The results of switching from an SUV to FFH: saving $169/month

There's been alot of talk regarding the gas cost savings from switching to a hybrid. In every article I've read, it's been stated that the payback time from gas savings is so long that it doesn't justify the cost premium incurred in buying a hybrid. Doesn't matter what the hybrid really, whether it's a Prius, Fusion, whatever, because they cost thousands more then a conventional car, the savings take a long time to add up. I knew this going into purchasing my FFH and was undeterred by the math. I love driving the car and love being a little greener then I was before. But recently I decided to calculate what I've been saving each month from switching to the FFH. I've been saving ALOT. Here's the results.

My previous chariot was an Infiniti FX35. Nice ride and average mileage for the crossover SUV class. The car is rated 14-16 city and 23 highway. My long term mileage on the Infiniti has been 16 probably because our driving is almost entirely suburban. Now that I've owned the FFH for 8 months and it has over 10,000 miles on it I thought it would be pretty easy to do a gas cost comparison between the vehicles. Long term mileage on the FFH is 40.2 at this point. Running the calcs with my average mileage per month and cost of gas at $2.50/gallon gives a savings of. . .ta da. . .$169/month. And I double checked the math on this one.

One note: my FFH long term mileage was achieved during the warmer portion of the year. So some degradation of the long term mileage figure will occur during the winter months I'm certain. I will recalculate sometime in the spring. Still, $169/month for switching from a crossover to the FFH, that is just stunning. Even considering a reduction in figures from the winter, this is going to result in savings, I would predict of over $1500 in gas for the year. That is alot of money.

So, is this scientific? Well, no. It's just a lifestyle switch from an SUV to a high mileage hybrid. But it has been money in the pocket just the same.

Using your garage to improve MPG

Now that the temps are dropping in the northeast U.S. it has occurred to me that actually my garage can help me improve my MPG. Here's why. In the suburban style driving that I most often do, there is now a much longer warm up cycle whenever I start the FFH because of the colder air temps. This can be easily seen in the MPG figures which are reduced because of the longer engine warm up time. Simply put, it takes longer to warm up the car at 29 degrees in December then at 75 degrees in July. How reduced? I don't have a figure on that, and it definitely depends on the length of your trip. Once the FFH is warmed up, it's basically summertime in the car. It's just getting to that point takes more time. And more gas.

One thing that is making a difference is that I now bring the car into the garage. My garage is not heated, but it is actually warmer then the outside air temps simply because it is enclosed and picks up heat from the house.

I've noticed that the warm up times have been significantly reduced by utilizing this simple technique. Improving your mileage by using the garage, sounds crazy, but it seems to work.

Still, I'd like to do better. Warm up is still alot longer then July!

If anyone has any other ideas along these lines, feel free to let us know about them!

Wait. . .there's more

My gosh there are even more fun Sync commands. Here is the rest of the list. Thanks again to teapczynski!

My favorite: "I need Coffee"


Misc
Where am I
I Am Hungry
Gas: I need Gas or Find me some gas
Coffee: I need Coffee
Brew: I need a Brew

Personal & Emergency Services
Pharmacy: I need a Pharmacy or Find a Pharmacy
Veterinarian: I need a Veterinarian or Find a Veterinarian
Urgent Care Center: I need an Urgent Care Center or Find an Urgent Care Center
Hospital: I need a Hospital or Find the Hospital
Police: I need the Police or Find the Police
Post Office: I need a Post Office or Find a Post Office
Airport: I need an Airport or Find an Airport

Food
Grocery: I need Grocery or Find a Grocery Store
Fast Food: Find a Fast Food Restaurant
Mexican: Find a Mexican Restaurant
Chinese: Find a Chinese Restaurant
Pizza: Find a Pizza Parlor
American: Find an American Restaurant
Bistro: Find a Bistro Restaurant
Grill: Find a Grill Restaurant
Greek: Find a Greek Restaurant
Indian: Find a Indian Restaurant
Italian: Find a Italian Restaurant
Seafood: Find a Seafood Restaurant
Soul Food: Find a Soul Food Restaurant
Spanish: Find a Spanish Restaurant
Steak House: Find a Steak House Restaurant
Thai: Find a Thai Restaurant
Japanese: Find a Japanese Restaurant
Korean: Find a Korean Restaurant
Polish: Find a Polish Restaurant
Russian: Find a Russian Restaurant
Vietnamese: Find a Vietnamese Restaurant
Vegetarian: Find a Vegetarian Restaurant

Sync fun commands

Teapczynski pointed out in a recent post that the Ford dealer indicated that there were a series of unique fun commands that one can use with Sync, if your FFH is equipped with the full navigation system. This is surprising and rather cool stuff!

