(Winter) Long Term Test: 2013 Ford Fusion Energi

Very well formated write up

 

all this litres/km and celsius just bogs down the facts.

 

remember that's a canadian report.....

 

crazy cousins.

 

AH-h-h, Canada, land of the original "KINGS ENGLISH"...and French...and numbers!

 

I got hung up on the part about, "let's forget it's a $50k car." I kind of went somewhat blank after that. Something about the size of the storage area and the touch screen and gloves not working.

 

If my car got 7.4 L/100 km I would probably take it to the shop to have it repaired. I bet the fuel consumption could be cut at least 50% with skillful addition of cardboard.

 

Not to mention the 'fuel equivalent' garbage. But at least conversion is possible:

The author's driving in 0 to -10C weather (32 to 14F) on a full battery consumed between 387 - 531 Wh/mile. I don't know if the car's cabin was pre-conditioned to a comfortable temperature.

Context is needed. The author drove the car in Winnipeg in the winter, and at least some of his drives were short 5 - 10 mile runs.

 

agreed. it really was a very poor and incomplete report and could lead to much dismay if people don't recognize the testing climate.

 

Allow me to rephrase: if people do not actually read the report, they are likely to draw silly conclusions.

Other than the aggravating use of fuel(e) units, I thought the report was really, really good, and gave an excellent accounting of how winter driving affects that car. I would have liked to see some comparison data to other EVs and hybrids , but one cannot have everything.

I very much appreciated the writing itself. Other than Dan O'neil (sp?), auto journalists write like 8th graders. Perhaps because the guy is Canadian, he presented data but seemed to avoid drawing conclusions. E.g., the rate of energy consumption/distance increases considerably quicker with EV as the weather is colder compared to petrol mode. I know this is due to cabin heating from the battery rather than waste heat, but a new reader about EVs might miss the reason.

 

they might also miss the benefits of the other three seasons.

 

I'm seriously considering replacing my wife's '11 Prius with a fusion energy early next year. Meanwhile I'm getting to know the vehicle under others perspective point of views.

 

best place to look is fuelly i suppose.

 

Fuelly doesn't track electric use yet though.

 

No matter how attractive a car may seem, it can never replace your spouse. Please reconsider this.

 

"Depending on who you are, the benefits can be measured in terms of savings at the pump or a by a more global yardstick such as reduced dependence on fossil fuels." <-- Nice subtle dig at Americans. All we care about is money.

 

Pun taken and corrected.