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Escape Plug-In Hybrid gets 100 MPGe and 37 Mile Electric Range


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Comparison to RAV4 Prime.

 

Escape Plug-In Hybrid.

  • Power, 209 hp
  • EPA estimated fuel economy, 100 MPGe
  • All electric range, 37 mi
  • Drivetrain, FWD only
  • Starting price, under $35,000

RAV4 Prime.

  • Power, 302 hp
  • EPA estimated fuel economy, 90 MPGe
  • All electric range, 39 mi
  • Drivetrain, AWD only
  • Starting price, $39,220
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I am intrigued by these plugins, but I don’t know how good they would be for me. My commute to work is probably 30 mostly highway miles each way, generally around 80-90mph (toll roads in Texas have a high speed limit). The article mentions 37 all electric miles, but what speed was that measured at? Do other factors like AC effect range too? It’s hot here so I usually have max AC on all the time.

 

Once the batteries are dead, does the vehicle just run off the gas engine or does the gas engine charge the batteries like a regular hybrid?

 

in regards to the escape vs the rav4, it seems like they approached plugins differently. The rav4 seems to have gone for the same approach as the aviator plugin by providing more power and the escape went for more fuel efficiency. I thought I read somewhere that 302hp was the most hp in the segment.

Edited by T-dubz
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Regular hybrids don’t charge the battery - they only recover energy from braking to recharge.  
 

plug ins usually give you the option of all electric, regular hybrid mode or using the engine to charge the batteries.

 

I doubt you could go 80-90 mph on electric alone.

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25 minutes ago, blwnsmoke said:

Anybody know what the tax credit would be on this?

 

Escape Plug-In Hybrid has a battery capacity of 14.4 kWh. Formula for federal tax credit, maximum $7,500.

 

  • $2,500 for having 5 kWh minimum + $417 for all battery packs + $417 for each kWh over 5

 

I got $6,836 using the formula.

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1 hour ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

The Fusion Energi (and I think hybrid too) can run on electric only up to 47mph. I didn't see the Escape figure published anywhere (probably because the final production tuning is likely still in progress), but I don't think it will be all that different. 

 

I'm surprised that you can only get up to about 50mph in electric only. Didn't know that. So if your drive involves some freeway, you have to use gas. Bummer. Also surprised you can only get FWD with the plugin. I would hope Ford offers AWD option at some later date for those who live in snowy climates. Do look forward though of seeing the plugin Escape and Corsair. Under $35,000 offers good value along with 37+ miles on battery only. More than I thought. I can see Ford winning some conquest sales with these offerings. 

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42 minutes ago, FordBuyer said:

 

I'm surprised that you can only get up to about 50mph in electric only. Didn't know that. So if your drive involves some freeway, you have to use gas. Bummer. Also surprised you can only get FWD with the plugin. I would hope Ford offers AWD option at some later date for those who live in snowy climates. Do look forward though of seeing the plugin Escape and Corsair. Under $35,000 offers good value along with 37+ miles on battery only. More than I thought. I can see Ford winning some conquest sales with these offerings. 


I was wrong, it was only the hybrid that was rated to 47mph. You have to remember though, that car uses technology that is at least 1 generation older than the new Escape hybrid so at the time when it came out that was very good. 

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1 hour ago, mackinaw said:

The FWD Escape standard hybrid has a top speed of 85mph in EV mode.

 

34 minutes ago, JasonM said:

The Fusion Energi was rated at 85mph in EV-only mode. 

 

I'm officially (and pleasantly) surprised......

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7 hours ago, T-dubz said:

I am intrigued by these plugins, but I don’t know how good they would be for me. My commute to work is probably 30 mostly highway miles each way, generally around 80-90mph (toll roads in Texas have a high speed limit). The article mentions 37 all electric miles, but what speed was that measured at? Do other factors like AC effect range too? It’s hot here so I usually have max AC on all the time.

 

Once the batteries are dead, does the vehicle just run off the gas engine or does the gas engine charge the batteries like a regular hybrid?

 

Lots of variables as to whether or not you could get 30 miles EV from the 37 mile EV 'estimate' - using the heat in the winter is the biggest range killer (you can preheat the cabin if you have an L2 charger, and then use the seat heater instead of the heater, which will negate some of the loss). A/C also eats range, but not as much as the heater.

 

When the HV battery is used up (not discharged, Ford prevents that for battery life), the car will switch over to the i/c engine on its own. What you might try if you bought a plugin is to use the i/c engine for the freeway, and the EV for the surface streets - or vice versa depending on your specific situation and where the majority of the use occurs. There are ways to make it work out, especially if you have a plug at work for the trip back home.

 

You recharge the HV battery by plugging the vehicle in, thus the plugin moniker.

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9 hours ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

The Fusion Energi (and I think hybrid too) can run on electric only up to 47mph. I didn't see the Escape figure published anywhere (probably because the final production tuning is likely still in progress), but I don't think it will be all that different. 

 

8 hours ago, FordBuyer said:

 

I'm surprised that you can only get up to about 50mph in electric only. Didn't know that. So if your drive involves some freeway, you have to use gas. Bummer. Also surprised you can only get FWD with the plugin. I would hope Ford offers AWD option at some later date for those who live in snowy climates. Do look forward though of seeing the plugin Escape and Corsair. Under $35,000 offers good value along with 37+ miles on battery only. More than I thought. I can see Ford winning some conquest sales with these offerings. 