Here is the list (thanks to Teapczynski for this list) of commands:

Personal Services

Barber Shop: Find a Barber Shop  
Spa: Find me a Spa  
Beauty Salon: Find a Beauty Salon  
Nail Salon: Find a Nail Salon  
Fitness Center: Find a Fitness Center

Sports & Entertainment
 
Race Track: Find a Race Track  
RV Park: Find a RV Park  
Campground: Find a Campground  
Zoo: Find a Zoo  
Museum: Find a Museum  
Amusement Park: Find a Amusement Park  
Sports Complex: Find a Sports Complex  
Ski Resort: Find a Ski Resort  
Ice Rink: Find an Ice Rink  
Bowling: Find a Bowling Ally  
Golf Course: Find a Golf Course  
Marina: I need a Marina or Find a Marina  
 
Stores & Shops
 
Book Store: I need a Book Store or Find a Book Store  
Atm: I need an Atm or Find an Atm  
Bank: I need a Bank or Find a Bank  
Parking: I need Parking or Find a Parking Lot  
Video Rental: Find a Video Rental Store  
Movie Rental: Find a Movie Rental Store  
Movie Theater: Find a Movie Theater  
Wine & Liquor: I need a Wine & Liquor Store or Find a Wine & Liquor Store  
Cleaners: I need a Cleaners or Find a Cleaners  
Florist: I need a Florist or Find a Florist  
Tailor: I need a Tailor or Find a Tailor  
Night Club: I need a Night Club or Find a Night Club  
Casino: I need a Casino or Find a Casino  
Rest Area: I need a Rest Area or Find a Rest Area  
Accommodations: I need Accommodations or Find me Accommodations  
Motel: I need a Motel or Find a Motel  
Hotel: I need a Hotel or Find a Hotel  
Electronics: I need Electronics or Find a Electronics Store  
Hardware: I need a Hardware Store or Find a Hardware Store  
Home And Garden Center: I need a Home And Garden Center or Find a Home And Garden Center  
Office Supplies: I need a Office Supplies or Find a Office Supplies  
Shoes: I need Shoes or Find a Shoes Store  
Computer: I need a Computer Store or Find a Computer Store  
Convienience: I need a Convienience Store or Find a Convienience Store  
Wholesale Club: I need a Wholesale Club or Find a Wholesale Club  
Shopping Center: I need a Shopping Center or Find a Shopping Center  
Department: I need a Department Store or Find a Department Store  
Discount: I need a Discount Store or Find a Discount Store

Automotive
 
Towing: I need Towing or Find a Towing Service 
Auto Parts: I need Auto Parts or Find an Auto Parts Store 
Car Wash: I need a Car Wash or Find a Car Wash  
Oil Change: I need an Oil Change or Find an Oil Change Shop 
Rental Car: I need a Rental Car or Find a Rental Car  
Auto Dealer: I need an Auto Dealer or Find an Auto Dealer  
Auto Repair: I need an Auto Repair or Find an Auto Repair Shop  

Fusion Hybrid problem solved. . .by rebooting car?

Interesting post in the last week from Steve in which he described an odd problem that occurred with gauges. Basically the needles on the PWR, ACC, and MPG readouts were bouncing around sporadically and at the same time the numerical readout for MPG just stayed at 0.00. Thought I'd elevate this to a post to see if anyone else has had a similar problem.

Ford dealership didn't really know what to make of it. But, the good news is that the problem corrected itself after the Fusion Hybrid was turned off and back on several times.

Which leads one to think: sounds a hell of alot like the problem was solved by "rebooting the Fusion" so to speak. Which would make sense because, as Steve points out, the car is basically like one big computer.

