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Hybrid Vehicles Ford Escape Hybrid Ford Escape Hybrid - Driving Tips & Tricks
43 messages, Last post on Jul 25, 2008 at 11:04 PM
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If you are using the aircon or the windshield defogger, then the A/C compressor is running which require power directly from the engine. Honda's and toyota's have electric motor driven A/C's. Make sure the AC or the fan is turned off and if things changed. |
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Replying to: warlok2 (Feb 02, 2006 12:13 pm) |
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I am very interested in the 2008 FEH. They are in limited supply in the Denver area and I have not been able to test drive one yet. Ultimately I will test drive one. I wanted to know if anyone can comment on the acceleration on steep inclines with the FEH. Also, can anyone comment on snow/ice driving with FWD vs AWD assuming I put Snow tires on the the vehicle. The Mileage seems to be considerable better with the FWD. (ie. do I really need AWD??) |
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I just got my FEH last week, 2008 AWD, no nav, no sunroof, most of the other options. IMPORTANT NOTE: I always consider traffic behind me when I am doing my "tricks". I do not advocate holding up the normal drivers because I'm trying to squeeze out an extra 1 MPG. I think that we as hybrid owners should consider NOT impeding traffic as part of the "parameters" within which we try to maximize MPG. I have noticed a couple of things about how the FEH uses the electric motor. 1. Upon starting up in the morning, the FEH will run the engine until it is warm. However, if you notice, the vehicle is actually running ONLY on electric propulsion initially. You can tell because while the vehicle is moving, the RPM is steady at around 1400. When the gas engine is propelling the FEH, the RPM guage goes up and down based on useage. The other clue is that the power guage moves over to "assist". The third indication is that I can hear the electric motor whine (very faintly). In practice I have found that I can go up to about a mile and 35 MPH without the RPMs increasing. I have found that if I subsequently stop (at a light or anything), the gas engine will then kick in to supply propulsion when I start back up. If you stomp on the accelerator (perhaps thinking that the gas engine is running anyway), the RPMs will go up and the vehicle will not be propelled by electric motors. 2. The FEH is programmed to turn off the engine when the system goes to "Charge" under a set speed (I think around 40 MPH). You can use this knowledge to enhance MPG by lightly tapping on the brake for about 1 second when you are approaching a red light and below 40 MPH. The RPM guage will hover for 1/2 second at 1000, then the motor will quit and the RPM guage will go to "EV". So long as you don't accelerate too hard, the FEH will stay in EV mode. This technique is useful when you would be slowing down anyway, so as to avoid "rushing to a red light". The same thing will happen if you simply let off of the accelerator when approaching a red light, but it takes longer for the computer to figure out that you are not going to use the gas pedal again. Basically, it appears to be tied to the "charge" setting - once the computer decides to charge the batteries (because there is no load on the gas engine), it will shut down the gas engine. 3. On my daily commute, I choose a route that goes down an almost deserted residential street for about a mile, rather than the busy main road (the distances are the same, though the main road is 40 MPH and the residential street is 30). Then I take it easy on the accelerator and can get up to the speed limit of 30 MPH on all electric mode - no engine at all. 4. I always try and keep my instant MPG meter at 6 bars. I have found that the FEH goes to 2 bars under gas acceleration initially (ZERO bars if you really hit the pedal), but I can get that back to 4 bars above 25 MPH by easing off of the accelerator briefly, and then lightly applying pressure. From that point I can accelerate on up to 40 MPH at 5 or 6 bars. Once at speed I am almost always at 6 bars. So far I am getting around 31 City and 30 highway, per the guages. I'm still on my initial "dealer supplied" tank of gas. |
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Replying to: stevedebi (Apr 22, 2008 11:07 am)
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Replying to: dhuang2 (Apr 23, 2008 12:18 pm) Yes, I've read similar comments. I may give it a shot for one tank. However for the moment I'm in the "break-in" period, so I'm just keeping it on D. One of my tricks is to release the pedal to cause the instant MPG to go to 6 bars. I'm not sure how well that would work with "L". |
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Replying to: stevedebi (Apr 22, 2008 11:07 am)  It will be interesting to see what changes are observed later this summer as the 2009's hit the street.
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Replying to: mecheng1 (Apr 24, 2008 6:27 am) Well, a lot of new people don't read that far back, and I think that a validation that the 2008 still works the same has some value... I have gone to several other "green" sites, and seen some of these techniques (after I found them myself), but I don't write about anything I haven't tried myself. So far I have not been tempted to try the extreme "tricks". 
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Replying to: stevedebi (Apr 24, 2008 2:13 pm)
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I have a 2008 FEH with about 8900 miles. Over the last several fillups my RPM indicator never show EV Mode. My mileage ranges from 26 (local)-29(highway). My concern is I do not appear to be in EV Mode ever. I think my Mileage seems to reflect this. Why do I appear to be running on IC engine 100% of the time (even when stopped at lights). On only several fillups when my mileage was about 5000 did I get the confidence from the RPM indicator that I was in total EV mode. Any thoughts? I haven'y discussed this yet with the dealer & maintenance people. |
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