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2013 C-Max

44 messages,  Last post on May 23, 2013 at 10:07 AM

You are in the Ford C-Max Hybrid Forum.

What is this discussion about? Ford C-Max, Car Buying, SUV

Messages Page 2 of 5

#9 of 44 Apps for C-Max and Charger Locations for C-Max Energi by cshelley

Dec 01, 2012 (11:21 am)

My most recent blogs are on smartphone Apps for C-Max owners: http://cmaxchat.com/?p=623 and finding charger locations for C-Max Energi owners: http://cmaxchat.com/?p=663 Some of you may find my blog on the C-Max helpful. I ordered a C-Max in August, it won't be delivered until Jan 2013, and I'm blogging about the C-Max.

#10 of 44 Re: $3750 Tax Credit [cshelley] by rrollntdi

Dec 04, 2012 (8:40 am)

Replying to: cshelley (Dec 01, 2012 11:16 am)
cshelley. Thank you for the information. I noticed that the tax form is for 2011 so I assume the 2012 forms aren't ready yet. Hopefully Obama won't kill the tax credit as part of the Fiscal Cliff measures. If he doesn't, the C-Max Energi should qualify for the tax credit if purchased in 2013. Since Ford will only have begun making them late this year, it would be unlikely they reached the sales limit next year. I have one on order, but it's not likely to be built til January.

#11 of 44 Re: $3750 Tax Credit [rrollntdi] by cshelley

Dec 04, 2012 (12:12 pm)

Replying to: rrollntdi (Dec 04, 2012 8:40 am)
I checked the IRS web site. They haven't listed the 2012 form yet. I don't believe the tax credit is affected by the part of the tax credit that is the "fiscal cliff". Ford must sell 200,000 C-Max Energi, Fusion Energi, Focus Electric or Ford vehicles not yet announced before the tax credit is phased out for Ford models. I don't believe it is possible for Ford to sell this many in 2013. I'm quite certain the credit is safe, but new legislation could be passed to remove it. I doubt this will happen.

#12 of 44 Re: $3750 Tax Credit [cshelley] by rrollntdi

Dec 04, 2012 (12:59 pm)

Replying to: cshelley (Dec 04, 2012 12:12 pm)
cshelley. Thank you for your help in researching the credit. 200,000 is a large number of electric cars for Ford to sell, so the credit should be safe for a couple of years, barring new legislation.

#13 of 44 Re: Apps for C-Max and Charger Locations for C-Max Energi [cshelley] by rrollntdi

Jan 07, 2013 (10:29 am)

Replying to: cshelley (Dec 01, 2012 11:21 am)
I ordered a C-Max Energi in December. My salesman said it was built last week, so it should be in any time now. I'm in the process of selling my Jetta TDI, hopefully it will be gone tomorrow. There aren't a lot of charging stations in this area yet, so I figure that I'll have to use gas for over half my commute. I'm still skeptical about the MPGe claims, but I'm jumping in. I'm investigating a DTE Energy provided Level2 charger for the house. The savings sound great and DTE pays up to $2500 to have it installed (if your one of the first 2500).

#14 of 44 Re: Apps for C-Max and Charger Locations for C-Max Energi [rrollntdi] by greenroger

Jan 07, 2013 (12:47 pm)

Replying to: rrollntdi (Jan 07, 2013 10:29 am)
We get about 20 mi all electric. The gauge has been as high as 23 and as low as 16 after a full charge.
 
My Wife only drives 15mi a day during the week so it does not bother us what the gauge says.
 
I purchased a GE charger at HomeDepot for 800.00 and had it installed for less than $200 but we hardly ever use it. We only do if we plan to go out after we get home, we will plug it in for a quick 1 or 2 hr boost and then we go out.
 
The 120v adapter that comes with the Energi works fine over night it gets a full charge in about 4hrs since we rarely get it out of electric mode or "EV mode" (except on the weekends).
 
In Auto EV mode after the Hybrid battery is empty it will work just like a normal Hybrid: ICE off at stop lights, regenerative braking will keep the battery charged enough that it will usually get to 35 mph or so before the ICE kicks back on. It is hard to know when the ICE kicks on so we keep it on the "Engage" display so you can see when it is running (the ICE shows as a white graph, battery as green).
 
I have calculated a little over 40mpg with just the ICE. Combined we get about 90 to 100 until the weekends when we get it down to 70 to 80.
 
I have used a charging station at Walgreen's (most all have one).
If you can plug it in to 120v at work that might be an option.
 
Our Electric bill has gone up $10 a month.
 
We finally used the 1st tank of gas after 30 days of ownership and over 1000 miles.
I still cannot believe we bought a Ford, it's funny how many Ford drivers come up to us and ask "What is that?" and lots of OO's and AW's after explaining it to them.
 
