Well there are other differences. I'm certainly no expert on this, but as I understand, one is the way the battery is cooled. The 09 and earlier have separate cooling lines that run to the battery, whereas the 2010 uses the cabin air conditioning to cool. Moreoever, the 2010 has an electric air conditioning compressor. You notice the economy button at the bottom of the center stack? You need to keep that pushed in the summer. Otherwise, the car won't go into EV when it otherwise would as the ICE keeps running to turn the compressor in order to cool the battery. The 2010 doesn't need the ICE to do that, and the Economy button is gone.

Now whether any of that has anything to do with the 44 mph limit for EV I don't know, perhaps someone else will.

Daytime running lights? Didn't know our machines had that? If you have the light switch turned to the left, it will autosense when it's dark enough to turn the lights on and on occasion it will do that during daytime hours, but otherwise I don't know anything about daytime running lights.

John S.

 

I seem to remember that DRL was a fleet option and that the dealership can turn it on for any FEH. I seem to remember reading it's just a configuration change in the computer but it required dealer level equipment to get into the computer.

I guess you could also cover the light sensor so the Auto-Sensing lights would stay on. Not the best solution since I think that's a different level of light (thus require more power?) and would affect the instrument cluster/console lighting as well.

 

I bought a 2 year old FEH with 70,000 miles. It was driven by an HP salesman, so it has the DRL option. $45 sticker option.

The dealers can turn them on/off.

What I don't understand is that why don't the accessories run off the 12v battery? Everyone is saying that the DRL, headlights, electronics deplete the 330v battery pack, but I would think the 12v battery runs them, just like in a normal car???

If the lights DO pull off the battery pack, then I should turn off the fog lights?

 

Your Ford dealer can turn them off (I had them turned on for my 2008), it is in the SJB.

There are physical changes in the FEH system between 2009 and later models. I believe it is concerning the A/C system to cool the battery pack, and the electric HVAC.

I'm surprised Gary hasn't jumped in here; he is very solidly convinced that the 2009 is the best model to date.

 

Steve, the reasons why I don't jump in as much here is because you and some other experienced posters are able to answer most of the questions now. Also, I've got my hands full figuring out hypermiling this new Explorer and the electronics.

My '05 FEH caused me to learn all about hypermiling so I hit the road running when I got the '09. I had to rearrange who drives what now and my 19 year old son got the '05 FEH which he hates. He no longer has that powerful '02 V8 Explorer I sold which he was filling-up almost twice a week going back and forth to College and running all over town with. His only source of income is me while he goes to school and gets good grades. Today, he drove me to my wife's work to pick-up the new Explorer and I noticed he was hypermiling in EV. I checked his SGII and seen he finally got serious learning how to drive. I even had to tell him to speed up because he was holding traffic back. I guess telling him if he could cut back on my credit card filling-up with gas all the time I could save up to get that 2012 Electric Focus for him, and it worked! Once he learns the art of hypermiling
and changes his driving habits, he will be good for life.

I'm "very solidly convinced that the 2009 FEH is the best model to date" and I see a few recent buyers have taken my word on it. If my son continues to hypermile, I'll start letting him take my '09 when it's available. That IMO is a strong reward from driving the '05 FEH.

2K3 Mach, just about everything is ran off the 12V system but that is solely charged from the HV D/C converter to the LV D/C system. The 12V battery is used to stabilize the 12V system when the D/C to D/C converter gets short of providing the 12V system all the power it needs to run everything at the same time.

GaryG

 

Steve:

The 2009 doesn't have the electric HVAC. That came in 2010. While I won't try to speak for Gary, I think that's why he likes the 2009 better. From Edmunds' site, here is what they said about the 2010:

"New additions to the 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid include standard integrated blind-spot mirrors plus optional features including a rearview camera, enhanced Sync capabilities, an automatic parallel-parking "Auto Park" feature and MyKey, which allows parents to limit speed and audio volume for their teen drivers. Ford has also switched the air-conditioning system to be electrically driven instead of belt-driven from the gas engine, thereby providing better A/C performance when the engine is stopped."

With my 2009, if the battery needs cooling, the engine runs.

John S

 

Thanks everyone for sharing your knowledge. Sounds like a great group of people here...

Gary - A personal "Thank you" to you for all of your posts about the 2009 FEH. You're the reason why I had to find a 2009. Truly appreciated.

I got my re-programmed scan gauge back tonight, so I'll be messing with that tonight...