Hybrid (esp. Escape) Mountain Driving?
Created January 20, 2005, at 11:59 am by Anonymous
Have any of you lucky owners driven in real mountains yet? I'm wondering how it will behave.
Going uphill: When the battery runs out, will it get pretty slow, just running on the gas engine? Or does the charger keep the battery, and the speed, up all the way to the top. If so, how does it do that?
Going downhill: What does the regenerative braking system do with the energy after the batteries are all filled up? Any sign of a problem?
Thanks.
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Have driven coast to coast in my Escape Hybrid...over the meadow and through the woods...mountains included. Have never had a problem with mountain driving through the Rockies or any other mountain range. Fear not, the hybrid will function well!:D
We have an Escape hybrid in Colorado and frequently drive in the mountains. We notice that even when running uphill, the battery will occasionally go into the "charge" mode, so the computer seems to "know" when the engine can spare some power. We have never had any problems with the battery running out of juice or even very low, even on very long hills. I suppose if we had it on a heavy four-wheel drive trail with lots of strain, it might be a problem, but even if the battery went completely flat we could still let the engine idle for a while.
Coming down hills is great! We have occasionally hit the maximum fuel economy over the entire span of our computer screen, which is nice, since we lose very little mileage going up hills.
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