Enjoy your new C-Max Energi.

#15 of 44 MPGs Low so far??? by rrollntdi

Jan 29, 2013 (7:37 am)

Replying to: greenroger (Jan 07, 2013 12:47 pm)
I took delivery of my C-Max Energi on Friday evening. On Sunday the battery gage showed about 15 miles on battery available. We drove it a few miles to church and to a decorating show 36 miles each way and only got 36 mpg. I found out EV Now mode wasn't available and it was running on EV Auto. Sunday evening I changed the settings to allow EV Now. This morning I started out with about 12 miles available on a full charge. I got about 41 mpg on the 23 mile one way trip to work this morning. That's better, but it's not even between the 43 and 100 mpge advertised . No charging facility here at work so I'm sure it will only get about 36 mpg on the way home. I love the ride and comfort of the vehicle and it's so much nicer than a Prius. Only about 112 miles on the car so far. Anyone have any tips or advise for me to increase the observed fuel economy?

#16 of 44 Re: MPGs Low so far??? [rrollntdi] by sliu777

Jan 29, 2013 (8:39 am)

Replying to: rrollntdi (Jan 29, 2013 7:37 am)
Once a while my battery shows 15-23 miles when I left it charged overnight on the 110V charger cable. For a whole week it was showing 18 miles. My Energi is in the garage (50 degrees) so its not the cold weather affecting the low miles on the battery. I started using the "extra charge" button next to the shifter when I'm going downhill or need to stop quickly then I noticed my battery would show 20-23 miles when I charge overnight.
Also use the Empower Gauge mode so it will show when the gas engine will kick in so you can easy up on the accelerator.
Right now I'm on my 2nd tank of gas (bought it on 11/18/2012) and my lifetime MPG is about 72 and my MPG for my 2nd tank is about 70 MPG.

#17 of 44 Re: MPGs Low so far??? [rrollntdi] by greenroger

Jan 29, 2013 (10:14 am)

Replying to: rrollntdi (Jan 29, 2013 7:37 am)
One tip that I have found is ECO Cruise.
It had to be set on ours (it was not the default when we got it).
 
With all the complaints about the hybrid model not getting the MPG people wanted I decided to do a test on our Energi it is a little heavier than the hybrid but all I had to test with.
 
I drove 50 interstate miles on ECO cruise and got 48mpg.
Simple test I know but it gave me piece of mind about the MPG issues.
It was 64o when I tryed this (I don't know if temp makes any difference at all).
 
Try it yourself if you can:
Put the EV mode (mode cannot be changed if the Battery has been depleted) in EV later (if you have a full charge it will go 2 miles in full EV mode to burn off the charge, I guess it is to prevent over charging the battery?) after 2 miles (when it kicked out of EV mode and the ICE kicked on) I pulled over and shut if off / restarted and check that it was still in EV later mode, accelerated to 62 MPH and set the cruise, I had to use the + and - buttons a little with some traffic I did not use the brakes and after 50 miles I pulled over and shut it off and it showed 48 MPG for the trip.
 
My wife let me drive it two weeks on my commute (40 miles each way) 80 miles per day (I can and did charge 110 at work) I used the ECO cruise as much as I could but it did finally go below 80 MPG.
 
3000 miles now on it used 42 gallons of gas (about 3 tank fulls) and a little better than 70mpg. It will start going up now since the wife has it back, she drives 15 miles all electric per day.
 
My Focus Electric will be here Feb 26th!

#18 of 44 Re: MPGs Low so far??? [greenroger] by bobw3

Jan 31, 2013 (10:12 am)

Replying to: greenroger (Jan 29, 2013 10:14 am)
You said you drove 3000 miles on 42 gal of gas. Have you factored in the cost of electricity for those 3000 miles. If for example this 3000 miles was over three months and your electric bill went up by $10/month to charge the car, then you'd have to figure in that $30. Plus if you factored in the "free" charging at Walgreens or other locations at $$20 for example, then you have a total of $50 in electricity cost. At $3.50 in gas, the $50 would pay for a little more than 14 gal. Add that to your 42 gal used would equal 56 gal for the 3000 miles driven, which would be a more accurate MPG figure of 53.5MPG.
 
Still good of course, but only a couple of MPGs better than what a regular Prius will get. My main issue with plug-in type hybrids is that I don't trust that their batteries will last as long as a regular Prius hybrid battery, which has proven itself to last hundreds of thousands of miles.
 
Of course it really depends on how a person travels. If it's a lot of short trips, then a plug in would be more efficient, but if person takes a lot of long trips, then probably not. And again the different battery type on plug-ins makes me nervous until they have a longer track record.
 
Just my opinion...

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