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Ford Escape Hybrid - Driving Tips & Tricks
This is the place to share drving tips for getting the most out of your Escape hybrid.
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In highway driving, we get close to 40 mpg, but around town, we're only averaging about 15 mpg.
The engine, which is supposed to run on electric until about 25 mph, always kicks in right away - no matter how slowly we accellerate.
We took it into the dealership, and they claim there's nothing wrong - the batteries just need a "break in period."
Is anyone else having this problem? It kind of defeats the purpose of buying a hybrid if we're only going to get 24 mpg.
If that is true, then you have a problem you can show the dealer. Take it to them and show them that the battery is not kicking in at low MPH like it should. Here are some reviews that mention the "electric only" feature:
"In fact, the Ford Escape Hybrid will be able to go as fast as 25 mph without burning a drop of fuel, albeit for short distances."
"The Escape Hybrid can be driven up to 25 miles on electric power alone, thus using no gasoline and causing no emissions."
One caveat: The "electric only at slow speeds" MIGHT only happen after the truck is warmed up. I do not know that for sure, but I do know that in the Civic Hybrid, the "autostop" feature will not kick in until the engine is warmed up.
___To go along with what larsb said, if it is to cold outside, EV mode may not be available either. Autostop in the IMA equipped Honda’s in non-existent below 40 degrees F without some tricks and IIRC, the Prius II didn’t like EV mode much in 32 degree F temps when I test drove one of those almost a year ago. Hopefully a Prius II or Escape HEV owner can add a bit to your troubles if it is indeed trouble.
___With that, where do you live and in what type of temperatures are you driving in? What the dealership said about the pack needing to be broken in is complete and total BS.
___Good Luck
___Wayne R. Gerdes
The users guide says that when using max AC, the engine might not go into EV mode, and we have noticed that keeping the heat completely off lets us run on EV mode up to about 15 mph.
My wife can't accelerate away from a stop without the engine starting. I can. I have gotten up to about 30 before the engine starts, consistently on one stretch of road. Anything resembling an upslope causes the engine to start.
My son was annoyed with my attempts to drive electric only, because it requires a rather slow start. The most sensitive point seems to be about five feet away from dead stop, where the engine normally starts.
I imagine that there's an electric power burst from dead start that is "allowed", and then there is a decision made whether to start the engine or not. Maybe pressing the pedal for a second or two, and then backing off for a moment, letting inertia keep you rolling, and then slowly applying the "gas" will let you stay on electric.
If you can get to 5mph, you can probably get to 25mph, but it's almost worthless on a city street. It works pretty well in a parking lot, wandering around, looking for a space, except that you sneak up on pedestrians while you are in stealth mode.
Part of the problem here is how Ford has publicised this. They oversimplified how the hybrid system works for the digestion of the "enthusiast press" by saying "the vehicle can run electric only up to about 25mph".
A more correct statement would have been something like "Depending on conditions the vehicle will shut down the gasoline engine and run in electric only mode when it is possible for the electric motor to provide the required torque, but it will also take into account other factors, for instance whether the A/C is on, whether the engine is fully warmed up, or whether the battery is sufficiently charged." The reality is for typical driving the gas engine is going to start shortly after you start moving. Don't worry about it. You get a large portion of the energy savings from having the engine not idling at the red light. You should be able, OTOH, to coast down most hills without the engine starting (or at least without it consuming much or any fuel), especially if you are using light braking (helps charge the battery).
Ambient temperatures make a big difference here. Because Ford decided to cool the battery using outside air (Prius and I think Honda get cooling air from the passenger cabin) the Escape may have to start the A/C compressor (and thus the engine) just to keep the battery pack within acceptable temperature range. The system also works hard to keep the catalytic converter up to operating temperature, because when the cat is not hot it doesn't do nearly as good a job of cleaning up the exhaust.
