C-Max hybrid to get 47mpg both city/hwy

I'm not clear...is this sustained? Still 47/47 when any pre-charging of the pack is depleted?

 

Ford has not put out energi figures yet, but I would expect that they would be similar to the hybrid. Like on our prius, if the SOC is low, mpg goes down as it tries to recharge, when high it goes up The 47/47/47 is on ford's website for normal operation of the c-max hybrid, and of course YMMV.

The button is on the c-max energi, and sounds like the one on the prius phv. The ev now mode is a little different, it may lock you into pure EV and not blended mode. The c-max energy can provide 90 hp in ev mode.

 

Wow that article was incredibly cheerleady towards Ford.

Prius is not subcompact, my Fiesta is subcompact and is NOT a family car. Prius can hold 5, Fiesta can arguably hold 4 for short periods of time.

 

Ford C-Max Hybrid officially gets 47 mpg across the board; Energi hits 85 mph in EV mode

Not sure of the Math!

Ford C-Max Hybrid officially gets 47 mpg across the board; Energi hits 85 mph in EV mode

 

I only saw that in the comments not in the article. Prius phv is 6 miles ev, 11 miles blended in charge depletion mode. We still don't know what the 20 mile number means, or if as some have suggested its really higher, or blended, or over estimated. 20 is over 3 x 6, but 6 is meaningless. I would for now say the c-max energi gets 80% more charge depletion range than the prius phv.

 

It's in the press release by Ford!

 

No choice of EV-BOOST (the mode Prius offers between EV and HV for high-speed travel) will make things interesting. I've grown fond to the +100 MPG on the highway.

Of course, we don't know how that 85 mph is achieved. Sustaining a cruise at high-speed consumes much less electricity than acceleration. Taking advantage of the power-split during high demand would preserve electricity for cruising.

Whatever the case, it confirms marketing will be no where near as simple as some had hoped.

 

That may mean that the epa tests are done in all EV with no gas blending. Its still a distorted figure, but lests say toyota blends 1 mile of gas in the 11 - that means 10 miles electric. If the energi does 20 miles all in electric that would be twice the electric miles. That 6 number is just a strangeness of the epa testing system.

Certainly the energi can maintain that speed with ice off and motor deliverying up to 68KW. Now that power won't last long at 80 mph, less than 15 minutes. I think you have that wrong. I think that is just the EV auto mode on the energi. How it does versus the phv will take head to head testing, but we can assume the energi will use more electricity and less gas over the same distance.

I would say it was using up to 68kw(90hp) to go up to 85mph with the ice off. It will definitely go through the battery power quickly at 80. That was the gist of the 3 modes, you can leave it in EV auto mode, or on highway portions switch to EV later mode to act like a regular hybrid, then select EV only mode for the end of the trip.

I don't think there is anything simple about trying to sell plug-ins. The phv, c-max energi, focus energi, and volt are all slightly different. Volt has the best CD range, prius phv the best CS mileage, and the energis have the most passenger room and and inbetween ranges and mileage.

 

47 across the board for the HV is pretty darn good. Almost good enough to convince me to trade in for one, if only I wouldn't have to finance the difference. Priced competitively too for comparable features, and a much larger engine in the Ford.

 

Does anybody know the reason for sure?
I thought the reason for the 62mph switching to gasoline was because at that point, gasoline usage becomes much more efficient than burning Kwh.

http://www.saxton.org/tom_saxton/images/tesla-range-vs-speed.png

Electric Vehicle Range and Charging - Tom Saxton's Blog

 

It takes time to turn an engine on. I would assume 62 mph is the cut off point because at the hybrids battery can not do well responding to throttle input. With the more powerful battery in the energi, they can push up the speed, and still have power to go up a hill. I would expect that the motor becomes less efficient at higher speeds, but electricity should stay more efficient than gasoline by most measures.

