A recent review of the Tesla Model S indicated glitches and other issues in these new technologies hitting the road.
Post your very own here for the Ford Fusion Hybrid so that the automaker can act on it swiftly.
If you fully charge your car at the top of a hill you will have no Regenerative Braking or EV low mode to assist in slowing down the hill. This is a major disadvantage for someone who lives or works way up a hill where they will leave their car for a full charging. In low mode going down a hill with a full charge the engine automatically kicks on to do assisted engine breaking and it is obnoxiously loud as well as wasting fuel instead of charging batteries.
Ford’s plugin cars need a software update that will let you select a charge percentage so you can keep 1-10 or so percent for regenerative braking and coasting. This amount will be determined by how many miles and the elevation drop. The update should be able to let you enter your “Downhill Destination” and using it’s available map database should be able to estimate this percentage for you. But just a user defined amount will work for now. It would only take a few trips to dial it in just right.
The Fusion Energy goes down hills beautifully when the battery is not fully charged. The Regen braking and coasting in low works like a charm. But as soon as the battery is full it is a drastic decline in performance and brake pad riding. It feels even less safe on a wet windy road when the battery is full.
I’m sure Ford is going to get to this update eventually but I sure hope the hurry up because it is a real problem for me as an owner of both a 2013 Focus EV and a 2014 Fusion Energi that lives way up a steep hill.
Has anyone else experienced this.
I also hope the changes can be made soon. The Focus is one of my favorite EV’s.