I recently installed a "Hidden Hitch" with a traditional 2" ball.
The hitch is rated for 3500 pounds I think, and the ball, 5,000
pounds.

I towed an 800 pound ( empty ) trailer with 1200 pounds of cargo on
it.
The trailer is 8 feet x 12 feet x 8 feet high. Much taller than the
FEH. So I guess the frontal cross area is 8'x 8'.
The frontal area is perfectly vertical and square.
No helpful aerodynamics whatsoever.

I was very careful not to exceed 60 miles per hour.
But I easily could have.
I did mostly highway driving for 700 miles.
Over half of those miles included Colorado Mountains.
Some roads exceeded 6% grade for short sections.
Some roads were 3-4% for dozens of miles.

I watched everything closely with a ScanGauge.
Outside air was from the 40's to 70's.
NOTHING in the car got hot.
The water temp = Normal to plus 10 degrees of normal the whole time.
The motor and electronics temperatures were all normal.
The car ran at higher RPM, as expected, but only mildly so.
The car used MUCH more battery assist than normal.
The car was using battery assist for every little camel hump on the
highway. It usually doesn't do that.
My battery pack was getting warm enough to requrie A/C ( 86'F ) on
the highway, but just barely, and the A/C quickly cooled the pack to
the mid-70's.

The first 350 miles ( one way ) I ran 50/50 ethanol and gas.
Ethanol is known to produce more horsepower, and I figured I could
use it. (I had previously used ethanol without problems so I knew in
advance my car could handle it.) I went from 4700 ft to 8200 ft
elevation, mostly at 50 to 60 MPH with the trailer in tow.
MPG = about 21.5 MPG with 50% ethanol in the tank.

The way home ( 350 miles ) and downhill ( 8200ft to 4700ft ) I had to
use regular E10 gas. With the same trailer in tow, I got about 23.5
to 24 MPG.

The FEH ran at 4,000 RPM much of the uphill time, but I was able to
go up a 6% hill with a 2,000 pound 8x8x12 trailer at 55 MPH and keep
up with traffic on mountain roads.

This car never ceases to amaze me.
Oh... no problem backing the trailer up on gravel roads in EV mode.
No problem pulling the trailer up a 10% slope driveway at 10-15 MPH
in Drive in EV mode.

-John

 

Good to know.... I still wonder if the issue is not with going forward. I suspect they are afraid of one having problems pushing the load in reverese up a driveway and overheating the traction motor or something. Nice to know you had no problem backing up on level terrain though.

 

I can remember reading on this site in 2007 someone who hauled a 14ft Shasta trailer (1500lbs?) from Kansas City to Washington DC with their FEH. This route included travel thru the West Virginia Mountains. If I remember correctly, this report indicated RPMs in the low 4000 traveling thru the West Virginia Mountains with MPG in the mid-teens.

 

So I have a question about this then. Do you think it's possible to tow around 2500 lbs? I'm thinking about running a buddy's 1989 Toyota 2 door up to the salvage yard. We'd rent a car carrier from Uhaul and then put the car on it. The drive would be about 25 miles one-way (for the tow).

Anyone think this could damage the car?

 

That would be me.

The Shasta camper was advertised as 1500lbs....when I picked it up in Omaha, NE it was obviously not 1,500lbs. (Try 2,500lbs per truck scale when I finally made it home). Big difference.

Worse, the thing was so tall over the FEH.....wind resistance was killer. Knew right then I was in trouble....burned again by a stupid eBay'er (i asked multiple times for him to verify the weight/size for me...was assured it was no more than 1500lbs)

Anyways, accross IA/IL with a stiff head wind....could only manage 50mph with the rpms 3500-4500 nearly the entire time.

Once the wind died down it wasn't so bad. Mtns of WV were managable....just took them nice and slow.

I've towed plenty of UHAUL trailers 1200-1800lbs with no problems whatsoever. Could keep up with traffic...pretty smooth ride, but I would def NOT tow over 2000lbs ever again. Just my .02 cents Also, I'd really have to look at the wind resistance thing....you wouldn't have nearly the problems with a 2,000lb utility flat trailer as a high profile camper trailer. I got a lot of sway with the Shasta...it was just dangerous now that I think back on it. The UHAUL one with the dual axle and low center of gravity is much more stable.

BL: Think the FEH is capable of more than 1,000lbs...but lets not go crazy.

BTW...does anyone know the tow ratings on the 2009 w/the bigger engine? I imagine it would do even better towing.

Nate

 

I believe that the '09 retains the 1000lb limit (I know the Ford website still reports it as such). My understanding is the limiting factor is the eCVT and that hasn't really changed over the years.

 

But why would the limiting factor be the eCVT? If I turn on the A/C to MAX and don't push ECON then I'll have my electric and ICE motor avaliable for torque at all speeds.

 

Probably limited by output shaft or bearing loads in the eCVT. Even with electric assist, doesn't all the power have to go through the eCVT?

 

It's conjecture on my part but I would say that Ford rated the FEH at 1000lbs towing with a VERY large buffer zone where the eCVT is concerned. Since the eCVT is a single serviceable unit, Ford does not want to have to fix/repair/replace these extremely costly, limited production units (some even list the eCVT as the limiting production factor and not the battery).

I believe they also have no motivation to increase the tow limit as there is no competition pressure on that front (may change with the Vue two-mode intro). People who want to tow (more than 1000lbs on a regular basis) aren't in the target market and will be encouraged to look at other models. I see this as a classic case of meeting mainstream market demand while protecting themselves from unneeded warranty repairs.

They've done similar things before like programming gear shift related timing retard into Mustangs to help prevent transmission failure. The cars still met their HP requirements but didn't break transmissions (as often ).

 

I have to agree that the eCVT is the limiting factor. This link http://www.aisin-aw.co.jp/en/02produ...hev/index.html indicates that the eCVT is only rated at 170 Nm of torque. On the plus side, it should never experience the kind of shock load that a fixed gearing transmission does, but 170 Nm is not exactly robust.

GPSman, once again I am very impressed with your data collection! Thanks for sharing with us.

-Jim