If anyone else has had similar behavior please give us a post with details of what happened and how it was solved.

Saving gas, time, and money with Sync Navigation

Although the main idea of this blog is maximizing mileage in the FFH, I've been so intrigued with the (free) Sync update
with turn-by-turn nav that I'm entering another report. Here's how Sync helped me out a couple of days ago.

Tuesday evening I was in Boston in the height of rush hour right before Thanksgiving. In the drizzling rain. I had detailed directions to an address by me on the passenger seat, but I missed a turn and suddenly found myself in unknown territory. It was one of those situations in which the problem was not an easy one to undo. I would have to get back on a parkway going in the opposite direction and then figure out how to get off and then head back the opposite way. Doable but a pain. And I was tight for time for my meeting.

I decided to get Sync to help me out. I pulled over and looked up the exact street address, then, with voice commands quickly went through the nav menu. Sync very quickly figured out a route and guided me through a part of town I have never been in, connecting me with a direct, but highly intelligent route to my destination. I was parked in front of the office within 10 minutes. I was quite impressed.

And guess what? I had saved gas in the process. Didn't have to head back up the parkway and then back again to pick up where I had left off. Didn't have to try to figure out some new route on my own. That's the thing, this Sync system will, in most cases I'm finding, provide a route that is the shortage to your destination. That means driving less and saving gas. All good stuff.

New record: 80.4 MPG

I recently set a new MPG record on the test loop that I run. This loop starts at my driveway, runs between 8 and 9 miles through suburban roads and ends right where I started. In this case the battery was highly charged when I left and had a midpoint charge when I returned, which does factor into the high mileage figure. However, this effect is somewhat diminished over the time and length of the route.

I've been looking forward for some time to breaking 80 MPG. And guess what, I believe there may be a little more MPG in there still! Which means that this may not be the highest figure that I can attain.

How are your figures? If you have some mileage numbers to share, please feel free to post 'em.

Three years FREE

I don't want to sound like an advertisement but frankly getting this Sync features trial for 3 years for free is providing some real delight. This is SWEET!

So, I've been evaluating what this thing can do now that the Sync upgrade is installed. Let me just say this: it's a whole new world out there. The things that this can do are quite cool.

First off, directions have been spot on in my suburban location. I was in Boston on Saturday and there were problems there. Basically it was because the tall buildings were blocking my cell phone signal and making it impossible for Sync to remain connected. So that didn't really work. However, every other time I've used it has been perfect.

Let me mention what else this can do. It can find a business. Or type of business. Tried it with a bunch of local businesses. It could not find a Trader Joe's, which must be missing from the database, but every other business I've tried has been perfect.

And it finds a type of business. Say you are driving along and want a restaurant. Wow, wish I had had this on a road trip two weeks ago! Haven't evaluated this yet, stay tuned, I will.

It will also TXT you information. Here's how: search for a local business, once Sync finds it, it can TXT the info to your cell. I tried it and almost immediately got a clear readout of business, address, and phone number. Not sure what I would use this for, but it's cool anyway.

Sorry I've gotten off on a tangent about Sync. . .but it's too good to pass up. My only request is that Microsoft figure out a way to make it MUCH easier to install. But it was worth going through. Definitely.

Turn-by-turn (without optional nav system): WORKS!

Hello all,

If you have been following the last couple of posts, you'll know that installing the free Sync upgrade to provide turn-by-turn navigations was pretty tough for me to get through. This is not the upgrade to the full map-on-screen navigation system that one could get as an option, this is free navigation, based on the cell phone that you've got synched.

After about an hour and a half of work and 5 calls to sync tech support I finally got it working. And it works GREAT!

I've only tested it locally, but this is great for those of us who did not purchase the optional navigation system when we bought the car. No picture or map obviously, but the turn-by-turn still seems to work quite well.

Here's what you get:

Select the talking head on the steering wheel button, say "services" then when prompted say "directions". Then you call out the street address, town and state that you are going to. Sync downloads the info. It takes a little bit of time. About 60 seconds I'm guessing for Sync to map the route and then download it to your car.

