Help need feh info
Created May 17, 2007, at 7:47 pm by aremann2
For those with hybrid expierence: will a hybrid vehicle work on a rural mail route? My route is 45 mi. with 535 stops. There are times I travel 20-30 mph and times I travel 50 mph, both speeds at varying lengths of time. I have a Dodge Durango v8 and another carrier has a Honda crv 4 cyl. We both get 6 mpg. The stopping and going kills gas mileage! So, would a hybrid awd be a better choice??? Any help would be appreciated, Rod
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4 years ago
Mail carriers like yourself have reported good results and love the FEH. With rural driving on dirt roads, you must keep the HV battery filter clean as one carrier reported. That's no big deal as long as you monitor the filter which is very easy.
There is no better AWD hybrid on the market today than the FEH. Wind, rain, snow or Ice will not prevent you from getting the mail out in the AWD FEH, and you will get the best MPG of any AWD or FWD if you don't have the worse conditions.
GaryG
4 years ago
Gary thanks for your response.So you've heard of feh's being used on mail routes.I have not yet talked to anyone who have used them. I'm wondering if the constant starting and stopping would be a problem. I would like to talk to someone who is presently using one on a rural route. I'm concerned with the ICE over heating also. On summer days with the air on i need heavy duty cooling on my Durango. Sorry for all the questions just trying to be informed before I take the plunge! Rod
4 years ago
The constant starting and stopping is where the FEH shines best because of a number of reasons. The starter motor is a motor/generator that can also help propel the vehicle. It is much more heavy duty than a regular starter motor. Braking is assisted by the large traction motor which becomes part of the braking system in regenerative braking. In other words when you let off the gas or apply the brake pedal, the traction motor becomes a generator which slows you down first before the brake pads. The brake pads will last longer than any vehicle out there this large. If you want more regenerative braking, just shift to "L" and drive. It feels like your in low gear, but there is no low gear, just heavier regenerative braking that charges the battery faster.
As far as overheating with heavy A/C use, there should never be a problem. In addition, you have a choice of Max recir or normal recir air conditioning. Max recir will not let the engine shut down and will freeze you out of the vehicle. This is because the system has an Aux. battery A/C which requires one large A/C compressor with a lot of coolant to supply either system or both at the same time. In case you had a problem with overheating (which I seriously don't think you would), you can change the setting to normal recir and the engine will shut down for electric drive. During electric drive, there is a special electric motor that comes on to circulate radiator coolant for the heater to function. This will also allow extra cooling of the engine while it is not running.
IMHO, you would be very happy with the FEH. From the post I've read from other rural mail carriers over the last two years, their FEH's are holding up real good and they love the vehicle compared to anything they've had in the past. The brakes last forever and the transmission is rock solid. NY City and San Francisco use the FEH as taxis and their very pleased with that use also.
GaryG
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