I would love to know if there are people out there looking to increase the performance of these vehicles by actually tinkering with the battery capacity for range and the software for speed?

My Mercury Mariner would be so much better with extended range and if I couold travel at real city street speeds of 35-45 without the ICE starting up. After all; it's not downhill everywhere you go.

 

You will kiss your warranty good-bye with what you are asking. Ford's hybrid system has been designed in a conservative manner and done so for durability issues. The taxi cab's in New York City have over 250,000 miles without any issues. You didn't mention what year vehicle you have but the newest ones (2009) go into EV much quicker and frequent. If you have the bucks, one can drop $32,000 at Hybrids-Plus for a Plug-In conversion. Otherwise, it is looking like late 2012 the Escape will feature a Ford retail OEM plug in hybrid electric vehicle.

 

Thanks for the advice. I have a 2007 Mercury Mariner Hybrid with AWD with 16,000 miles on it. Last week in the first 17 miles of driving around town on mostly flat side streets (with a couple of hills) I managed 52.2 mpg (next time I'm going to video tape it) without really being a nusiance. I'm getting about 33-37 in combination city/hwy. I keep to the speed limits or slightly below and never in the fast lane on I-15, Ogden to Murray, Utah. Oddly enough I can get 31 with my Volvo Cross-couuntry in city/hwy combo in the same trip.

 

One big somewhat radical one.

Buy a swivel wheel "tag-a-long" trailer on which to mounted ~5KW (7HP) NG fueled genset. Use the genset to automatically fire up and recharge the hybrid battery.

Less radical:

Find a 2010 "salvage" Toyota HSD drive train and do an engine swap. As of 2010 the HSD uses extended VVT-i to dynamically transition the engine from Otto mode to Atkinson mode. 13:1 static AND dynamic compression ratio for low cylinder charge volumes, 10:1 dynamic CR with HIGH charge volumes. Or you might wait a year or so and the HSD engine will have been adapted to DFI. Then within another year or so the HSD engine displacement will get downsized pretty radically and use a positive displacement variable speed SuperCharger. No throttle plate and the engine will be able to transition for its static compression ratio of 15-16:1 all the way down to 8-9:1 under full boost.

As long a Mullay continues to drink the TwinForce/EcoBoost cool aid I'm afraid we will have to rely on Toyota for continuing HSD improvements.

 

Billy - I have 2 '06 MMH vehicles and BOTH are over 100k. You say that the taxis are over 250k without problems... But how many battery changes? Ford and Toyota won't say, which makes me think they HAVE had issues.

But at the same time, the Prius owners have the option for a plug-in switch (Plugs into an existing wire in the car already) that gives them more control and an EV-only mode... That wasn't allowed for the NA market. That kind of nonsense where things that ARE technically possible elsewhere in the world aren't "technically possible" here in the USA really burns me up. Our hybrids ARE capable of high speed EV mode. It is only a question of battery life and the wherewithal to USE that battery.

Case in point: I have been driving one of my two MMHs around for a while recently and watching the battery SoC on my Scangauge. It ranges between 50 and 54%, NEVER higher or lower.

Care to elaborate on why I have a big battery pack if Ford's "high efficiency" design won't USE the dang thing at all? Their warranty can go spit, if I have to lug around all the extra tech (MECS etc) for this, when it won't offer me any benefit other than making me hot at lights by cutting the engine. I can do that myself without a battery system. I want EV mode controls. I know it is possible... The question is how to enable it.