Hi All ,

I have enjoyed reading the various posts on this car here and also reviewing the mileage stats. We just got ours a week ago, and our initial mpg came in at 24.3. We live in a mountainous area in Northern California at about 2,000 feet elevation, and about 3/4 of the average on this first tank came from highway driving, the rest around our community.

I gather from a FAQ on the Escape Hybrid that there is apparently some improvement that occurs as a break-in period closes. My wife will be using the car to commute to work, which is a very short hop across town--about 2 miles or a little less one way. My guess is that for these short trips the car will probably be lucky to get 22 mpg, but the real average will increase as she also will do trips to nearby towns and so forth, with 20-30 minute trips, and lots of short hops around the flatland town nearby (Chico).

Anyway, we are enjoying the EV/ICE switching, having a nice quiet car when you are moving slow in traffic, and of course when stopping.

How many mpg do you get when the care way brand spanking new? Our car only has about 300m on it.

Noel

 

Read around this site some more. You can expect anything when this car is so new. The first 3 to 10 tanks can be anywhere from 20 MPG to 35 MPG.

It will get better with time, no matter what. Short trips will be a killer. You need about 6-7 miles for the car to get into it's groove. So if possible, drive to the most distant spot first, and work your way home in short hops with a warm engine, if possible. You won't get to use the battery power much if you have only 2 miles from key on to key off. Tell us how you are doing after 3000 to 5000 miles. Then we can really compare! Good Luck, and enjoy it! It is a fun ride!
-John

 

I also have a brand new 4WD, first tank 25, second 28 and all my trips this week have been in the low 30's. People say that the break-in comes after 1-3000 miles but I'm seeing improvements already. I'm sure that some of it is driving style and having the visual display that gives instantaneous feedback. I think I must have the perfect commute, it's 12 miles with a clear run for the first 4 or 5 to get warmed up, then a downtown stretch where you have to go at 30 to get the lights on green (I can go the full 2 miles on EV if I time it right), then another open stretch and finally a mile of quiet road to finish the trip on EV. I did it with 37.8mpg average one day this week, but it was only 24 when I first got the car.

 

Hi Noel

I waited a few years for the FEH to become available and held out buying the standard model for that reason. After reading articles and spending time on http://www.hybridcars.com/forums/ , I thought I'd get between 28-30mpg in the FWD model FEH. My thinking was you never can get EPA estimates, so I didn't expect much better.

My FEH arrived in FEB. '05 in about the best weather you could ask for here. There was no mention of hypermiling in the FEH as it was a new vehicle, and very few knew anything about the techniques we use today. From the first tank, I learned that EV was the best way to save gas, so I traveled the slow beach roads here. From the start, I was exceeding EPA estimates of 36mpg, and breaking into the low 40mpg. Things started to head south as it got warm in June, and the A/C became a must for the Wife and Kids. I manage to hold between 31-36mpg and up to a 38mpg every once in awhile as the FEH got broke-in and we all started to learn the technique to improve MPG.

Most of the break-in involved rolling resistance and higher EV speeds because of it. "The Low Gear Advantage" was put togeather by myself, Ray Martin (nitramjr), Rich (Pravas Prime) and others and open the door for many FEH/MMH hypermilers. The best hypermiler who came up with that term joined in our thread, this was Wayne Gerdes (xcel). Wayne brought coasting in "N" to the table and off we went.

GaryG

 

First of all, welcome to GH.

With a commute that short, you aren't going to see very good MPGs, especially if it gets cold there.

With a vehicle that new, it's based almost entirely on temperature and the commute style. Relax, enjoy the FEH, and don't worry about comparing yourself to anyone elses vehicle, especially at this point.

 

Wow, we are doing well then. Our first tank is averaging 36 MPG according to the display. It's really fun driving it in the city where we can go totally on electric between red lights. I am not sure why they are saying you won't good mileage on a 2 mile commute. Once it's warmed up (maybe there isn't enough time to warm up), you should be able to use it mostly on electric.

 

If you have temps in the 70's plus, you can go EV in a mile if your battery is low from the start-up. From there, you can burn off the battery in EV bringing you MPG in the mid to upper 30's in a little over two miles. Sometime I have to do a cold start in the mornings to take my Son to school, and average 37mpg on my scangauge on that round trip back to my home. Slow speeds with "L" regen help to pack the battery, and the "N" double tap help me go EV ASAP.

Your going to beat my mileage if your FEH is new. Good luck and keep us posted.

GaryG

 

Thank you all for the comments. I will stick my neck out and predict, with our temperatures, and my wife's driving needs, we will probably come in at maybe 25-26 mpg when all's said and done and broken in and new habits are learned, and this primarily due to her commute needs. On the plus side . . . she has a very short commute, so not much fuel's needed :o). Her actual annual mileage is around 13000m, so less than half of this is the short commute, the rest other driving needs.

Gary, what the heck is the "L" regen? the "N" double tap? I think the double tap is to the brakes to help force EV operation right, but the 'L" is a mystery!

 

The key to getting and maintaining EV the longest for me is the use of "L" regen and the "N" double tap (or more) till the ICE shut down.

First of all, there is no "L" (LOW gear) as the shifter would lead you to believe. In other words, you can drive just as fast in "L" as you can "D" (DRIVE) with the eCVT. There are four ways to get regenerative braking before the brake pads are used to slow the FEH/MMH. All regen (regenerative braking) is, is the Traction motor/generator taking energy from the wheels as you let off the gas or apply the brake pedal which is both if you drive with the right (one foot) foot like you are supposed to. The computers changes the traction motor to a generator to recharge the HV battery. Both electric motors can be turn into a generator, one by the engine and the other by the wheels. Since the traction motor is larger, it can generate much more energy faster for storage in the HV battery. If you take advantage of this system like I do every minute I drive my FEH, you can increase you mileage by driving more EV and reducing the load on the engine when charging the battery with the small generator. The four ways to regen are:

1) Letting off the gas pedal in "D" (the "D" Fake Shiftt) is the least amount of regen going to the battery.

2) Letting off the gas in "D" and applying the bake pedal, will give you more regen.

3) Letting off the gas in "L" (the "L" Fake Shift) is the one I use the most for killer regen.

4) Letting off the gas in "L" and applying the brake pedal will give you the max regen. and charge to the HV battery. Only use this for stopping

Neutral brake tapping is sometimes required because the HV battery is to hot or cold or the traction motor is to hot preventing charging by the control computers. In neutral ("N"), all regen is not possible because of a disconnect of the wheels to the traction motor. I discoverred that if you shift to active neutral and tap the bakes, the engine will shut down most of the time when it will not in "D" or "L". This is very important, to me anyway, because I can go EV under 40mph any time I want even if I have a cold or hot battery or hot traction motor. Using this knowledge along with "N" coasting in the 25-35mph speed range, I have hit 70.3mpg on a 20 mile round trip in my FEH.

For a cleaner thread on the "Low Gear Advantage" see my rewrite on:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/ford/...e-v2-1807.html

GaryG

 

Gary, thank you for the nice overview. I wonder when reading this, will this in any way wear on the components, to use these strategies to maximize regen? Have there been any comments from Ford on these practices? Pretty cool discoveries!

Noel