Those idiot test folks Ford used for the FEH have sure put it to the rest of us who really would like 'EV start' capability if SOC permitted. Bummer.
No EPA rules would be violated by starting EV mode. Stupid not to have this. I'll bet that if gasoline had been > $3/gal during the FEH development, more fuel saving features would have been included!

 

It is much more complicated than that.

 

Seems as though Ford DID IT on the first go round but the YOYO's won out with the mandatory ICE on at start up.

What Ford did in the past can be done again. It just means they have to offer it and we need to ask for it. ( sure would be nice to be invited to one of those user feed back sessions. I'm still waiting for mine.)

While I understand what was done in the past, we as users are learning how to get the most and should be ALLOWED to use our FEH in a more aggressive way. In particular starting in silence and full EV mode. If this could be done and we could charge up the battery pack too, we could start each day silent and clean and when the batteries were depleted we would be out of the side streets and on to the main roads where 30mph and lower is of no value as we will be holding up traffic. On smaller neighborhood streets EV mode rocks, even if it only lasts about 1 mile.

 

Ford did what? I do not know what you are talking about.

A survey of Prius owners with the infamous "EV Button" revealed that very few people who have it, actually use it, and those who use it, don't use it very often. Turns out, it's really a rarely used feature. I for one have power mirrors for example, and since I am always the driver, my mirrors have not been moved in 3 years. Some features, while nice on some rare occasions, are often, not worth the extra effort to install. Just a thought.
An EV button without a plug-in charger won't save you any gas... it will just let you sneak out of the garage in stealth.

 

The talk here is that Ford had Ev only on start up and the test group hated the silence thinking the FEH was not on so Ford caved in and gave us ICE mandatory at start up.

I agree that most would never use it but mostly I think this is true due to a lack of understanding. Once the basics are learned then the option to run EV on start up would be understood better and might even be preferred. Plug in would be the best way to extend the EV start up mileage, hence why I asked for it above in my earlier post.

IMO EV start up WITH plug in would be best. It would extend EV mode where we can use it best. Like getting out of the garage and driving on slow 25mph neighborhood streets.

 

I could just see the roadside service calls made because my "hybrid didn't start"!!!

Ford specifically went to extreme lengths to make the hybrid version start, drive, "creep" and "act" just like a non hybrid vehicle...

Smart moves.......... "drive one"

 

If people would just READ their manuals, they would realize that there is a special icon on the dash just to indicate that the vehicle is capable of running - regardless of the state of the ICE.

 

I own one thank you and thus I have the above complaint.

As for service calls about it not starting this can easily be handled in the dealer walk through at the time of purchase. About 2 sentences should inform the nearly comatose customer that they will get better FE and lower pollution while driving in EV mode. That would win all but the most stupid over and for those few who hate it there are lots of other auto options they can purchase.

No one is buying a hybrid without knowing it is different and having a reasonable expectation of better FE. Since there are no free lunches one can expect that to get the most out of the FEH some amount of learning and or adjustment might need to occur. Ford did the right thing early on but time has passed the knucklehead learning curve and an more FE option should be made available. Hence the EV only button and the plug in option for all of those wanting it as a dealer installed option.


How cool would it be for Ford to offer this and tie in the FE increase as an after purchase good faith option? Know of any other brand doing something like this? This alone would endear folks to the Ford brand and IMO things like this are a win win for all.

They are trying the same thing with a dealer optional SYNC upgrade. This may be the start of something good.

 

Unless you have a PHEV, an "EV Button" is not a desireable feature.
This would come in handy for me, at best, 4 times a year.
And I get better MPG than 99.9% of owners out there.

I have wanted this in the past, but then I thought things through.
Much like Ford did.

#1 It is just not needed.
#2 It won't raise your MPG more than pissing in the ocean raises sea level.
#3 It could very well be a disadvantage and here's why.

Presently, during the first 30 seconds of every key turn, the car performs an extensive self diagnostics check out of all systems. INCLUDING THE GAS POWERED SYSTEMS.

How would you like it if you used an EV button to get 1 or 2 miles down the road... and THEN discover your car couldn't start the gas engine? Wouldn't that be much more of an inconvienience than the car not starting in your garage or driveway? What if it was late at night? What if your wife was driving? Your teen age daughter?

The "not wanting dummies to think the car wasn't started" reason is 99% myth.
Maybe 100% myth. It's more of a "side effect" of the primary reason(s).
There are much more important reasons the car starts at every key turn.
And yes, Prius people using the said "EV button" are taking extra risk each time they use it to pull away from home. There is a risk down the road the Prius will not start. Your Ford / Mercury Hybrid already has an EV button to pull in late at night with only EV so you won't wake the kids. It's called your brake pedal. This will turn off the engine for the last mile or so under 40 miles per hour, in all but the rarest cases if you don't have the A/C or defogger on.


Nuff said.

 

Unless you have drives that take you less than a mile or two (not depleting the batteries) interspersed with just enough drives that will charge the battery. And that is your regular pattern. Its pretty questionable how much MPG an EV button is going to get you. Some... but not much.

If you are going further than the battery has to go then you are going to have to start the engine... when its warming up is when its least efficient. All you've done is to delay that warming up cycle a mile or so. It LOOKS bad to see that crappy mileage because you are paying attention at startup... but when you are going 35MPH with a cold engine after your battery is depleted, will the MPG really be better? By alot?

It might gain you a bit because you aren't 'idling' during that portion of your drive... but in the vast majority of cases, its probably not going to make alot of difference to most people and therefore is the small gain worth risk to Ford Motor company. Especially since they can't put it on the window sticker in the MPG rating because that test isn't designed to let one take a short drive at low speed... its under fixed conditions.

In short... if its not going to sell vehicles (because you can't effectively advertise it with an MPG window sticker) management isn't going to do it.

I worked for IBM in the earlier days of Pentium processors. The devices we were producing at IBM were significantly faster in running applications... but we had a lower clock rate. No-one cared.... the users were only concerned with that MHz number that they could understand. Not that we could actually run faster with a lower MHz.

If you can't make the average person understand.... they aren't going to pay for it.