 

I have a 2019 Fusion Energi and I can get mine up to 120km/h (75mph) in EV mode no problem, BUT, driving at high speeds for a sustained time will drastically reduce your total EV range.  It is much more efficient to drive in hybrid mode at highway speeds it will use the engine to assist the motor and it still gets excellent milage, in fact I'm pretty sure the OM specifically recommends driving in hybrid mode on the highway.  Even when driving in hybrid mode it will seamlessly switch back and forth from hybrid to EV mode for short periods of time if there is sufficient charge in the battery or if it is feasible to do so (ie. coasting on flat level road, going downhill)  

 

You have to use the KW output gauge (I think it's called the Engage or Empower screen) to see how much total power you are drawing from the motor, if it is anything higher than 50% draw it will cut down the range.  At anything over 80km/h (50mph) the motor will be at almost 80-100% power draw.

 

My Aviator GT PHEV performs much better in EV only mode, having the benefit of a bigger electric motor, bigger battery, and full 10speed transmission instead of CVT like the Fusion.  The Aviator can reach highway speeds faster in EV, can sustain them effortlessly and driving at high speed in EV doesn't impact the range as much.

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11 hours ago, T-dubz said:

I am intrigued by these plugins, but I don’t know how good they would be for me. My commute to work is probably 30 mostly highway miles each way, generally around 80-90mph (toll roads in Texas have a high speed limit). The article mentions 37 all electric miles, but what speed was that measured at? Do other factors like AC effect range too? It’s hot here so I usually have max AC on all the time.

 

Surprisingly using the A/C does not have that big of an impact on the EV range.  On our 2019 Fusion Energi our employees drove it last summer with the A/C on full all the time and we didn't notice any significant impact on the EV range.  Heating is another story altogether and will drastically reduce the range if you need to heat the cabin while in EV mode since it has to use a resistive element to generate the heat which sucks a lot of power.  In the winter, if you're calling for heat and the electric element can't provide sufficient heat to meet your set temp in a preset time the engine will come on for 2-3 minutes to warm up the engine coolant and heat the cabin.

 

The A/C system on the Fusion Energi is all electric.  The compressor is powered directly off the high voltage battery and it is very efficient. 

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6 hours ago, jpd80 said:

Last month, Toyota sold over 36,000 RAV4s, most of those may still be ICEs but, I'm thinking that the Hybrid is a fair chunk of those sales.

maybe frighteningly so compared to Focus current sales....

 

In 1Q 2020, about 25% of new RAV4 sold in the U.S. were hybrid. RAV4 Hybrid is by far the best selling hybrid vehicle in the U.S.

 

Toyota-Motor-North-America-Reports-March

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4 hours ago, rperez817 said:

 

In 1Q 2020, about 25% of new RAV4 sold in the U.S. were hybrid. RAV4 Hybrid is by far the best selling hybrid vehicle in the U.S.

 

Toyota-Motor-North-America-Reports-March

It will be interesting to see how the escape hybrid sales compare.

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Unfortunately, Ford controls the flow of sales data to three monthly reports in hopes of

smoothing figures, that's code for we don't want to explain underachievement every month.

Covid hit while Louisville was on two shifts a a lot less inventory than Escape normally has,

so probably not many hybrids made yet.

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1 hour ago, jpd80 said:

Unfortunately, Ford controls the flow of sales data to three monthly reports in hopes of

smoothing figures, that's code for we don't want to explain underachievement every month.

Covid hit while Louisville was on two shifts a a lot less inventory than Escape normally has,

so probably not many hybrids made yet.

 

Didn't everybody go to quarterly reporting?   Seems to be working fine so far, although it does make you wait to see sales trends.  And you don't have to explain single month anomalies.

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11 minutes ago, akirby said:

 

Didn't everybody go to quarterly reporting?   Seems to be working fine so far, although it does make you wait to see sales trends.  And you don't have to explain single month anomalies.

 

The Detroit Three have.  

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22 minutes ago, akirby said:

 

Didn't everybody go to quarterly reporting?   Seems to be working fine so far, although it does make you wait to see sales trends.  And you don't have to explain single month anomalies.

Toyota still reports monthly sales to the industry which is why I could see around 36,400 sales for RAV4

 

Ford sales reporting was becoming a string of single month anomalies, I can't blame them as I wouldn't

like to be there every month explaining the latest falls in sales for whatever model, it's a lot of work to

put those presentations together for investors and Wall Street analysts, the last few were rather terse

exchanges with the  Morgan Stanley rep. Maybe all three Detroit manufacturers got tired of having

data they were presenting being used against them on social media and just decided to quieten

down the peanut galleries. Maybe some of the commentary was too close to home, zeroing in 

on problems and faults at plants like Explorer...

 

 

Edited by jpd80
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3 hours ago, akirby said:

Didn't everybody go to quarterly reporting?   Seems to be working fine so far, although it does make you wait to see sales trends.  And you don't have to explain single month anomalies.

 

Many but not all. Here are the automakers in the U.S. that currently report sales quarterly.

  • Tesla, since 2008
  • General Motors, since 2018
  • FCA, since 2019
  • Ford, since 2019
  • Nissan, since April 2020
  • BMW, since April 2020
  • Volkswagen, since April 2020
  • Porsche, since April 2020
  • Toyota, since April 2020*

All others still report sales monthly.

 

* Toyota said "it held out the possibility of at least making its monthly results available on a less formal basis."

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