It is certainly possible to stay electric only in a typical urban stop-and-go gridlock type situation where speeds seldom get over 10 mph. My observation is that trip length also plays a major role in the fuel efficiency. With my commute (approx 25-30 minutes) I can get about 27MPG pretty consistently, even with a big hill between me and work. When I go on longer trips, whether they are city or highway driving, the mileage goes up. Shorter, it drops. This should not be a surprise based upon the constraints listed above.
___The Escape HEV will easily receive 40 mpg with the right driver, conditions, and proper setup. This non-hybrid Ranger XLT is close to the 40 mpg mark in 20 to 30 degree F temps and the Escape HEV is worth even more In 65 - 85 degree temps, 45 mpg is a slam dunk in either. With the right pilot of course ;-)
http://www.greenhybrid.com/compare/mileage/details.php?cid=380
___Good Luck
___Wayne R. Gerdes
___You will have to change something in the setup, technique, or simply slowing down but place that Ranger XLT in your sights and it won’t be long. If you keep trying, you will learn all the tips and tricks as well as use this ability in whatever else you drive ;-)
___Good Luck
___Wayne R. Gerdes
My mpg has not gone above 24.6 not matter what combination of city/highway driving I have done.
My dealer contacted Ford about this situation and I was told I had to wait until around 10,000 miles for the engine to "break in". I am going to try to get something in writing from Ford since I paid thousands of extra dollars for this feature. I am only getting 3 mpg more than my 1986 Volvo 240 DL wagon. At this rate, it will take over 40 years for me to realize the savings in gas mileage...
I can get up to 39 miles per hour going downhill and braking and keep it on the battery. At 40 mph, it kicks into gas.
My road slows from 55 to 35. I can keep in in electric going up to 35 mph if I slow down to it from a higher speed and I use a very, very light touch on the gas. I find if I accelerate the speed I can't keep it electric past around 10-15 mph.
My dealer said an engineer drove with an egg under the accelerator pedal and got 50 mpg. He didn't say how many rear end collisions this caused.
At any rate, I still can get my milege up and I am really trying...
First, I am impressed with the ECV transmission. It is hard to describe. The only word I can think of is "smooth." There is no sense of a shift whatsoever so the car maintains a smooth pull from 0 mph to whatever speed.
Also, you will notice the the near instantaneous torque that you get from an electric engine -- it really feels different from any straight gas car I've driven. And it's not just at low speeds. The electric motor provides some nice kick even on the highway. If you're at 50 mph and want to go to 70, the car will respond instantly with the first response coming from the elctric engine. The gas engine will take some time to rev up and then will jump in after the accleration has started.
Finally -- and this is really cool -- when you release the gas pedal, you will notice in the power meter that the car instantly switches to "regeneration mode" in order to capture the energy from the excess RPMs that a gas engine produces as it slows down.
The power management algorithym (sp?) seems very intelligent - Ford I'm very impressed.
I cannot get used to the CVT on the Escape, it seems like I am always in "passing gear" revving the motor in excess when trying to accelerate. I can get the vehicle to 33-36 mpg in normal traffic but as soon as I need to accelerate modestly I hear the gas slurping out of the tank. (Boy I wish this thing had a bigger gas tank, too.)
I am by no means a lead foot, does anyone else have this problem?
-C...
The Ford and Toyota systems have a completely different design philosophy from Honda.
My advice is "don't worry just drive and be happy". If you look at your overall efficiency it's unlikely that the higher RPMs are having a sigificant negative impact.
I cannot get used to the CVT on the Escape, it seems like I am always in "passing gear" "
I have 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid CVT, and a 2005 Escape Hybrid 4wd.
Even after having the Honda as a introduction to CVT, the Escape did seem like it was revving too easily. I have 8000 miles on the Escape now, and I have just gotten used to it. I let the computer do the work, based on my "throttle" input.
(blip the throttle... nada).
My overall mileage has gone up. I was getting 26.8, and it's now 27.5. No particular change in driving habits or location.
Does anyone know where to get real answers about the HEV?
