I don't want to appear stupid, but I don't quite understand the question you are asking, so I'll try to give an overview of how things have been done in the past with regard to A/C and hybrids, from a Prius perspective, since that seems to be our point of reference right now.

Does the Escape Hybrid have auto climate? Yes? Then what I write below is probably correct.

Prius I had the A/C connected directly to the engine like the Escape. Automatic climate control interfaced with the rest of the onboard computers, just like it does today in current shipping Prii, in order to efficiently run the car and keep the interior to the driver's preference. So, this scenario should explain how it all is tied together.

It's summer. It's warm out. The a/c is set to 72, not that an exact temp is meaningful in my example, but it shows that the system will be working to keep the cabin cool. The Prius driver has his car at a stop and the vehicle has gone into auto-stop. There is residual "cool", for lack of a better description, in the ductwork and the coils that during a short stop at a light or stop sign that the cabin might not warm up beyond the thermostat set point. So at a short light auto-stop would work correctly and the engine and a/c would turn off. There wouldn't be enough time for solar energy to warm up the cabin before the car would be moving again and the ICE would be used for propulsion and the A/C compressor could make up for lost time.

However, if that light were long, then it is likely that solar energy would warm the cabin above the set point. That is when the climate control system would kick in and ask the hybrid control system to engage the engine and the a/c compressor would subsequently engage. The engine-a/c combination would run only until the cabin had been brought below the set point and then turn off.

I understand that in the HCH there is an econ switch which basically bars the auto climate system from calling on the engine while in auto stop to run the a/c compressor, since I believe it is also connected to the engine. That is Honda's way of keeping a/c from making the engine compartment its slave.

Prius II comes along and Toyota has separated the a/c compressor from the engine, running it on high voltage electricity. Brilliant! So, you can be at a stop light and the auto climate system may call on the a/c compressor, but it won't require the engine to start up. In theory, between natural generation while the cruising and regenerative breaking, the power the a/c compressor uses should be regenerated in a short period of time after the stop. This also means no econ switch to keep the auto climate from calling on the engine to run the compressor. All in all this is more of what people mean by no compromises hybrid. Everything in the car works all the time without compromises, such as running ICE to run a/c.

Now, onto battery cooling. A comfortable ambient cabin temp should be air cool enough to provide effective cooling power to the battery. There are fans on the Prius battery which draw in cabin air and expel warmer battery air outside of the vehicle. Thus, operating a/c normally during the summer even at warmer temperatures say above 75 degrees should still provide air cool enough to assist the battery.

I am confused about your comment regarding "under-powered" air conditioning. Could you clarify? What are you experiencing now?

Also a question for you, where is the location of the air inlet to the Escape's battery? That will answer more questions about how Ford is choosing to cool their battery.

It has been said:
Hybrid drivers come in 3 flavors, greenie, techie and cheapie. Pick any 2.
2005 Prius, Melinium Silver over gray, package 5 (AI)