I am convinced Ford lost it's taxi fleet sales because of the change to an electric A/C compressor and elimination of the battery aux A/C. There are many utube videos of Taxi Techs doing open pack inspections and repairs, so they fully understood and liked the the older system.

The changes in the 2010 FEH and the fact that taxis can't wait to charge the battery like the new Energi system, Ford painted itself into a corner. Operating cost for city driving forced a down turn in FEH sales, so Ford gave up on the FEH.

GaryG

 

IMHO, I don't think that is the reason. Most of the FEH I saw in 2011-2012 were loaded up models, and they were therefore outrageously expensive - far more than the ICE models. I think they chose to put most of their batteries into the FFH, and made a corporate decision to go after the Prius crowd with the C-Max rather than attempt to hybridize the new Escape. Another factor was that I think they truly expected the Ecoboost to supply good MPG, so that the Hybrid extra costs would not be worth the MPG.

Not that I agree with their decisions, but that is the way I see their corporate philosophy.

 

When I spent a week in Manhattan, I road in the front seat and my wife, Son and his girlfriend road in the back seat of the many taxi trips we took. I got to talk to most of the drivers about MPG and repairs they were getting. Many of them still liked the Crown Vic because of how easy their mechanics could get parts and put them back in service quickly. The big problem with the CV was pollution and the Mayor wanted hybrids to solve that problem in the big City. Going EV was impossible in those taxis as traffic was moving too fast and stopping to hard between stoplights. It was the boost of the traction motor that kept emissions down with that small I4 engine.

The C Max Hybrid is too small for a taxi and now the EPA is saying Ford did not conduct their MPG test correctly. The 1.6L Ecoboost Escape is under powered and it constantly uses the turbo when accelerating. The 2.0L Ecoboost has more power, but both are poor on MPG. The tailpipes are black from unburned fuel with both engines.

The fact that taxi companies are converting Escapes to CNG sends a red flag up to me. I wouldn't buy a non plug-in hybrid myself and the taxis can't use a plug-in hybrid because of down time. I think Ford is going to drop the non plug-in hybrids altogether because they have to cheat about their EPA MPG ratings. The regular gas engines are now starting to get the same real MPG.

My neighbor Leased a new 1.6L Escape and has already called Ford complaining about the bad MPG he is getting. Most people at Blueoval.com are doing the same about both the 1.6L and 2.0L Escapes and Fusions. They're also complaining about all the new Ford hybrids also.

GaryG

 

Gary,
Why don't your borrow that 1.6l ecoboost and see what kind of MPG you get?

I have not seen any reports that confirm, or even claim, that Ford did the MPG tests wrong. Hyundai did that, but the EPA is only checking on claims that the Ford products don't seem to be getting good mileage. It is quite probable that Ford did the tests correctly, but that the ecoboost somehow shows up really good numbers on the EPA cycle.

 

I already drove the 2.0L Ecoboost Explorer and could tell it got less MPG than my V6 Explorer. Wayne Gerdes was given all Ford Ecoboost engine models to test drive and write an evaluation. The problem is the turbos boost as you accelerate, not like you need to floor it to get the turbo to kick in. In other words, you get turbo boost when not at a idle all the time. You just get higher boost the harder you accelerate.

If I drive my Explorer with the A/C On with hypermiling techniques, I could not accelerate the same way with the 2.0L Explorer and match the V6 MPG. I found this situation between my 2.3L FEH and my 2.5L FEH. The bigger engine doesn't work as hard and therefore runs at a lower RPM.

I already know from what Wayne confirmed, you have to drive the Ecoboost with the A/C Off and accelerate dangerously slow to get the EPA numbers Ford is claiming. I don't even drive my '09 FEH that way and I certainly would not drive my V6 Explorer that way either. I accelerate all my vehicles with normal drivers which is not fast or slow.

The EPA has stated last week that Ford has incorrectly given some of their vehicles wrong EPA numbers. http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47334

GaryG

 

Gary,
The link you provided specifically said that the EPA has not stated that Ford did the test wrong. That statement came from the lawsuit lawyers.

 

True, my bad, it is the lawsuits that are claiming Ford didn't follow EPA testing procedures. I don't think the EPA wants to say anything at this point because they didn't suffer a loss like the lawsuits claims by the buyers. I think I read on cleanmpg that now another lawsuit has been filed in another State.

Ford is still sticking by the 47mpg with TV adds here in Florida.

GaryG

 

Gary,
They have no choice about advertising MPG claims. By Federal law they cannot advertise anything other than what the EPA tests revealed.

 

Accelerate dangerously slow, what's that?

 

That's when you **** someone off behind you and cause road rage. We see it here all the time when these snowbirds come down and hold back 10 cars behind them going half the speed limit on a two lane road with no passing stripes. People behind you here doing the speed limit will even get mad.

GaryG