[popeye22]

After 1 year and 5 days with my 2022 Escape SE PHEV, I have driven it a total of 9840 miles. My driving was divided between 6904 miles of plug-in electric operation (70.2%) and 2936 miles of gas/hybrid operation (29.8%). Most of my gas/hybrid driving occurred on two long road trips totaling about 2000 miles.

I like numbers and statistics because I am an engineer by training, so I have maintained a full log of my fuel purchases and plug-in electric usage. The car used 79.35 gal of gasoline during the year for an average fuel economy of 37 mpg in gas/hybrid operation. The overall fuel economy based upon total miles driven was 124 mpg. I obtained and tabulated the "charge added (%)" information from the charge logs in the FordPass app and found that I did the equivalent of 186 full charges during the year for an average electric range of 37.1 miles on a full charge. I also use a "Kill a Watt" brand meter to measure my 120V electric usage at the wall outlet. My PHEV used 2299 kWh of electricity during the year, or an average of about 12.36 kWh for a full charge.

During the past year, the average price of gasoline in my area was about $3.70/gal, and my electric price was about $0.107/kWh. So in the first year with my Escape PHEV, I paid $294 for gasoline and $246 for electricity, for a total operating cost of $540. My Escape replaced a 2002 Honda Accord with a fuel economy of about 26.5 mpg. If I had continued driving my Accord, it would have required 371 gal of gasoline costing about $1373. My Escape PHEV therefore saved me about $833 in operating costs during the past year and also reduced my tailpipe emissions by 79%.

It's sad that Ford can't produce more of these PHEVs, because they are very practical and efficient vehicles. I am very lucky that my Escape was ordered and delivered before the 2022 surge in gas prices.

 

[BreckB]

Excellent summary and excellent lifetime MPG given your long trips. As of my last tank one month ago, I had averaged 154 mpg while expecting that to drop. Doesn't take many long trips on gasoline to hit that average. Best tank was 251 MPG while worst, a road trip, was 59 MPG. My charging costs are lower due to a solar array and a special KW-HR rate of less than 8 cents

It's also sad that customers are opting for hybrid Escapes when they could have saved money in total ownership costs on the PHEV. (I think that the tax rebate just reverted to $7500 for our model. ) The American public doesn't understand the range of EV options. We have 4 PHEV's in our family and agree with your assessment on practical and efficient. We are not quite ready for pure EV, so the PHEV is our bridge to the future.

 

[atc98092]

Good information, thanks! I'm considering a '22 PHEV that is still available locally. Your numbers are similar to what I would get when I had my Niro PHEV, although that car didn't have the same range, and didn't offer an electric heater to warm the cabin. I'm feeling better all the time moving to the Escape.

 

[Salkin]

I like numbers and statistics because I am an engineer by training, so I have maintained a full log of my fuel purchases and plug-in electric usage. The car used 79.35 gal of gasoline during the year for an average fuel economy of 37 mpg in gas/hybrid operation. The overall fuel economy based upon total miles driven was 124 mpg. I obtained and tabulated the "charge added (%)" information from the charge logs in the FordPass app and found that I did the equivalent of 186 full charges during the year for an average electric range of 37.1 miles on a full charge. I also use a "Kill a Watt" brand meter to measure my 120V electric usage at the wall outlet. My PHEV used 2299 kWh of electricity during the year, or an average of about 12.36 kWh for a full charge.

Thanks for your report. I also keep very detailed records of gas/electric usage and miles driven for two segments. My 2022 Escape PHEV is only two months old and I do not have enough data points to average out for the year. As you, I am recording the kWh usage for the charging with the "Kill-a-Watt" meter. It is interesting to report that during my two months of charging, I have done the equivalent of 15.35 times 100% charges. My average for 100% charge so far is 13.13kWh which is ~6% more than your average. I think this is because I charge my car outside often during the night when it gets cold enough for the BTM to need to regulate the battery temperature. However, I do not use climate preconditioning which also increases the kWh used from the wall. It will be interesting to compare the seasonal differences in the kWh needed to charge 100%.

