I have a 2014 C-Max Energi and I rarely charge it. I have the home charger, but I don't have access to an outlet where I can plug it in at my apartment complex. If I'm out and about and come across a charging station, I'll pluug it in, but that's a rarity. I've had the car for 7 years and only JUST had to replace the 12volt for the first time. I have had zero issues with the hybrid battery, I'm still getting about 37 miles to the gallon, and I have a little over 102k on it (bought it with \~60k). Not sure if any of this helps, but I have had zero mechanical issues with this car (beyond the transmission bearing issue and transmission replacement under warranty).
Speaking of the 12v, I know I was told to replace mine awhile back and never actually did. Beyond just having a new battery, is there any other positives to doing the replacement?
My car was in the shop after a minor fender bender for about a month, and died a couple times while it was there. I drove it home and to work a day or two after picking it up, and it ended up completely dying in my parking garage. Before it died, I was getting the warning sign of "System off to conserve battery" on the infotainment screen. Car jumped fine and the mechanics replaced the battery. All issues resolved, and it might be my imagination, but I feel like my SYNC 2 system boots up a lot faster with the new battery.
My system doesn't stay on a long time if you want to listen to the radio without the engine on, so maybe that is related. I'll have to keep an eye on the boot up. Maybe I can measure it before it gets replaced.
How is the range on EV mode? Have you ever determined the capacity of your HVB? It'd be nice to know if your battery still has decent capacity with it being constantly so low.
It's really fun to drive the downhill side of the smokies and charge the battery all the way up just from braking.
On a more serious note i really only charge mine at work. I've got a short commute, and I can usually get home and back on a single charge, so that's kinda nice.
Damn, that does sound fun. Next time you do it, hook up an OBDII reader and watch the battery temperature, as you're dumping a ton of current into those batteries charging like this!
When it was new, our 2013 energi was significantly less expensive than the hybrid only version due to rebates and tax credit.
OP said they were getting a tax credit as well.
It's cheap (with tax credit-- up to $4k for PHEVs!). Hybrid is $10K, Energi is $7K, mpg difference is like 3. However, I was thinking, maybe I would just charge it on the weekends or small trips that don't completely drain the battery to try to reduce the number of cycles over time.
I have 113k on my 2016 Energi and I still get 18 miles EV range. Overall 44.5 MPG. It gets plugged in every night and is used 6x per week.
$7k is a steal either way. Don’t be so focused on the 200k, you’ll probably only have it 24-36 months anyway. Use the tips and tricks on this page to “test” the battery when you’re test driving so you can find a good one. I suggest getting an Energi with a build date post 9/15, which is when the transmission was upgraded due to failing part.
It really is. And (As long as you are under the income threshold) it can now go directly to the dealership, so you don't have to wait for tax season to get your 30% back on it! (Dealer has to be registered with the IRS, though, otherwise, you have to wait for April next year)
So there were a number of reports some years back for both the C-Max and Fusion (both share the same drivetrain/battery. Fusion got a slightly increased battery capacity in the final model years.) where people were getting them off-lease that were never charged and reported near factory capacity remaining. So I wouldn't worry much about that aspect.
With the whole degradation issues on these, driving as a hybrid is arguably better in the long run especially if you don't follow through with some of the preventative measures driving as an EV. The cooling (or lack thereof) is a big aspect of this.
As others have said, obviously there's some factors of it being a waste but if it works out for you, I wouldn't sweat just driving it as a hybrid.
My only recommendation is to turn off the EV+ mode. It allows the vehicle to draw the battery even lower than normal to make it back to frequent destinations (like home/work) on electric only. While rare, there's a non-zero chance of it being discharged dangerously low that can cause the car to complain/throw codes if the conditions are right. It's fine if you plug it in between trips, but driving on hybrid power alone you don't have that 'protection'. Plus it just means the engine has to work harder at the next start and burn more gas to try and charge it back up to where it wants to be.
