plug-in Hybrid by addition of an aftermarket plug-in conversion kit. (The plug-in kit also added 4 KWH of Li ion batteries.) I traded the Camry in on my C-max Energi. Again, I will post more details later.