How far can a person drive using just the electric motor in the Mariner. Whenever I attempt to drive thru residential areas going 20mph or less, I'm lucky to go a block (2 at the most) before the gas motor wants to kick on. Is this normal?

Mark

 

Depends on the battery state. If my battery is charged, I can drive through the neighborhood below 30 mph in electric only. However, if I go more than a few miles, the ICE will kick in due to low battery.

 

We make mostly real short trips. Would that tend to drain the battery down and not give it a chance to charge up? I suppose long trips are best for charging a battery? I don's suppose the Mariner has a separate meter that shows the charge of the battery, does it?

Mark

 

You need the Navigation Radio to get Hybrid diagrams, one of which is battery state of charge, or "fullness".

Concensus is, you can drive for up to 2 miles at 30 MPH with a fully charged battery, if you are not using a lot of electrical accessories such as headlamps and heated seats, etc.

Yes, your headlamps are 12v, but the energy for them is stepped down from the 330v battery most of the time. Only after your 330v battery is drained, does the 12v battery kick in.

 

As long as I keep her under Mach two, I can generally keep a good charge for about half an hour. (If you don't get the joke, http://www.fordvehicles.com/escapehybrid/quiz/index.asp )

 

I have the navigation radio. Guess I need to take a closer look amd find the battery indicator.

Mark

 

Press the button that looks like a battery, next to the gas pump (FE) button. The energy flow screen, with the ICE, motor, and battery, as well as the directional energy arrows is your battery gauge. The closer to the + - symbols means the more charged it is, the less, well, the less charged it is. The arrows thickness vary by amount of energy being transfered, and the charged battery is to the bottom of the + - symbols, not the top of the battery icon.

 

One of the replies below said,

"Yes, your headlamps are 12v, but the energy for them is stepped down from the 330v battery most of the time. Only after your 330v battery is drained, does the 12v battery kick in."

Is that true of the other electric components: radio, wipers, rear/side defrosters, etc.?


Mark

 

My wife's route to work is about 4 miles, no freeway. I tried taking that route once with no cars behind me going at ~25mhp on battery only. Got about 2.1 miles before the battery symbol on the Nav gets really low and the engine kicked in...half way to her work. Not bad, I had 2 stops during that course.

Cant wait till battery technology gets better, and mod the car with a bigger motor (is that possible, I wonder). Wonder how fast the stock motor can get the car moving if it didnt have to worry about battery.

 

It depends on how much juice is in the battery. Once that is depleted, if the engine isn't running then you are only getting a minimal charge from braking. Therefore you will be limited in your range and the engine will come on to recharge. The battery takes a while to recharge from the engine so if it keeps going on and off it is only giving you a minimal charge each time.

Also, I am guessing your Mariner is new. You will get much less range and much lower fuel economy until you hit the 1,000 and then 3,000 mile mark as the system breaks in and the battery is conditioned.