The brakes don't seem to have anything to do with whether its warmed up or not. It will charge if it is below 50%. The user's manual wrote that the battery likes to stay around 50%. The brakes do depend on how hard you brake. If you brake hard, it bypasses the 'wire' mode and goes into the hydraulic backup, where it doesn't recharge the batteries at all.
Remember not to keep your air settings on any of the orange defrost or max ac settings or your engine will be always on. Those are engine demand settings. Use them while your engine is warming up and you are driving, them turn them down, the escape cabin warms up very quickly...
Hope this helps,
Marcus
Thanks for the response.
2 weeks ago the Little Green Sprout, I bought the Titianum Green with Appearance Package, came to a complete stop in the Shopping Center parking lot.
Into the Dealer he went and the trouble codes revealed that the PCM software needed to be updated.
Several Technical bullitens had come out identifying the problems.
All went well for a week and now the issues have started again.
The Electric Motor is to be governed at 1500 RPM when going from electric to gas and mine now jumps back to 2500 even after it has warmed up after 30 kms, which is about 18 miles or so.
So back to the Dealer he goes on Tuesday next week and we'll see what they have to say about it.
I never run the interior controls in the "Red" Zone but that's great advice.
I'll keep everyone posted but anyone else has had the similar type of issues please let me know.
Cheers from Canada! :shades:
After about 20 minutes the engine no longer switches to the full electric mode when idling and does not assist the gasoline engine when accelerating from the stop. The usually lasts the rest of the day.
We have taken it into the dealership several times but they have very little experience with the Hybrid and don't know what if anything is wrong with it. They don't even know if this is normal or not.
Is anyone else experiencing similar performance from their hybrid?
Make sure the AC or the fan is turned off and if things changed.
Also, can anyone comment on snow/ice driving with FWD vs AWD assuming I put Snow tires on the the vehicle. The Mileage seems to be considerable better with the FWD. (ie. do I really need AWD??)
IMPORTANT NOTE: I always consider traffic behind me when I am doing my "tricks". I do not advocate holding up the normal drivers because I'm trying to squeeze out an extra 1 MPG. I think that we as hybrid owners should consider NOT impeding traffic as part of the "parameters" within which we try to maximize MPG.
I have noticed a couple of things about how the FEH uses the electric motor.
1. Upon starting up in the morning, the FEH will run the engine until it is warm. However, if you notice, the vehicle is actually running ONLY on electric propulsion initially. You can tell because while the vehicle is moving, the RPM is steady at around 1400. When the gas engine is propelling the FEH, the RPM guage goes up and down based on useage. The other clue is that the power guage moves over to "assist". The third indication is that I can hear the electric motor whine (very faintly).
In practice I have found that I can go up to about a mile and 35 MPH without the RPMs increasing. I have found that if I subsequently stop (at a light or anything), the gas engine will then kick in to supply propulsion when I start back up.
If you stomp on the accelerator (perhaps thinking that the gas engine is running anyway), the RPMs will go up and the vehicle will not be propelled by electric motors.
2. The FEH is programmed to turn off the engine when the system goes to "Charge" under a set speed (I think around 40 MPH). You can use this knowledge to enhance MPG by lightly tapping on the brake for about 1 second when you are approaching a red light and below 40 MPH. The RPM guage will hover for 1/2 second at 1000, then the motor will quit and the RPM guage will go to "EV". So long as you don't accelerate too hard, the FEH will stay in EV mode. This technique is useful when you would be slowing down anyway, so as to avoid "rushing to a red light".
The same thing will happen if you simply let off of the accelerator when approaching a red light, but it takes longer for the computer to figure out that you are not going to use the gas pedal again. Basically, it appears to be tied to the "charge" setting - once the computer decides to charge the batteries (because there is no load on the gas engine), it will shut down the gas engine.
3. On my daily commute, I choose a route that goes down an almost deserted residential street for about a mile, rather than the busy main road (the distances are the same, though the main road is 40 MPH and the residential street is 30). Then I take it easy on the accelerator and can get up to the speed limit of 30 MPH on all electric mode - no engine at all.
