I have noticed a reduction in regen braking in that my charge/assist needle rarely goes toward charge. I am still having the problem of coming out of EV way too fast, and have tried shutting off the climate control system to reduce the engine's need to stay on for warmth. I am still getting above 30 MPG, so I'm not really that disappointed because I'm getting way better than my little sister's Mazda3, but I wish that there was more information available from Ford or another "official" source (sorry, y'all; I love you but they've actually built the machines) that showed how cooler temperatures affect vehicle performance. I live in a place where I will not see 60 degrees again until April (if we're lucky); we will frequently drop below zero. I know that winter is harsh on vehicles, and if you don't have an engine block heater and park outside on a night when it's 30 below zero, your engine will be very slow to crank in the morning. That's understandable because all the fluids are cold and think and hard to move through systems. But the battery being next to useless until the car warms up (takes about 10 minutes for me) was unexpected. I guess it does put extra weight over the rear wheels which might help with slipping.

 

If your not seeing your EV last longer, it may be that the '08 runs the electric coolant pump regardless if the system is off. As far as I know, the '05 -'07 shuts off according to the PC/ED manual, but I don't have the '08 manual to check it. The '08 has a automatic control system, but prior years have manual climate control system. I keep forgetting that the '08 had allot of changes and may be different. Can anyone with a '08 PC/ED check the Powertrain Control Module Outputs section, mines on page 1-63 under Heater Pump.

GaryG

 

According to the 08 manual: "The pump is off when the climate control mode switch is set to OFF."

Page 1-20 of the 08 PC/ED manual

 

Ok, every vehicle I have owned has done around 15% less for gas mileage if the temperature dropped below 40.

I park my vehicle in a heated garage. It is 60 when I start it. My regen appears to be working when I hit the end of my driveway and its 30 out.

I have been told by several mechanics that they re-formulate the gaseline for winter driving. Maybe this formulation is partially to blame for the drop. Does anyone know if this actually happens. I have been putting in 93 octane gas just becaue I am posistive that doesnt have any ethanol in it. Is that also correct?

In general, I just drive my vehcile like I want and am getting 31-32 mpg, the vehicle has some great get up and go. I expect my mileage to improve as the ICE breaks in. So I am hoping once I hit spring time and another 5K miles, I can get in the upper 30's when trying.

I just isntalled my K&N filter at 1100 miles. The factory filter was definately restrictive, I could hardly see my trouble light through it.

 

Winter formulations do in fact sap some mileage... they are engineered to burn cleaner since vehicles run rougher in the winter. However, not all areas use or are required to use special winter formulations. Check out the forums on www.gasbuddy.com to see if you can find someone knowledgeable about your particular area.

The only difference between 93 and other octane grades of gasoline is just that, octane. It refers to the anti-knock index. 93 actually burns cooler, which allows performance engines to have their ignition timing advanced to make more power since the gas ignites at a cooler temperature.

I'm not sure about the laws where you live but around here the gas stations are required to post a sticker on the pump if it contains up to 10% ethanol.

 

The only thing I can find is that 93 octane doesnt have the 10% blend, but 92 usually does. Thats the only reason I have been buying it. I am still trying to figure out what stations do or dont.

 

Pat, if you look in your owners manual, it says use 87 octane. Higher octanes contain alcohol much of the time to boost octane and slow combustion for high performance cars with high compression. Alcohol will cause problems and is considered bad quality gas in the PC/ED manual. In some areas in the country, big oil will add ethanol (which is considered bad quality by the Ford PC/ED manual) to rip people off even more. This change in fuel mixture reduces your MPG.

The factory air filter is restrictive for a reason. The faster colder air going in the manifold reduces MPG because the air mixture is colder. This is why low RPM's produce better MPG. The longer restrictive air can get warmer in the manifold system, and the warmer the air, the more efficient the fuel will burn. We're not dealing with high performance anymore pat.

GaryG

 

So for gas, should I worry more about making sure it doesn't have ethanol, or should I worry more about making sure it is 87 octane. It seems like most of our 87 octane around here has ethanol. We only really have one gas distributor in the community. Except Walmart, but they always use ethanol.

I am not sure if understand the allowing the air to warm up statement. I need to do further research. I need to refresh my physics, but the formula for combustion and efficiency didnt include temperature unless it was in the kelvin range. Having adequate air flow allows for more complete combustion. I am not disagreeing, just don't know if I understand that completely.

Here is an interesting article on combustion (4th paragraph down discusses adequate air):

http://www.einstrumentsgroup.com/doc...let%202006.pdf

I do agree lower RPM's = better fuel efficiency. But increasing power output does mean you need lower RPM's to generate the same amount of power.

 

Cold air = more density = more oxygen = more fuel can be burned per second. In a race car, the ability to burn more fuel per second is an advantage. When you want to SAVE gas, cold air is a dis-advantage!

Also, liquid fuel does not ignite. Only fuel vapor does. So the colder the air, the harder ( and slower ) it is for your gasoline to vaporize and ignite.
In colder air, more un-burnt fuel can go out the tailpipe. In hybrids, with low compression engines, cold air is a disadvantage!

Octane slows combustion in an internal combustion engine.
It prevents premature ignition or "knocking".

Ethanol does NOT contain ANY OCTANE!!! Zero! Zip! Nada!

Ethanol contains OXYGEN which helps fuel burn more completely, and more cleanly. So you get the oxygen benefit of that cold air, at any temperature, without the hard to ignite properties of the cold air.

Read your pumps more closely. That octane number is an Octane equivalence number. 92 "octane" gas with ethanol has the same anti-knock ( slow burn ) properties as 92 octane gas, but does not actually have all those octane molecules in the mix. ( Actually, regular gas does not need to contain Octane molecules either, just perform like a fuel that does.) The octane rating tells how the fuel behaves, not what is in the fuel. A small difference, but one few people are aware of.

When run in optimum conditions:
Fuel Net energy Units
Gasoline 2.92 MJ/kg
Ethanol 3.00 MJ/kg
Methanol 3.08 MJ/kg


For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

-John

 

Ok, what if I said it doesnt matter what temp the air is coming into the motor. The Atkinson motor has a two stage compression cycle, the first stage is a low compression, the 2nd stage is a high compression, after the first stage the air has probably already warmed well above the engines ambient temperature. Then as the 2nd stage compresses the air probably reaches what 1000 degrees before ignition? This really makes the temperature of the air not matter. Its all about the flow.

Just something else to consider.

http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directo...ralato_Ruggero