Now that we have cooler weather in the northeast I've been noticing that the electric motor does not appear to come on as quickly or as often. I called the Ford dealer. The service guru said that whenever the heater is turned on, and it has been cool enough to use it and I have, then the gas engine is going to run and the motor will not. Hmmm. I decided to test this on the FusionH. Went for a run, electric switched over, I then hit the heater. . .still in electric. Continued in electric. What gives? OK, maybe I have to hit defrost, that will probably kick on the A/C, no way it will stay in electric with the A/C. Tried it and still the Fusion stayed in electric, didn't miss a beat didn't even seem to notice. So that doesn't seem to quite be it.
Has anyone else had this experience with gas mileage dropping now that the temps are lower?
The interesting thing is this, once I am out on the road for 10 minutes everything seems to be exactly the way it was in summer. The engine comes on and goes off very easily. I just did a 20 mile errand on suburban streets and returned home with a mileage of 59.8 (I was trying to get 60!). Which is still remarkable, nearly an increase of 50% over EPA. And I had traffic behind me frequently so I was keeping or exceeding the speed limit. Seems like I always have a BMW SUV in my mirror just 2 car lengths back and itching to get by for that rush trip to buy a head of lettuce.
Anyway, has anyone else experienced anything like this?
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Just a couple thoughts and both related to the temperature. First, there might be more resistance to movement from slightly less flexible tires or slightly more viscous lubricants. These will improve as the whole system comes up to temperature. Second, as batteries are electrochemical devices, the electrical system may be a bit less efficient until it warms up. Your mileage is good enough that you can see a 5% reduction in performance.
ReplyDeleteThe owners manual mentions that the HEV will not come on unless the gas motor is at normal operating temps. Mine will come on for a second or two when exiting the driveway, but the EV is not as easy to turn on unless my gas motor temp is normal. It takes longer to warm up in the winter, obviously. That's one factor.
ReplyDeleteThe other factor is that EV's, and all batteries in fact, are less efficient in colder weather.
You will notice that there is a thermometer in the bulb on the engine temperature gauge on the SmartGuage screen. If it is white the hybrid will not go into electric ev mode. If it is green then the gas engine is warm enough and the car will go into electric ev mode. I have noticed that between my morning and evening commute to work I get about 3 to 5 mpg less per trip in the between morning when it is cold. I believe this is due to the gas engine not being warm enough for the car to switch over to EV.
ReplyDeleteteapczynski,
ReplyDeleteYour comment about the temperature bulb is great. I've got the FFH over getting the oil changed today and am going to check this out tomorrow. You've really helped clarify what is going on, and also added understanding to the info that is displayed on the temp gauge, one that I have not paid that much attention to.
I'm going to publish some of your comment under a new posting just to make sure enough people see it, because this is good stuff and others may be wondering the same thing as the temps drop. Thanks!
Richard