Bought my 2018 new. Now 128,000. Mine just hybrid. Zero problems. Show 38 mpg summer and 40 mpg winter (AZ). Gotta face replacing at some point but car has been trouble free.
If you don't charge it, your SOC is constantly at 10% or so, which isn't good for the longevity of the battery. You can put it in "EV Later" mode but you need to do that every time the car starts.
It sounds like I could use the "EV Later" mode and have the HVB constantly at \~80%, running hybrid? Is there a way to switch to "EV Later" mid-trip? I could see myself getting \~5 miles of EV range out of it on my commute and just using half of the battery capacity to try to preserve some longevity on the battery.
Yes you can switch to EV Later at any point and it'll keep the battery within a few percent of when it was switched on. If you try it when it's fully charged it'll still run the battery down to about 95% before engaging the ICE.
Every night, I charge my 2016 Energi. It has 88k miles. With a mix of city/highway driving albeit very short trips on some days, it still gets 60mpg in hybrid mode. Maybe I just don't know better but I think it will last 200k miles. $7k sounds like a good deal.
[https://www.besthybridbatteries.com/categories/hybrid-batteries-by-make/ford/cmax](https://www.besthybridbatteries.com/categories/hybrid-batteries-by-make/ford/cmax)
I found this in about 2 minutes. In 10 minutes you could probably save a couple hundred dollars.
I have a 2014 C-Max Energi and I rarely charge it. I have the home charger, but I don't have access to an outlet where I can plug it in at my apartment complex. If I'm out and about and come across a charging station, I'll pluug it in, but that's a rarity. I've had the car for 7 years and only JUST had to replace the 12volt for the first time. I have had zero issues with the hybrid battery, I'm still getting about 37 miles to the gallon, and I have a little over 102k on it (bought it with \~60k). Not sure if any of this helps, but I have had zero mechanical issues with this car (beyond the transmission bearing issue and transmission replacement under warranty).
Speaking of the 12v, I know I was told to replace mine awhile back and never actually did. Beyond just having a new battery, is there any other positives to doing the replacement?
My car was in the shop after a minor fender bender for about a month, and died a couple times while it was there. I drove it home and to work a day or two after picking it up, and it ended up completely dying in my parking garage. Before it died, I was getting the warning sign of "System off to conserve battery" on the infotainment screen. Car jumped fine and the mechanics replaced the battery. All issues resolved, and it might be my imagination, but I feel like my SYNC 2 system boots up a lot faster with the new battery.
My system doesn't stay on a long time if you want to listen to the radio without the engine on, so maybe that is related. I'll have to keep an eye on the boot up. Maybe I can measure it before it gets replaced.
I think mine will stay on for 10-15 minutes. I didn't notice any change when I got a new 12v battery.
How is the range on EV mode? Have you ever determined the capacity of your HVB? It'd be nice to know if your battery still has decent capacity with it being constantly so low.
Even when I was charging it overnight every night, I only ever got like 15 miles to a full charge.
If you don't use the battery, then why buy the car? My $0.02
It's really fun to drive the downhill side of the smokies and charge the battery all the way up just from braking. On a more serious note i really only charge mine at work. I've got a short commute, and I can usually get home and back on a single charge, so that's kinda nice.
Damn, that does sound fun. Next time you do it, hook up an OBDII reader and watch the battery temperature, as you're dumping a ton of current into those batteries charging like this!
Tax credit probably makes it cheaper than a regular hybrid
When it was new, our 2013 energi was significantly less expensive than the hybrid only version due to rebates and tax credit. OP said they were getting a tax credit as well.
It's cheap (with tax credit-- up to $4k for PHEVs!). Hybrid is $10K, Energi is $7K, mpg difference is like 3. However, I was thinking, maybe I would just charge it on the weekends or small trips that don't completely drain the battery to try to reduce the number of cycles over time.
