Funny, I was thinking the same thing this morning while looking at how Google Now figured out how I commute. Was thinking ' if only my PiP could learn my popular routes, understand the speed limits, inclines, etc, it could probably do a much better job switching EV/HV than I do', then I see this post. At 1 point, I even considered interfacing the buttons with a custom built Android machine to do all this, and while I have the know-how, don't have the time
I wonder if this was used to achieve EPA FE. It could be construed as gaming the system if the technology doesn't adapt well to normal driving. If it does adapt well then this will be a fantastic addition and one that I hope other manufacturers will employ.
FWIW, I finally saw a Focus EV in the wild the other day. It was plugged into the charging station at my local Kaiser hospital. It was parked next to a Leaf.
A retrofit could be fairly easy. Plug into the OBDII port with an audible signal for manually switching in/out of HV/EV. I would think most of the benefit would be achieved by having two destinations saved, home and work (assuming you could charge at work). Using the current SOC and historical consumption/mile for the regular route to each destination could signal when to switch between EV->HV and HV->EV. A different tone for each destination would allow you to ignore it if you know you are actually heading to a different destination. The assumption is that you always want to arrive at a plug with an empty battery rather than burning any more gasoline. Some folks may not agree with that assumption (usbseawolf)
i would have loved this in my LEAF but i can hear the screams of "privacy invasion" and Big Brother already. I wish the LEAF had been recording my driving habits from day one but its easy to see why the bean counters declined to pay the extra pennies for it.