One question. How did you get the average fuel economy in gas/hybrid operation? The car does report the overall fuel economy but does not distinguish between EV and HV portions. Your overall fuel economy of 124 mpg is excellent. Your location must not be too cold for the engine to start for the short trips in winter. That is the only thing I dislike about this car. When the ambient temp is below 32F, the engine starts even in EV Now mode with plenty of SOC for a short trip that could be completed 100% electric. Because of this behavior, even though most of our daily trips are within the EV range that could be covered without using gas, I am seeing quite a low overall mpg of 60.8mpg for a total of 1026 miles driven on the odometer so far. That is a bit disappointing for me, for I switched to the Escape PHEV from the Toyota Prius Prime (PHEV) which is surely one of the most fuel-efficient cars both for EV operation and HV operation. I just know that I will not be saving any on fuel (both gas and electricity) on our current Escape PHEV over my previous Prius Prime. And even with a longer EV range of the Escape PHEV over Prius Prime, our high local electricity rate of $0.26/kWh makes EV operation not so much advantageous over the gas operation economically. In fact, at our current local cost of gas at $3.35/gal, it is cheaper to drive our Escape PHEV with gas only at 40mpg ($0.084/mile) than use electricity to drive 37 miles on pure EV ($0.093/mile). These costs of operation are quite a bit higher than the 2021 Prius Prime which had $0.057/mile overall.

Still, we like a larger car with cargo space and a longer EV range to cover most, if not all, of the local trips on electricity. We replaced two cars, Prius Prime and the larger Pathfinder Hybrid SUV with a single-car Escape PHEV. If our Escape PHEV can serve the roles of both cars, we should see substantial cost savings on overall automobile-related spending by not needing to keep two cars. We will see how it works for us in a year or so.

 

[atc98092]

How did you get the average fuel economy in gas/hybrid operation? The car does report the overall fuel economy but does not distinguish between EV and HV portions. Your overall fuel economy of 124 mpg is excellent.

There's really no accurate way to do so. All you can really do is track your gas usage, and then add that cost to the cost of the electricity used. When I had my Niro PHEV, I tracked all gas use using he Fuelly app. It's an accurate way to track gas usage, but it's really not an overall way to fully understand your cost per mile with a PHEV. I don't have a Kill-a-Watt, but my EVSE (JuiceBox 40) does provide historical data on my charging, although it probably doesn't account for any loss between the wall and the EVSE. But I feel it's accurate enough to tell me my charging costs. For example, for my Bolt so far this month, I've put 198 kWh into the battery, for a total cost of $21.78 (11 cents kWh). I've driven roughly 700 miles this month, so that's about 3.53 miles/kWh, and about 3.11 cents per mile. If my Bolt was a PHEV instead of a EV, then I would add the gas cost to that.

 

[Salkin]

Yeah, with my previous PHEVs, I drove on gas only once in a while without charging from the wall to get the baseline record. Also, DTE after the tank fill can be used to estimate gas only efficiency since it was strictly based on the HV operation.

But, for my region, local cost of gas has been cheaper than electricity most of the time. Unless the gas goes back to above $4 again, I will not see economical benefit of EV driving.

 

[homestead]

It's also sad that customers are opting for hybrid Escapes when they could have saved money in total ownership costs on the PHEV. (I think that the tax rebate just reverted to $7500 for our model. ) The American public doesn't understand the range of EV options. We have 4 PHEV's in our family and agree with your assessment on practical and efficient. We are not quite ready for pure EV, so the PHEV is our bridge to the future.

I am looking at hybrid vs PHEV with a 10 year timeframe driving about 7k miles/yr.
Using this calculator Alternative Fuels Data Center: Vehicle Cost Calculator
The phev never pays for itself using current gas/electric prices during my timeframe.
Here are my results below.
Of course it depends on how many miles you drive and what the prices are for gas/electric in your state how quickly it pays for itself.
But buying a PHEV is not a slam-dunk.
I am not paying any federal taxes currently so the tax credit does me no good.