 

Well the Monroney says 0.2 gallons of gas per 100 miles blended. I believe the UK consumption rating is "bugger all". So, lets call the EV range 10.9 miles/1 mile (depending on how far you live from the highway and whether you go at the speed limit.

Of course the point of the 85 mph rating is that it's above the standard European 130km/h speed limit, which will allow the car to cut power at any legal speed.

 

For the phv - Charge depletion is 11 miles. Gasoline (0.2/100 miles) * (11 miles) = 0.022 gallons of gas. If we assume 50mpg * 0.022 gallons gas = 1.1 miles. Electric range = 11 miles (charge depletion) - 1.1 miles (gas) = 9.9 miles Electric. I round it up to 10, because who really knows and YMMV

The rest of the a$$hat literalist in me says we don't really have official numbers from ford, but they are implying 20 miles electric, or about twice (not exactly but around) the electric range of the prius phv. No speed limits involved, just assuming conditions that affect one of these cars will also affect mileage on the other in similar ways.

Its also the speed limit in parts of texas.

 

My point was that estimating electric range is pointless because it's an on-off switch. The EPA typical driving involves heavy acceleration to 80 mph and then settling back down to a much lower speed. My wife might occasionally burn more gas going 3 miles to work than I'd burn commuting 20.6 just because 2 miles of her commute is on the Interstate and should _would_ use heat and drive at 65mph while my top speed is 55mph and I avoid hitting the power zone where possible.

They have an 8kWh battery which means they shouldn't need to go to the engine at all on the EPA tests.

8 * 75% / .300 = 20. 8 * 80% / 0.320 = 20. Possible.

An 85mph limit is no good for an 85mph limit because people would step over it too much. Of course, if the 85mph is literal and the car is a speed-liar like the Prius it might be OK.

However, I suspect Ford's global plan doesn't really include selling large numbers of short-range plug-ins in rural Texas.

 

I still say C-max is not comparing to correct Prius.
C-max wheel base is smaller than Prius Gen3.
It does not have the cargo room of the V, it is closer to the Gen3.
The only place C-max is bigger is that it is taller and wider than V.

My prediction, C-max outsells both the Leaf and Volt, perhaps combined by years end per month sales.

 

Winter will introduce an interesting new twist.

What about the heater?

 

um, why would the epa be low on the phv and not on the c-max. If you drove the prius phv to get 11 electrical miles instead of 10, would you not also expect to get 22 miles on the c-max energi? YMMV.

I don't know what those numbers mean. They did say that the c-max energi had 68 kw of potential power. It all depends on the software whether they blend on the test or not.

Where we talk about the 85 mph limit its a whole lot of strait nothing on good roads. There just aren't many accidents on those roads. The speeding accident problems here are the 35mph - 55mph roads. Its all about raising the speed limits on the right roads.

West texas has practically free wind electricity, and most daily commutes are less than 20 miles. People do often drive long distances on the weekend. You also have a very good market in big cities. Texas is running number 2 for plug ins behind california.

 

Ford is trying to deceive the customers, as usual. I dont know why do they have to do that but these PR's are leaving everyone confused. 47/47 MPG is pretty good on its own, why do they have to constantly compare it to Prius v, which has 40% bigger trunk, when Prius itself is actually slightly larger car and all of the gains of C-Max are due to its heigh, so there is more height in the trunk and you sit more upright so you have slightly more space.

And then 3x more miles ... Wth.

And it all reads so confusing that you have to be really smart to figure out the truth, which is really not needed as C-Max Energie has good specs for the price (better than Prius PHV) and it should compare well to the regular Prius too, even if it gets worse mpg and its more expensive, it is also slightly bigger and should be a lot quicker.

So these deception PR tactics are really not needed here. Reminds me of their PR's about sales, which always tell you retail sales first assuming they are improving and overall sales you have to work a bit to find, and then when they increase fleet sales which they have been telling us they were proud to ditch, they issue PR how great fleet sales are... No wonder their shares suck and profits are down.