Hi,

we just bought a new 2006 Escape Hybrid 3 days ago up here in Victoria Canada. So far the electric motor does not seem to have been used. The dial which shows whether the battery is charging or giving assist has only shown charging, no assist. The vehicle also does not shut off when stopped. But the most distressing thing is the average lt/100km is a whopping 10.2!! Thats about 20mpg for you folks in the US.

The info screen shows the battery charge at "normal" but clearly right now this is nothing more than a very heavy small suv with a combustion engine working full-time.

As the vehicle is a new 2006 with a little over 300km when we drove it off the lot, I assume it was sitting in fleet storage for a long time (the dealers in Victoria are all out of hybrids, so this vehicle came in from out of town, accounting for about 150 of the 300km).

Has anyone else had this problem with new Escape Hybrids? I'm hoping the problem is that, due to the vehicle having been stored for a year, the battery needs to be charged (though its frustrating that it shows its charge as "normal").

I'll give a couple more days then take it into the dealership.

 

What is the temperature where you are? There is the possibility that it is too cold.

 

Hi Mark_bc -

I'm just a little south of you in washington, and it's not too cold for my 2006 MMH to run on electric.

Are you familiar with the heater/ac/defroster settings that cause the internal combustion engine to run nonstop? On my MMH, these settings are orange in color while the others are white. If that's not the problem, I'm stumped.

-Island Mariner

 

Island Mariner,

thankyou!...yes, it looks like it was the defrost setting. Its been raining since we picked up the Escape and we have had the defrost on to unfog the front window. I just drove it a few blocks without the defrost and BINGO, at the first stop the tachometer dropped to the little green battery logo and the electric motor kicked in.

Thanks again...
Mark_bc

 

Just so you know... even with the heat set to one of the orange modes... you (if you give it a bit of accelerator pressure) should still see the guage go into the boost range for a second or two. The electric motor is used a great deal of the time... NOT just when the ICE is off. When you are going down the road some of the engine power is diverted through a generator to produce current... that current is used to drive the motor. At 65mph both the ICE and the electric motor are typically running. So if there were something actually wrong with the electric motor, you'd notice alot more problems than just it not going into EV mode.

 

Also, as an FYI about the "orange settings", I thought I noticed, and then had to check the next time to be sure, that the ICE will shut down when they are on......if it's cold outside. Driving in zero weather with a warm car, it will go to EV kind of like normal (not as often, and for shorter periods) at stops and low speed even on defrost.

I'm guessing the Ford folks were clever enough to code in that if it was cold enough not to need the AC pump, then the ICE could shut down with no loss of dehumidification. So it's not an absoulte rule.

 

I know it seems a mundane task, but this proves that a little time spent reading or at least skimming the owner's manual is a worthwhile pursuit. I'm a geek so I generally scoff at the notion of RTFM (Read the Freakin' Manual), but the FEH manual is one of the few I've read cover-to-cover.

 

Hi Andy

This makes you the third person to claim that the ICE will shut down in freezing weather with the defroster on. I have stated from the first time I heard this that it makes sense Ford would program the FEH/MMH that way.

You people in AK know how to fiqure things out, after all, you know how to keep alive in such a cold place. I enjoyed your post regarding the studded tires and new rim set up also.

My Brother Richard and his family live in Wasilla and have some property accross from Anchorage where they where talking about building that big bridge near the Port. He said it has been real cold with heavy snow lately, so I like to hear more how the FEH/MMH performs in that weather. Maybe you can experiment on the neutral gear tap to shut the ICE down in that cold weather. It cooled off here today and it took a few more taps to get the ICE off.

Thanks for the info!

GaryG

 

Wasilla??? Man, it's COLD out in Wasilla. It's only been to minus 12 or so in Anchorage, but those folks are crazy .

I don't get to try it much, as it's my wife's car. Only one fits in the garage, so she drives it. Also, when it's truly chilly (no one gets to say "truly cold" unless they live near Fairbanks), a lot of times the roads are bumpy with a layer of uneven ice or packed snow, or there may be loose snow around, as they like to spray stuff that keeps it from clumping rather than plowing it. I suspect compared to a lot of northern 48 states, it's just not very clean. The upshot is, there's not a lot of finesse when you're bumping around like that, and most of us don't go on long drives in the winter. I live a few minutes from work, so I don't have much of a commute.

All that said, we're getting about 27 (indicated by the Nav) during the summer, and at the moment it's down to about 22. We're not mileage fanatics (everything looks good next to the F-250 with the 460), and the car barely gets to warm up before it's parked nine times out of ten. Thus, very little EV time since October. And I'm sure the tires won't help any.

There are a few other Hybrids up here, but I haven't actually met any of them. When things thaw out, we'll do a little better! I went to school in St. Pete for a year a LONG time ago.....I'm kind of missing a St. Pete January about now.

 

I haven't had the opportunity to check mine in cold weather yet, so I really don't know if mine acts this way. But I do know that when I use the defroster, you can tell when the FEH wants to shutdown the ICE. The change in engine speed and sound is very noticeable. This is one way I can tell when the climate controls are set to an "orange" setting.