Ford Escape Hybrid Innovation Event

Thanks for the info Evan. I just signed up for what I'm sure will be a flood of junk mail.

I'll be sure to report after the event in October.

 

I signed up- even though I too knew it'd invite a billion pieces of silly ford ads to both mail box and email box - not sure if I'll attend, but I'd like to try to make it. If so, I'll see you there John! We can hound the Ford officials together

-m.

 

How can one sign up?? At Ford's web site??

 

Thank you. I have signed up too, just to try another hybrid even though I srongly oppose SUVs and will never consider buying one.

 

I hope this ESCAPE HYBRID EXPERIENCE TOUR has such a huge turnout that the Ford executives finally get the hint. But while you people are there, ask when Ford will be making a Hybrid Focus . . . tell them THAT is the type of Hybrid vehicle you would buy . . . not a SUV.

Next thing you know Hummer will jump on the bandwagon and hype their new H3 Hybrid with 20% better gas milage.

“BUY IT NOW IT IS ENVIRONMENTAL!!!!!â€

“20% BETTER GAS MILEAGE !!!!!â€

Of course that 20% would only bring the beast up to somewhere around 9.6 MPG . . . but will they advertise the actual mileage . . . not a chance!

 

http://www.fordvehicles.com/escapehybrid/h...=6&pfrm=Win2000


EPA estimated mpg:
4x2 36 City / 31 Hwy

Speak for yourself... I for one am very interested in a Hybrid SUV. I currently drive an Infiniti FX35 that averages about 15 MPG. This would double that. I can have the convenience of an SUV and the mileage of a subcompact... sounds like a good deal to me.

 

I drove the Ford Escape Hybrid!

The Ford Escape Hybrid Innovation Event was held at a small park in San Mateo, CA today. When I got my invite originally, I thought it was supposed to be in San Francisco, but the email reminder I received said San Mateo.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take my digital camera, even though I did remember to bring spare batteries for it, so I don't have any pictures.

The quick summary is that I was underwhelmed. What I experienced was probably the same thing I would feel driving the older generation Prius. I was able to drive 25mph in stealth mode, and got 26.8mpg on the short residential loop (most everyone else got around 31mpg). The most ridiculous aspect of the Ford Escape Hybrid IMHO was the tiny LCD screen for the navigation and energy displays. It's like 3.5" diagonal. The energy flow diagram shows the same things as the Prius does, but it's much harder to see due to the small size. There is no display that I could find that shows the amount of charge in the high-voltage battery.

There's a normal sized 12V battery that they claimed was used to start the engine. I doubt that is correct - he people staffing the event were very poorly informed and giving out plenty of misinformation - but I'm sure one of the big motor/generators is used to start the engine once you take the transmission out of Park and are driving around. Engine starting on-demand seemed to be as smooth as the Prius. Power seemed adequate around town, we weren't allowed to take the Escapes on the freeway. The real test of an SUV in Northern California is I-80 up to Tahoe.

Other than the extra buttons on the Nav system to display energy/mpg, it's hard to distinguish the hybrid from non-hybrid Escape - probably the correct decision for the target market.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the hybrid Highlander looks like - I'd rather pay $38k for a hybrid Highlander than $32k for an Escape hybrid (I'm assuming discounts from MSRP won't be available for a while).

 

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Most or all of the Escapes they had were fully loaded - Navigation system, leather, 110V AC outlet, appearance package (gloss silver exterior trim). Supposedly there was one 4WD version, but all the ones I saw were 2WD. They had over 12 Escapes to drive, they took us out in two groups of 6 vehicles, with two drivers in each. They left a walkie-talkie in the back of each so they could talk to us while we were driving - no one from Ford rode with us. We had to follow the lead driver in a convoy around downtown San Mateo.

They had one large, and one smaller tent set up. The large one had all kinds of information about the Escape. Their displays did point out the distinction between fully hybrids and mild hybrids. There were no scheduled presentations, just Ford people around to answer questions. The people manning the tents seemed to know what they were talking about. It was the people running the test drive that were really clueless. The person in charge there told the couple in front of me that the regenerative braking converted heat from the pads and rotors into electricity through the generator. The smaller tent had displays describing Ford's commitment to the environment. I didn't see any displays describing future Ford vehicles, hybrid or otherwise. They did have a Freestar, Thunderbird, and Five Hundred on display.

When you show up and register, you get a wristband that identifies you as an eligible test driver. You also get a clipboard with a list of questions you can answer by going around to the two tents and other displays. One of the questions was, "What is the color of the Ford Escape outside the Hybrid Experience tent?" The answer in my case was "Titanium Green". When you turn in your completed question sheet, they hand you a bag with an Escape Hybrid T-Shirt, water bottle and pencils made from recycled materials, and a few other things. I picked up some Escape brochures, including one with a CD-ROM, which I haven't looked at yet. I can scan the brochures and turn them into PDF if anyone's interested.

EPA mileage of the 2WD version is 36 city/31 hwy. They said that only full hybrids get better mileage in the city. That's not quite true, the Honda Insight and Civic hybrids with CVT get 1mpg more in the city than highway.