The previous few posters are on the right track.
Good work using your intuitions.

The battery pack is smaller than you think.
The batteries are less than 200 pounds, but then there's the stainless steel case, electronics, cooling system, etc... that gives you nothing back...

While your cell phone may charge to nearly 100% each night, and drain to maybe 10% to 20% during the day... It only lasts about 2 years.
Your cell phone also charges gently ( over 1-4 hours ) and discharges even more gently ( over 12-16 hours ).

Your FEH battery charges in minutes, and dis-charges in minutes, using about 100 amps at a time ( about 100 household light bulbs, about 1000 cell phones... ) and is meant to last about 15 years! Pretty amazing in my book.

Yes.... 100% to 0% charge would give to 10 miles of electric only driving.
Who's ready to buy a new $3000 battery every 2 years? Not me.

Ford built a very good machine in my book. A very durable one.

-John

 

John,
I thought it was probably warranty related, I'm pretty sure these battery packs aren't going to make it 10 yrs/150K (CA) and I have my doubts about the tranny too, not to mention the ICE starter motor/interface..
About maximizing mpg's, does anybody else drive like GaryG http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=350 and is it damaging or putting undue wear to drive like that, very enlightening stuff in that article...

 

I believe that the only parameters that the powertrain relearns after you disconnect the 12V power are to support the Onboard Diagnostic monitors:

http://www.obdii.com/drivecycleford.html

Your engine will operate slightly differently as the OBD II systems verifies that all emision control systems are within specification.

I do not believe that an automaker includes any software features that would significantly impact fuel economy, and corresponding emissions; and cause/force these levels to vary between vehicle based upon driver behavior. If a vehicle were to ever get pulled in for a in-use emissions test, the automaker would want to be confident that the test results wouldn't have degraded anymore than could be accounted for due to physical wear.

Speaking of physical wear, I believe that is the first reason people are seeing increased MPG and EV range. Besides lower friction losses in the engine, the drivetrain wears in as well, making it easier to propel the vehicle and thus requiring less power.

The other reason is that there is 'learning' going on; but instead of your car learning about how you drive, you are learning how to drive it better. :^)

 

If this was the case, my battery was conditioned very well before my 05 FEH had a little over 500 miles. I was working on repairing a fence and charging the battery for my cordless drill via the 120V outlet in my FEH. I forgot to turn the vehicle completely on therefore I almost completely drained my 330V battery while charging the battery for the drill. Luckily I had discovered my error before any damage was done. But I had discovered this after the charge indicator on my NAV unit revealed no voltage in the battery.

 

I don't think anyone would fault you for asking. But one of this forum's members have created a string explaining what happened and what he experienced when he has run out of gas. You may want to look at it if you haven't done so already as it is very informative and answered some of my questions as well.

Rich

 

I'm glad to see you quoting gpsman1, since he was the one I was referring to in my previous post. But there is another key element he has referred to in his posts too. He drives an 05 FED FWD model.

I'm not trying to belittle anyone, but we just need to keep these items in mind when reviewing any information.

As for the 2 mile range for battery usage in EV mode - it is also in the manual. Though it can be streched out by gliding. I've been able to pulse and glide for about 5 - 8 miles in EV mode while driving down a slight incline.

 

Sorry for responding to an old thread, but I've been wondering lately if the car does, in fact, relearn the engine idle, etc... continuously or does it just do this once? I would imagine that it does this continuously, but there is a procedure for letting your vehicle relearn. From the 2007 MMH manual…

1. With the vehicle at a complete stop, set the parking brake.
2. Put the gearshift in P (Park), turn off all accessories and start the
engine.
3. Run the engine until it reaches normal operating temperature.
4. Allow the engine to idle for at least one minute.
5. Turn the A/C on and allow the engine to idle for at least one minute.
6. Drive the vehicle to complete the relearning process.
• The vehicle may need to be driven 10 miles (16 km) or more to
relearn the idle and fuel trim strategy.
• If you do not allow the engine to relearn its idle trim, the idle
quality of your vehicle may be adversely affected until the idle
trim is eventually relearned.

Since they included these instructions in the manual, it leads me to believe that it does it once. So would there be any gains in disconnecting the battery to force it to relearn every 10,000 or 20,000 miles? Would it relearn if I went through the procedure without disconnecting the battery? Just looking for any thoughts on this.

P.S. – They forgot step 5.5, release the parking brake.

 

To my knowledge this is a continuous process (eg short term & long term fuel trim). The learn process you list is used to speed up this process when the memory has has been zeroed by disconnecting the battery.

 

Part of the answer on battery capacity lies in the attached graph. I found it in a much larger engineering presentation. Glad to provide it if interested (lots of figures - nearly 3 MB in size).

My take is that Ford chose to operate in the 40 to 50 % range to gain the 1,000 cycle lifetime shown. The upper limit on charge has to do with battery safety while the lower limit on charge has to do with being able to start the engine in all circumstances of expected operation.

I've seen it posted that Ford has an almost unused stockpile of batteries since their predicted failure rate was far higher than real world experience is delivering.

 

Wish I could see the above attached document.

My MS Word opens and where the picture is it says
"Quicktime and a decompressor are needed to see this picture"

My PC has Quicktime, but I'm no guru, so oh well . . .