How does Ford come up with this figure--155 net Hp rating for the gas and electric engine combination? We know the ICE is rated for 133 HP and the electric motor is rated at 94 HP. One of our posters (John -gpsman1) listed these figures.

You get about 2 minutes of a trickle ( 10 HP ) help, or about 20 seconds of a 40 HP boost.

My math just doesn't quite match Ford's claim of 155 HP net. Can you explain the differences?

What is the net torque figures from Ford?

Yes I may be hung up on the engine HP rating and concern about towing. However, my previous two visits to two different Ford dealerships yield salespersons who are not too "knowledgeable" about the Hybrid capabilities and possibilities. I find a lot more information on sites such as this than from the dealership, newspaper or other even board based web sites such as Consumer Reports.

BillyK — The net HP is the sum of the ICE's HP and the battery's HP output capability (since that's the total power available when both are in use simultaneously). I don't have these numbers handy for the FEH, but since the battery's output capability is probably specified in kW (kilowatts), you'll need to convert it to HP. Make use of the fact that there are ~746 watts in a HP.

Stan

On this link: http://www.fordvehicles.com/suvs/esc...eatures/specs/

you can read the engine specifications:
133Hp @ 6000 rpm for the ICE
124 lb-ft @ 4,250 rpm torque for the ICE

94 hp (70 kW) @ 5,000 rpm for the electric motor

Again, I am asking because I sure like heck am not going to get an answer from any of our local Ford salespersons who completely do not state Hybrid possibilities and capabilities reported by users of this forum.

But I don't think you get both at the same time. The motor and the ICE work through the power split device to give smooth acceleration. The net 155 hp feels like more because it's applied more evenly, unlike conventional ICE/transmission setups.

My 4WD
Wife's 4WD

The manufacturer of the MOTOR says it is a 94 HP motor.
To make it last 10 years, the Ford programming never allows it to be run that hard. The upper limit ( via software ) is about 40,000 watts, or about 53 HP. Up to 25kw can come from the battery, 15kw from the generator.

The battery manufacturer ( Sanyo ) rates the battery pack as 70 kw.
Again, to make it last 10 years, Ford never allows it to charge or discharge more than 25 kw at any given moment. And the average charge/discharge is about 10 kw.

Since the electric motors provide most horsepower at slow speeds, and the gas engine provides most horsepower at high speeds, the "combo" has been estimated at 155 HP. Someone else said you can never have both at max output at the same time, and this is true.

-John

A big thank you to gpsman1 (John) for his most recent post. I now have a better understanding of how the Escape Hybrid operates and coordinates ICE and electric power output. In simple terms, computer software programing is involved and is designed to ensure longevity of the system.

In the future, will someone "hack" this programming code and offer "performance tuning chips" (as the previous posted indicated, there is additonal built in capability) as found in many other vehicles?

It continues to be a solid learning experience reviewing the contents of this site.

I would assume that the planetary gear setup in the FEH works something like the Toyotas' do and only allow a portion of the torque on each input or output of the gear set. If I recall, the power split device is geard to transmit about 75% of the ICE's torque to the eCVT and 25% to the MGR1. The eCVT is essentially the same gear set, only backwards. It gets 75% of it's torque from the PSD and 25% from the traction motor. the ratios are physically set by the gearing ratios and cannot be changed without changing the gear sets and, most likely, the programming too.

There are of course other considerations to getting more out of the electrical system. I don't know a whole lot about it, but it stands to reason that there is a breaker that will trip if the current output of the battery goes too high, and it's probably not much higher than 75A, to protect against shorts and wiring faults. Although the wiring looks to be a rather heavy guage, it may or may not be able to handle the full 70kW output of the battery without melting, shorting out or starting on fire. The same could go for the inverter and the cooling systems for the battery, inverter and motors.

Would you please show us the source pointer?
I think the 70 kW battery power is too much.

The net power is ICE power + battery power.
On Camry Hybrid case...
http://pressroom.toyota.com/presstxt...ryHybrid_s.pdf
The net 187 hp = 147 hp + 40 hp

So, my bet on FEH is net 155 hp = 133 hp + 22 hp

Ken@Japan

Try this, they give the specs at the bottom of the article.
http://www.gulfcoastnews.com/RT2005FordEscapeHybrid.htm

GaryG

The article has some errors, for example, "330volt 65kW (87 hp) traction motor".

Ken@Japan