The third party vendor (Hybrid-Plus) plug in conversions do not allow the vehicle to start in pure electric mode.
The orginal Ford designed system is maintained.


(The plugin -PHEV-hybrids are using the new lithium-ion battery composition)

 

Do you think the intro of a plugin Escape will kill the price of older Escapes? Unless of course, it becomes cheap to convert them!

 

The older FEH/MMH are great investments because they continue to be the most fuel efficient SUV on the planet after 4 years now. If the price of the Plug-in FEH/MMH Lithium batteries goes up or down, we will always have a choice to convert or not. The electric cables, the hybrid cooling systems, Converters, HV battery compartment, the computer modules and most important the eCVT are very valuable components a gas Escape will never have.

Ford has designed and manufactured the FEH/MMH and has been selling them at a loss in profits. How long can Ford continue to build and sale vehicles at a loss? Ford can't supply the demand now that the public, Cities, Counties and Governments are requesting. The taxi fleets have already demonstrated the FEH is well built.

The smear job that has been holding the price of hybrids down is all but over now. I've had more people asking me in parking lots and at stoplights about my '09 FEHL than ever before. When people can't afford or wait for a new FEH/MMH, their going to look for used ones. The demand for used FEH/MMH has already been seem with the prices going up lately.

GaryG

 

Thanks GaryG, good comments. One thing, like many folks, I wish that Ford had put out a little more risk and allowed higher SOC. Still, with they way things are going in the auto industry, guess one can't fault them too much for being conservative on a such a high dollar component, the battery!

I wonder about your comments about Ford losing money on the hybrids, which I don't dispute. I just wonder why prices dropped tho? MSR on 08's, here in Canada anyway, where lower than 07's? We were lucky in ours being a demo, thus with rebate et al, we really paid no 'hybrid premium.'

 

Does the production the the Corvette convertible lower the price of the Corvette?

All the Ford Hybrids are "Limited Editions".
Fewer than 20,000 are being built each year.

High Miles, and accident damage are the primary factors that lower value.
I don't think time in years old has much effect at all, if you find one with low miles.

My Honda Insight ( hybrid ) is 8 years old and holds 75% of it's retail value @ 75,000 miles. The Ford Escape Hybrid holds about 66% of retail value with the same miles.

 

Yes, and according to EPRI many of those same "operators" are using that excess night time capacity to pump water (back) uphill so it can be used to help meet the PEAK demand at high noon the next day, if not locally then off in the distance somewhere, say to Los Angeles from central MT or WA.

Look back at the history of diesel fuel...Cheap..

Until enough folks converted and now diesel fuel sells for a price equal to its value to the consumer relative to gasoline.

Energy is energy....

Why would you expect the power from that wall plug to be cheaper or even greener than at the pump. As demand rises so will the price. If I were running our government I would begin TAXING the wall plug stuff to bring equality to the market.

 

Perhaps, but you and I can make our own electricity easier than our own gasoline.
Wind, solar, hydro, Mr. Fusion, if available.

 

Ford is now making a profit on the hybrid vehicles. See this link:
http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/004932.html

If I am not mistaken, Toyota started to make a profit on the Prius in 2006.

 

So you have the capacity... but during those hours you will be feeding less fuel to the plant... plug in all the vehicles... and boom.. you are now pouring coal into your plants 24/7 instead of 12/7. It will increase powerplant emissions..... It should be less emissions overall if the plant and the transmission of the power is more efficient than an ICE... but its not free.

 

Think wider, more long-term. Not quarterly like our corporations do. PI-HEVs are just a near-term bridge, a portion of a long-term solution, that includes various technologies in vehicle propulsion and various technologies in centralized energy generation. That way you may never get to 25M PI-HEVs and no matter how many are produced....you would have alternatives to coal, etc. [It may take some government involvement, market forces may not be wait to turn a profit...too far ahead]