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When asked, I tell folks I get between 30 and 60 mpg. Hot vs. cold, fast vs. slow; it's easy to do!!

Then explain why my hybrids seem to follow it to a T? I notice 32F (0C) but below 0F (-18C), it's a different car. You live near the coast? Cold batteries are a self-correcting problem; use them and they warm up. The effects are transient; you have to pay attention. Start it at -30C and see how...

No, I can read a graph. Seems to me a 250 Nm car motor that's pushing 200 Nm at 1,500 RPM is not deficient in low end torque. What you've missed is that VVT and Atkinson were made for each other. Everyone's conventional engine has had an Atkinson mode for years. It's trivial, but there are...

ICE runs above 85 mph. Check the manual. It runs an oil pump that circulates oil over the stators. The traction motor is directly geared to the wheels, so it's redline would limit top speed, barring a limiter.

10 years is enough time to see long-term reliability. I know of no hybrid with Li-ion battery life issues. Expect it to be a life-of-vehicle part. Lots of battery life issues among the plug-in crowd, but a hybrid doesn't do that. A NiMH hybrid. Toyota learned to manage the technology, so kept...

The 155 ft-lb. is the ICE. The traction motor is more like 175 ft-lb. from 0 RPM (current limited). However, given the ICE needs to run at high power to generate the current that drives the traction motor to these levels, you need the lower number to achieve the higher. The HVB DC-AC converter...

False False False... you would have better remained silent. Lots of data disagrees. Here's an example. This is an Atkinson Fill Ratio performance map of a 2.5L ICE. The contours are labeled by fill ratio. Note that the 2.0 contour (50% fill) is a closed ellipse at 1-1.5K RPM. It's getting...

As I said, that's how you hypermile your Jeep. - speed up to ~10 over the limit, - shift to N, - turn off the engine, and glide until you're ~10 under the limit, - turn on the engine and repeat. A hybrid does this automatically, and it uses a power buffer. When driving a hybrid, you're really...

In the 2020 Escape Hybrid, I don't see any difference in gas mileage, NORMAL vs ECO modes. I do see about 2x regen braking in ECO mode, and cruise control is far more enjoyable without the strong engine surges. I use it whenever I remember it.

This doesn't seem to be the case for Fords. Ford's CC keeps the ICE running when I could switch to EV. It needs a switch to regen braking, or a very full HVB at low drive load. The car has no knowledge of terrain, so it can't tell when you top a hill.

Many dealers, mine included, will do free first service to cover any warranty/customer satisfaction issues. An early oil change is frequently part of it, and some mfrs. have installed different "break-in" oil. I don't think Ford does this, but still did a first change at 5K. Second change was...

I find no difference in mileage between NORMAL and ECO modes in the Escape Hybrid. ECO mode is mainly a doubling of maximum regen braking, with a corresponding change in throttle calibration. That's how you would pulse-n-glide your Jeep. I have an issue with driving in N with engine off. No...

My Escape Hybrid's manual says I have a 14.3 gallon tank. The car thinks it's more like 14.4, even if it never admits it... You see, the car never reports more than 13.66 gal. used. The pump may be putting in as much as 1 gal. more than the car thinks it used. Note the 5% mileage error; the car...

While this is true, degradation also depends on charge level. Life impacts are small at the 50% charge level a hybrid operates. It's only bad if you also plug in, so you're storing at high charge levels, too.

What's your speed? He's averaged 25 mph.

Regenerative braking makes all the difference when laden. It lets you recover the added energy needed to speed up a heavier load, and use it to extend a glide. I just changed tires in the Escape, Michelin CrossClimte2, and also found a drop in mileage (not unexpected). While it also got colder...

Their criteria were clearly written by a politician, who was loath to exclude anyone. I can't remember the last RADIAL tire I saw without an M&S icon, save for track tires. And Hoosiers would be legal on a 4x4....

Exactly right. Heat kills lead-acid batteries. Per AAA... " In cooler northern climates, a battery may last five years or longer, but in hot southern locales, a car battery will typically last approximately three years. "

No, you can't push-start a TRW PSD drivetrain. (Although you could...) Remember that a hybrid's Li-ion batteries live between ~15% and 90% charge level. The control system will tell you the HVB is "dead" long before it's unusable. The critical bit is that 12v is mandatory to access the HVB...

Ford includes elapsed time, so you can calculate average speed. 500 miles in 20 hours is about 25 mph. Unless that includes a lot of time stopped, just wait until break-in and winter are over. In both recent Fords, the error is more like 5% optimistic on the dash. TFL screwed this one up. I...