4. I always try and keep my instant MPG meter at 6 bars. I have found that the FEH goes to 2 bars under gas acceleration initially (ZERO bars if you really hit the pedal), but I can get that back to 4 bars above 25 MPH by easing off of the accelerator briefly, and then lightly applying pressure. From that point I can accelerate on up to 40 MPH at 5 or 6 bars. Once at speed I am almost always at 6 bars.
So far I am getting around 31 City and 30 highway, per the guages. I'm still on my initial "dealer supplied" tank of gas.
Yes, I've read similar comments. I may give it a shot for one tank. However for the moment I'm in the "break-in" period, so I'm just keeping it on D.
One of my tricks is to release the pedal to cause the instant MPG to go to 6 bars. I'm not sure how well that would work with "L".
It will be interesting to see what changes are observed later this summer as the 2009's hit the street.
Well, a lot of new people don't read that far back, and I think that a validation that the 2008 still works the same has some value...
I have gone to several other "green" sites, and seen some of these techniques (after I found them myself), but I don't write about anything I haven't tried myself. So far I have not been tempted to try the extreme "tricks".
Over the last several fillups my RPM indicator never show EV Mode.
My mileage ranges from 26 (local)-29(highway).
My concern is I do not appear to be in EV Mode ever. I think my Mileage seems to reflect this.
Why do I appear to be running on IC engine 100% of the time (even when stopped at lights).
On only several fillups when my mileage was about 5000 did I get the confidence from the RPM indicator that I was in total EV mode.
Any thoughts? I haven'y discussed this yet with the dealer & maintenance people.
Are you implying that I can not set a comfort environment and be in EV Mode? Woe, that's crazy.
PS to moderator: I checked the prior messages but listing this under "Driving Tips" seemed to bury the issue. That seemed more concerned with "technique" instead of some overall systemic isssue with EV Mode. Sorry!
Are you implying that I can not set a comfort environment and be in EV Mode? Woe, that's crazy. "
If you are in ECON mode the engine should have shut off ENABLED except in the following conditions:
1. When the engine is warming up.
2. If the defrost is on, or the "defrost and floor" is on.
If neither of these is true, something is wrong with your FEH.
I say shut off EV mode is ENABLED, because if you keep pressure on the gas pedal, the engine will run. However, it should always shut off when you are stopped at a light or in traffic.
http://www.fitchfuelcatalyst.com/
DO NOT expect to use the FEH to tow.
Mark
DO NOT expect to use the FEH to tow. "
NO, YOU ARE NOT CORRECT.
Do you even own an FEH? Pages 180 - 184 of the 2008 FEH owners guide provides the towing limits, how to calculate gross vehicle weights, suggestions on driving while towing, what to do after towing, etc. It is a pretty complete description.
One note indicates that the FEH cannot accomodate electric brakes on the trailer.
Max towing load is 1000 lbs.
Having said the above, I still do not recommend that people tow with the FEH - get the ICE Escape V6 for any serious towing.
High-Voltage Shut-Off Switch Located Behind Jack Access Panel must bo ON ?
Please help i buy the car today ford escape 2005 hev.
mr_pitbull
1. Is N really OK to coast in?
2. Was speed the reason why it didnt drop into EV mode when coasting downhill at 65mph?
Somewhere this is big right up in one of the forums that explain how the powertrain works.
Personally, leave in D and use a light foot.
Somewhere this is big right up in one of the forums that explain how the powertrain works.
Personally, leave in D and use a light foot. "
No, the engine SPINS up, it does not use gas in this mode. It spins up so that the CVT will not have stress should the drivetrain revert to using gas/electric propulsion. It will also spin up even higher should the battery state of charge (SOC) goes above approximately 66 percent.
In Neutral, the transmission and engine are not connected. I don't recommend this in general, although I have read that some hypermilers use Neutral.