Once it's downloaded, it begins to work immediately. Sync knows where you car is, and you hear directions called out over the radio. It has been quite accurate so far. I'll give it a bigger test shortly and get an updated reviewing up here.

If you have the turn-by-turn on your standard (non-navigation equipped) FFH, let us know how it works in your vehicle.

The Good, the Bad, . . . and Microsoft Sync

The Good, the Bad, . . .and Microsoft Sync.

Well folks, here's the update on installing the free upgrade to Sync offering turn-by-turn directions, and other goodies.
This follows up on the postcard I got yesterday which offered a no cost trial of Sync including turn-by-turn directions.
The good news: it's free. For three years. The bad news: you will have to be a network engineer or IT specialist to install it. I am neither.

Here is the upgrade path so far. . .and I still don't have it working:

1. Go to syncmyride.com and follow step by step instructions to download the sync upgrade

2. You will have to input the VIN number of your vehicle in order to register for the sync upgrade.

3. Input VIN.

4. Attempted to register but it rejected VIN. Checked VIN. Everything looks good, clear form and try again. Rejected. Try again. Rejected. Go to vehicle and
recheck VIN. It's correct. Try again. Rejected. Sigh.

5. Call Synch technical support. Wait 8 minutes in line.

6. Sync tech asks me if the VIN has an "O's" or "I's". Yes, I reply. Tech states that they look like letters but they are numbers. An "O" is a zero and an "I" is a one.
OK, I say, why isn't this up on the Sync site, right next to where you input the numbers, so a person doesn't have to call tech support. The tech says, "We've been telling them they should do that."

7. OK, now the VIN goes through. This leads to detailed step-by-step directions for downloading the software to a flash or usb storage device. Sometimes called a thumb drive. There are 14 steps. It works and is appears to be successful. I check the usb drive and there is software now on it.

8. Now we have to take the usb drive, plug it into the port on the Fusion and go through another series of directions.

9. These instructions are lengthy, 26 steps in total. They look well explained with photos of the screen above the radio for each step. Problem is, how am I going to refer to these and be in the car at the same time. They are on my desktop system. I saved these to a PDF, loaded them on a laptop and took this out to the Fusion.

10. Put usb drive in, start car, start radio. Got to step 5 then a funny thing happens. Music comes on. Looking at the radio I can see the artist displayed, these are songs stored on the usb drive being used. OK. Try a few work arounds. No luck. Music keeps playing. I turn off car, pull out usb drive. Then another curious thing happens, my iPhone (which has been synced already) starts playing music the second I pull out the usb drive. Music won't shut down. Can't stop it. Exit car. Finally, I reboot the iPhone to shut down the music stream. All sorts of fun.

11. So back to sync tech support. No wait this time. The tech says that yes, the usb is going to play music and that's why they say to use an empty usb. Only problem is, they don't say to use an empty usb. It's kind of like the zeros and ones thing that I ran into earlier.

12. Tech support puts me on hold, comes back with a workaround. I take notes on a different 12 step process.

13. Back to the process. It works. The software download takes about 8 minutes. Sync says figure on 10 -18 minutes, so it was quicker. Which is cool because I didn't feel like sitting in the car for 18 minutes waiting for the download.

14. Now to test. The sync lady now has new commands. A good sign.

15. But. . .now the iPhone is no longer synced. It said this would probably happen.

16. Can't get the iPhone to sync, although it's probably my fault as I can't exactly recall the process.

17. Tech support again, they explain how to do it. Also how to clear out previous sync info which may or may not be important but we'll do it anyway.

18. Back to car, phone is synced. Now to start using turn-by-turn. Can't figure out what the prompts are. Explore some of the obvious ones, "Directions", "Turn-by-turn", No go on those. OK more research needed.

Stay tuned. I think we are almost there. The $40 charge from the dealer now seems like it would have been a pretty good deal.

This just in - Sync upgrade FREE

Look what popped up in the mail today - a promo from Ford. This follows a recent post t in which Ihad gone to my local Ford dealer for oil change and tire rotate and they offered a Synch upgrade for $40. Which I declined. . .however it might have been nice if they had mentioned that I could do it myself for free and a promo was probably in the mail to me. Well, maybe they didn't know.