 

[atc98092]

Without the federal tax credit, the PHEV is tougher to pencil out. That said, that web site doesn't impress me. It's using the average electricity cost per state, instead of allowing me to enter my cost. And it also isn't (in my opinion) correctly calculating the percentage I would be driving in EV mode. But even with those issues, It still shows the lines crossing between 7 and 8 years. Based on my previous PHEV experience, I know they cross much sooner for my driving. Add in the tax credit, and a PHEV for me is likely crossing lines after the first year, if even that long.

 

[Salkin]

But buying a PHEV is not a slam-dunk.
I am not paying any federal taxes currently so the tax credit does me no good.

You are correct. You need to do your math. If saving costs is the only objective, then PHEV (or BEV) may not be your choice. As I commented in my previous post, in our region, the electric cost is more than the gas cost for $/mile, so it never pays to buy a PHEV over an HEV. But for me, being able to cut down the carbon footprint to less than half would be a good enough reason. Unfortunately, a BEV would not work for us as a single car, so my choice was a PHEV SUV large enough to be able to take the roles of two cars we owned before. And fortunately, in our case, the tax credits and state incentives made the initial cost of the Escape PHEV to be almost $5K less than a similarly equipped Hybrid Escape. So, paying a bit more for the cost of operation on expensive electricity was totally acceptable.

 

[Salkin]

That said, that web site doesn't impress me.

This site offers more controls.

My Plug-in Hybrid Calculator

Our plug-in hybrid calculator lets you estimate fuel economy and gas and electricity costs for plug-in hybrids.

www.fueleconomy.gov

 

[atc98092]

This site offers more controls.

My Plug-in Hybrid Calculator

Our plug-in hybrid calculator lets you estimate fuel economy and gas and electricity costs for plug-in hybrids.

www.fueleconomy.gov

Yeah, that comes closer to matching what I have experienced. It calculates with the Escape PHEV I would only drive 3% of the time on gas, filling the tank once a year. My Niro PHEV was probably closer to 10% or more because of the lower range and lack of electric heater. Total fuel cost (gas and electric) about $411 per year. Of course, this is just the cost to drive, while the other site is including the purchase and financing cost. But overall for me those numbers will be near the same if it's a PHEV or HEV, mainly because of the tax credit. So the cost to drive is going to be a net positive for me with a PHEV easily.

 

[Salkin]

It calculates with the Escape PHEV I would only drive 3% of the time on gas, filling the tank once a year.

The only thing about the calculator is that it assumes the car would not fire an engine if there is enough SOC left in the traction battery. As I pointed out in my previous comment, that is not the case, at least for my and many others' 2022 Escape PHEVs in a cold climate. 18 miles round trips on a cold morning, the car starts the engine for "performance" resulting in dismal mpg and unnecessary gas consumption.

I have to wait until springtime to see the full potential of the Escape PHEV EV "performance". I did the comparison of Escape PHEV and Prius Prime using the calculator. Prius Prime is far more fuel efficient than Escape PHEV, so I knew there is no way I can save on the overall fuel cost, but what the calculator predicted was that due to the longer EV range of the Escape PHEV than Prius Prime, I would use more electricity but less gasoline overall. But as of now, that is not going to happen. Almost every trip we make are using some amount of gas for "performance". Very disappointing.

 

[atc98092]

Many Escape PHEV owners are reporting the ICE isn't necessary if temps are above freezing. So I guess it depends on your definition of cold climate. Here in the Seattle area, it not not common to go below freezing, although temps in the 30s are common this time of the year. But naturally, the electric heater is going to have a noticeable impact on range. In my Bolt, I lose about 30%, and even more at freeway speeds.

 

[Salkin]

Many Escape PHEV owners are reporting the ICE isn't necessary if temps are above freezing. So I guess it depends on your definition of cold climate.

Yes, the threshold seems to be 32F ambient temp. For our region, that's most of winter months. We can get that cold in September or in May.

 

[popeye22]

One question. How did you get the average fuel economy in gas/hybrid operation? The car does report the overall fuel economy but does not distinguish between EV and HV portions. Your overall fuel economy of 124 mpg is excellent. Your location must not be too cold for the engine to start for the short trips in winter.

