Can Ford get us to 35?
 

With the current computer logic, I find the electric/gas change-over occurrs at 30 mph, and I find it "tricky" to drive on electric when in town. Most people (in back of me!) want to go at least 35 mph.

Has Ford issued an update to the computer system that increases the all-electric to both change-over to a higher miles per hour? Can the local service people tweek the system and make such a change?

Re: Can Ford get us to 35?
 

I highly doubt it either way. From what I understand, the Ford hybrid system is much like Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive. The computers are already optimized for mileage, so don't expect any changes.

Re: Can Ford get us to 35?
 

I can get to just under 40 on electric drive, but I have to get there slowly and after a mile or two I am nearly out of juice. The key is accerating very slowly, espcially from a stop. I doubt Ford can do much more with only one drive motor. The GM-Mopar project to design a two drive motor hybird (one for high speeds above 40 and one for low speeds) is very interesting and might hold some promise in this area. But of course if GM builds it it will be wrapped in outdated bodywork, painted an ugly color, handle like a elephant on a unicycle and GM will blame the press for another sales failure.

Chris Brown

Re: Can Ford get us to 35?
 

Most of the time I can get up to 40 in EV (and sometimes a couple over) if I am very careful and slow. About 3-4 miles is about the limit on one charge unless you are going downhill. I have gotten up to 8 miles and 15 minutes in EV but that was in a park with gentle up and down hills where the EV got me up and the coast recharged enough - never over 30 MPH.

There has been at least one firmware update but only at the factory - none yet out here in the field. Dealer Techs cannot do any tweaks.

Re: Can Ford get us to 35?
 

I will also throw my hat in as having hit 40mph in EV mode, but I'm sure thats not what Ford intended. Being that the FEH is primarily a gas vehicle, I'm sure the battery system was not designed to sustain extensive travel in EV mode. Look at the electric vehicles available commercially, and you'll notice that their range is somewhere between 60-90 miles, with a large portion of their weight being in batteries.

I'd be willing to bet that the battery payload on the FEH is a good balance between EV performance, vehicle weight, and structural design (where to put the batteries, etc).

Re: Can Ford get us to 35?
 

Exactly. The absolute limit for EV mode is somewhere between 40 and 45 MPH. Like the Prius this limit is determined by the redline of the motor/generator. Once you get to that speed (42 MPH in Prius) you must spin the ICE to protect the motor/generator from overspeeds. Under the right circumstances (downgrade) you could spin the ICE without fuel or spark, but there'd have to be enough downgrade force to keep you from slowing down as the engine would impart some braking force in that situation.

Re: Can Ford get us to 35?
 

Of course trying to stay in electric all the time is not really the point of a Hybrid. I could stay in electric drive all day long in out Honda EV+, but I could only go 90 miles at any one time, plus each one cost about $250,000 for Honda to make (according to them). The joy of a hybrid is to have full functionality, low emissions, fuel economy and unlimited range. The Honda won all but the last catagory. See http://archive.salon.com/tech/log/19.../electric_car/ to learn more.

I like to think of the FEH as an electric car that doesn't run out of gas, but the reality is the Esacape EV drive system is not nearly as strong as the EV+ (which toped out around 105MPH, electronicaly limited). The FEH is really a low power gas engine mated with a low power EV drive system which hopefully provided the best of both worlds, meaning you have to use both engines most of the time.

Chris Brown

Re: Can Ford get us to 35?
 

I was very pleased when I found that the FEH would run faster in EV mode than the 25 MPH which was posted in articles I read. I can get to 35 MPH in EV mode, but not often.

If you are going down a hill, 40 MPH is the point which the engine will start. I brake to avoid that.

I think Ford gave us all they could to keep the 2005 FEH reliable. A change to the system could damage it. Look for newer models to make these changes first.

Re: Can Ford get us to 35?
 

Man, I don't know how you guys do it. I've had my FEH about 4500 miles and on flat ground, accellerating as slow as humanly possible, I kick out of EV at about 10 mph. If I'm on a slight downslope, I can get it to MAYBE 20 mph.

But if I'm trying to keep even in the ballpark of traffic flow and not endure the honks of pissed off people behind me, I kick out of EV at 5 mph every time.

I've tried every trick in the book, every tip on this site, and had the car checked out twice by Ford - nothing works.

Re: Can Ford get us to 35?
 

Well I noticed a big change in my FEH at 5000 miles. My understanding is that it wants to work the gas engine those first 5000 miles to break it in. Try again when you hit 6K and see what happens.


Chris Brown
12,000 miles