So here is what the flip side of the direct mail says (paraphrasing here):

You get three-year complimentary sevice which gives real time traffic, and turn by turn directions. Also weather, biz locations, sport updates. Looks like it needs to be activated online at Sync. Put in your VIN etc. etc.

I'll be back with an update after I go through the upgrade process.

If this works out it will be sweet!!!

Conversation between man (or woman) and machine

I was out on a bit of an errand yesterday. Gorgeous fall day, small town New England roads, good stuff.

On the way back the drive settled into a comfortable type of engagement between driver and vehicle: I would coast down a hill on electric, then juice it for a couple of seconds to get up the next hill, then on the flat on electric. This cycle started to repeat itself, I began to look ahead to the next hill, think about how long I would need to run on gas, give a touch of throttle, let up. Something interesting was happening on this drive, there was a rhythm that I could just kind of feel. It felt good.

I began to challenge myself with the MPG. Slowly it began to move upwards. I would go up a hill and it would drop. On the other side, it would rise. But the overall trend was upwards.

Then it hit me why this rhythm felt so good. It was a conversation between driver and car, somewhat distantly like driving along a twisty road giving throttle, backing off, a little more throttle. This felt similar, just a little sporting somehow as the car responded to my inputs, we were working together, in this case to maximize efficiency and mileage. There was a blend of man and machine that was surprising and felt great at the same time. I can't recall the exact figure when I pulled into home but it somewhere in the low to mid fifties. Not bad for having a good time.

Sync upgrade with turn-by-turn nav

I just got back from my first service. Just an oil change and tire rotate. The service (advisor, technician, counselor, whatever they call themselves these days) asked if I wanted the Sync update. Sounded interesting as it apparently includes turn-by-turn direction capability. Which would be great since I didn't opt for the navigation system (I was feeling unusually disciplined on the finances when I ordered the Fusion). Anyway, the upgrade is $40 and decided to wait until I hear how good it is.

Has anyone gotten this upgrade to their non-navigation equipped FFH? Write in and let us know what you think and how it is working. And also whether it is worth the $40. I've got the nav system on my iPhone which is awesome, but having turn-by-turn would be terrific.

Incidentally, speaking of Sync, I'm going to do some entries on my experiences with this system at some point in the future. Thanks for staying tuned, and thanks for your comments.

Cooler weather

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?

Short engine use

I couldn't really figure out quite how to title this one. "Short engine use" is my best shot. I was reading in some review that one of the things that makes the FusionH unique is that the engine cuts on and cuts off with much greater frequency then other hybrids. Although I don't know exactly where I read this. So I tried to figure out how short a time one can actually get the engine to run for. I was going up a short hill on electric but knew I couldn't make it to the top, needed a burst of engine for a short while. So I pressed the accelerator and the engine came on briefly, I counted off mentally, let up on the accelerator and the engine switched right off. 3 seconds I figured. Pretty short. Then I coasted for a third of a mile after cresting the hill (had a good charge in the battery).

Then I began to wonder if the engine would come on for only 2 seconds. Seemed unlikely to me but tried the same thing on a little hill when I needed a little more power then the batt could deliver. No problem, engine cut in and then right back out after 2 seconds. I tried this several times to verify and by counting off the seconds it was clear that it will come on for only 2 seconds.

Taking it one step further I checked out 1 second. This is a little harder to do simply because the time is so short, but indeed the engine will actually come on for just a second if needed. Rather amazing. But it's an amazing car.

Give me five (5)

As I was driving today CalCars crossed my mind. That's the company that came out with a retrofit for the Prius a couple years ago. Basically they make a super battery that you add to the Prius turning it into a plug-in hybrid. I checked the web to see how much one of the kits costs and one source stated they were about $12,000. So, they don't make alot (or any) economic sense but if you want to get like 100 mpg then here is a way to do it. If you have a Prius that is. Nothing available for the Fusion yet.