That required some estimation and judgement on my part. First, there are the EPA ratings for the car: (1) 37 miles of electric range on a full charge, and (2) 43/37 mpg city/highway in gas/hybrid operation. My data indicate that I am fairly close to an average electric range of 37 miles on a full charge. In "EV Now" mode, I get over 40 electric miles in warm weather when driving around town. I get as low as 30 electric miles in cool weather or at highway speeds over 70 mph. Note that I live in TN and rarely experience mid-day temperatures below freezing. The only time I have had a direct measurement of gas/hybrid fuel economy was on a long road trip last summer. I burned 3 full tanks of gas without any plug-in charging and achieved 41 mpg (based upon fuel purchased) across 1040 miles. I suspect my mpg is lower the rest of the time because of cool weather or when the engine runs only briefly because I run out of charge a few miles before I get home.

The data I know is that I did the equivalent of 186 full charges and used 79.35 gal of gas to travel 9840 miles. Using the above information, I have to find a reasonable combination of full-charge range (I used 37.12 miles) and gas/hybrid mpg (I used 37 mpg) so that the total distance adds up to 9840 miles.

186*37.12 + 79.35*37 = 9840

Note that a higher full-charge range would need to be balanced by a lower mpg (or the opposite) to make it balance. The values I chose were judged to be reasonable for my situation.

 

[popeye22]

Thanks for your report. I also keep very detailed records of gas/electric usage and miles driven for two segments. My 2022 Escape PHEV is only two months old and I do not have enough data points to average out for the year. As you, I am recording the kWh usage for the charging with the "Kill-a-Watt" meter. It is interesting to report that during my two months of charging, I have done the equivalent of 15.35 times 100% charges. My average for 100% charge so far is 13.13kWh which is ~6% more than your average. I think this is because I charge my car outside often during the night when it gets cold enough for the BTM to need to regulate the battery temperature. However, I do not use climate preconditioning which also increases the kWh used from the wall. It will be interesting to compare the seasonal differences in the kWh needed to charge 100%.

Somebody else on this forum (I don't remember who it was) noticed that the time it takes to do a full 0-100% charge fell as his car got older. So I started tracking the kWh of my full 0-100% charges versus date (see attachment). As you can see, my kWh has indeed fallen over time. I can hypothesize several different causes: (1) a battery teething issue that will flatten out, (2) seasonal effects related to outdoor temperature, or (3) the beginning of long-term battery degradation. It will take more data to know for sure.

My car initially required about 12.8 kWh for a full charge. I live in TN where daytime temperatures are rarely below freezing. I charge in a garage and never do any cabin preconditioning.

 

[Salkin]

Somebody else on this forum (I don't remember who it was) noticed that the time it takes to do a full 0-100% charge fell as his car got older. So I started tracking the kWh of my full 0-100% charges versus date (see attachment). As you can see, my kWh has indeed fallen over time. I can hypothesize several different causes: (1) a battery teething issue that will flatten out, (2) seasonal effects related to outdoor temperature, or (3) the beginning of long-term battery degradation. It will take more data to know for sure.

My car initially required about 12.8 kWh for a full charge. I live in TN where daytime temperatures are rarely below freezing. I charge in a garage and never do any cabin preconditioning.

I did similar data logging for my previous plug-in Prius Primes. From your data, (2) is unlikely the explanation for I don't see the cyclical "waves" repeating in winter months. I don't have enough data points for my 22 Escape yet, but for the three Prius Prime I have owned, it was always the highest kWh per full charge that gradually declined over months and years. Although there seems to be battery conditioning that takes more kWh from the wall for the initial few times of the charges, I really don't think this issue persists over months and years. So, my conclusion was that decreased kWh/full charge is the direct result of battery degradation. For my PP, the degradation was about 5% in the initial 12 months period which is in line with what has been reported for many other EVs. Although I don't have my own data to support it, I have read in some other forums that the degradation rate is faster at the beginning in the first 1-2 years and it stabilizes somewhat after that. However, I don't intend to keep my Escape PHEV longer than 3 years, so I am not likely to see the long-term degradation characteristics of my car.