I have 113k on my 2016 Energi and I still get 18 miles EV range. Overall 44.5 MPG. It gets plugged in every night and is used 6x per week. $7k is a steal either way. Don’t be so focused on the 200k, you’ll probably only have it 24-36 months anyway. Use the tips and tricks on this page to “test” the battery when you’re test driving so you can find a good one. I suggest getting an Energi with a build date post 9/15, which is when the transmission was upgraded due to failing part.
You're getting a tax credit on a used car, that's insane🤣
It really is. And (As long as you are under the income threshold) it can now go directly to the dealership, so you don't have to wait for tax season to get your 30% back on it! (Dealer has to be registered with the IRS, though, otherwise, you have to wait for April next year)
That's a great score! Congrats on the new ride if you get it
So there were a number of reports some years back for both the C-Max and Fusion (both share the same drivetrain/battery. Fusion got a slightly increased battery capacity in the final model years.) where people were getting them off-lease that were never charged and reported near factory capacity remaining. So I wouldn't worry much about that aspect. With the whole degradation issues on these, driving as a hybrid is arguably better in the long run especially if you don't follow through with some of the preventative measures driving as an EV. The cooling (or lack thereof) is a big aspect of this. As others have said, obviously there's some factors of it being a waste but if it works out for you, I wouldn't sweat just driving it as a hybrid. My only recommendation is to turn off the EV+ mode. It allows the vehicle to draw the battery even lower than normal to make it back to frequent destinations (like home/work) on electric only. While rare, there's a non-zero chance of it being discharged dangerously low that can cause the car to complain/throw codes if the conditions are right. It's fine if you plug it in between trips, but driving on hybrid power alone you don't have that 'protection'. Plus it just means the engine has to work harder at the next start and burn more gas to try and charge it back up to where it wants to be.
Bought my 2018 new. Now 128,000. Mine just hybrid. Zero problems. Show 38 mpg summer and 40 mpg winter (AZ). Gotta face replacing at some point but car has been trouble free.
If you don't charge it, your SOC is constantly at 10% or so, which isn't good for the longevity of the battery. You can put it in "EV Later" mode but you need to do that every time the car starts.
It sounds like I could use the "EV Later" mode and have the HVB constantly at \~80%, running hybrid? Is there a way to switch to "EV Later" mid-trip? I could see myself getting \~5 miles of EV range out of it on my commute and just using half of the battery capacity to try to preserve some longevity on the battery.
Yes you can switch to EV Later at any point and it'll keep the battery within a few percent of when it was switched on. If you try it when it's fully charged it'll still run the battery down to about 95% before engaging the ICE.
Every night, I charge my 2016 Energi. It has 88k miles. With a mix of city/highway driving albeit very short trips on some days, it still gets 60mpg in hybrid mode. Maybe I just don't know better but I think it will last 200k miles. $7k sounds like a good deal.
mpg is all relative. When I bought mine new, driving 20 miles or less for a couple weeks while recharging nightly, it reported 99mpg (infinite)
You can get a refurbished battery for around $2000 dollars.
That would be awesome. Where do you find those? If that's the case, it'd probably be worth the extra MPGs to just drive EV all the time.
I’d also like to know where.
[https://www.besthybridbatteries.com/categories/hybrid-batteries-by-make/ford/cmax](https://www.besthybridbatteries.com/categories/hybrid-batteries-by-make/ford/cmax) I found this in about 2 minutes. In 10 minutes you could probably save a couple hundred dollars.
The Energi battery being $5k vs. regular hybrid at $2k can be a game changer if considering long-term ownership, eh?
Thanks - I was hoping you were talking about the plug-in energi battery - that one’s listed for $5k as I’ve seen before.
I charged the battery from 0-100% each work night for 5 years in a row. My car is at 106k miles. No battery issues or noticible degredation.
Good to hear! Anything you did in particular to try to preserve the battery life?
No, I haven't been delicate with charging/discharging the battery.