So I got to thinking, wouldn't it be cool to have a bigger battery. As we know, you can get about a mile out of the FusionH in the flat just on juice. About a mile and that's all she wrote. How about if we had something like what CalCars makes for the aforementioned Prius. A plug-in Fusion. Then I got to thinking what would be the minimum drivable-under-electric-distance that I would settle for. I figured if I could get 5 miles just on a super battery that would do pretty well. That would take me far enough for most of my trips which are errands in nature. I could run down to the store, go out to lunch, all on electric. Come back and plug it up for the next trip. When I needed a longer then 5 mile run, it would go right back to being the wonderful Fusion Hybrid which is pretty terrific.

So, how many miles would you want for a minimum plug-in and what would you pay for it?

Any Ford engineers out there?

Charging while drifting downhill

As you drive the FusionH you will notice that the charge arrow (the bright blue triangle at the top of the battery charge gauge) comes on intermittently and frequently. One of the things that I have found intriguing is that this arrow always comes on over, say, 20 mph or so, when you are going downhill. This happens whether you are pressing on the accelerator to maintain speed, or, if you are simply driving down a hill and the accelerator is not depressed at all.

In the latter case, the question that occurs is what is actually happening with the generator system. If the charge arrow is on and the generator is charging the battery, that would mean that the generator must be engaged. So as you are proceeding downhill under power, the generator is actually engaged. This also means that some amount of "drag" must be occurring because the generator is engaged. It is subtle, and I have not noticed any drag, there is nothing perceptible here. But it must be occurring in order for that arrow to indicating active charging.

If anyone knows the answer to this one, please enlighten me.

Rush hour pleasures

Just got back from a run to the airport. The first part of my trip is on surface roads with a 45 mph speed limit. But the majority of the trip is highway and when I was about halfway to the airport the mileage readout said 48 MPG.

Then I saw the brake lights ahead. A long line of traffic snaked into the distance, as far as I could see. Funny thing is, it didn't bother me as much as usual. Not that I love bumper to bumper traffic all of a sudden, it's just that now I know that it will probably give me an opportunity to up my MPG for this trip.

As soon as I braked the Fusion switched over to electric. Yeah, I'm not burning gas in this baby waiting for this to clear up!
We crept along, stop and go, the mileage bumped up 50, 51, 52, finally the traffic cleared up about 2 miles down and I had reached 55.6 MPG.

Traffic is never fun. But now you can save money when you hit a bit of it. Kinda crazy!

Charge Management

As I have gotten better and better at exceeding the EPA mileage rating for this car, I've learned more about how the
battery charging system works. And, how to maximize the charge, or as the title of this entry "Charge Management".

One thing I noticed pretty quick, you can get some incredible mileage on short hops to a store and back. But, what was
happening was that I would leave with a charged up battery, and return with the charge quite a bit lower. So the mileage
figure wasn't accurate. So, keeping that charge up is important.

Now, what happens if one just depletes the charge. As stated in an earlier entry, eventually the gas engine comes on and
runs for a few minutes to charge the battery back up. I've noticed that this happens in two different patterns.

The first pattern is this: the engine comes on and runs until the battery charge is a bit higher then midway on the gauge. This seems to be quite precise and the engine shuts off at the same point each time. Once the charge line gets to the top of the "+" and "-" signs on the gauge, you can run in electric again.

Now, as I said, there is a second pattern of charging that occurs. I'll call this a "deep cycle charge". What happens here is that the engine keeps charging until the charge is at the top of the gauge, quite a bit higher then the former charge cycle.

This charge cycle seems to come on every day at some point, when I'm doing around town suburban driving. I talk a road trip on the highway today, and it did not come on at all, probably because the battery tends to stay charged up in highway driving.

Automatic battery cycling

OK, the title of this entry may sound a bit nerdy. . .and probably is. But worth talking about for sure.

One thing you will notice pretty quickly is that if you try to get every last ounce of power out of the battery, by driving on it as much as possible and not giving it adequate time to recharge normally, eventually the FusionH will just override your inputs and start charging the battery. When this happens, it will not kick over into EV mode no matter what your input. You can stop at a traffic light, or drift down a long hill, still the engine will be running recharging the battery. This cycle will run for some period of time, it seems like maybe 5 - 7 minutes, and then you will see the charge rise on the charging gauge and once it gets to a high enough level you will begin to be able to engage the EV mode again normally.

I'm still learning about this cycle and intend to do another post shortly as more info becomes available.