Does The Ford Fusion Energi Think It’s A Fully-Electric Vehicle?
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It seems that Ford has taken a few creative liberties with a new YouTube video highlighting the benefits of the Ford Fusion Energi Plug-In. The video showcases a man named David Fenton and his love affair with his Energi.
Fenton himself is no average Joe. He founded Fenton, a “social change communications agency” that pairs with nonprofits, foundations and companies pioneering true sustainability’.”
“Our campaigns change behavior, advance policy, build communities and transform thinking”, reads the website. “Using a range of communications tools — pr, advertising, social media, video, design, research and everything in between — we build campaigns that create lasting change.” In other words, Fenton benefits from the spot as much as Ford does. Even though it’s somewhat sneaky, that’s not our beef with the ad.
Fenton lives in a solar-powered house that’s covered with solar panels and he uses them to charge up his Ford Fusion Energi Plug-In Hybrid. He then describes how the Energi can drive solely on electricity: “100 percent of our power right now is from the solar panels.” He waxes lyrical about how “the sun can never go up in price” and how it feels terrific to “charge the car with free, clean solar energy and drive around on it”.
And it probably does feel terrific. But only if it were true.
The Fusion Energi is a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) (also known as an extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) like a Chevy Volt or a Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid, not a full battery electric vehicle (BEV) like a Nissan Leaf or a Tesla Model S. Unlike the former vehicles, the Energi still requires gasoline to function and can only operate in electric-only mode for a mere 19 miles.
So, we love it that Fenton uses solar power to live on and to charge up his Fusion Energi, which has a combined gas/electric range of 550 miles. What we do have an issue with is the clear implication that Energi buyers will not need to rely on fossil fuels. That’s clearly not the case. Unless they only drive 19 miles between charging the car.
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“Unlike the former vehicles, the Energi still requires gasoline to function”
Technically that’s not true. The Fusion (and C-Max) requires gas in order to drive further than around 19 miles without recharging. If your daily commute is less than that, you could conceivably never use any gas. My assumption is that Fenton does keep his daily trips to under 19 miles. How he travels further than 19 miles at a time is left to our imagination (flying carpet, perhaps?)
You’re making a few false assumptions about these cars and driver behavior. For long commutes, PHEVs like the Energi are not a good choice, correct. But the average car trip is short, within range of an Energi. http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1071688_95-of-all-trips-could-be-made-in-electric-cars-says-study
I own one. Last weekend I drove 80 miles, entirely on electricity. Most of that electricity was generated by solar. Since I bought my Energi in August 2013, I’ve put gas in the tank seven times. Seven. Do I use gas? Yes, occasionally. Is the electricity I use to charge the car from fossil fuels? Not at home or at “green” chargers, but occasionally, yes. That’s the point of these cars. You are greatly reducing your footprint. Try to see this issue as not just black or white, but in the shades of gray.