Ford C-MAX

August 7, 2012

The big news for Ford at the Man­age­ment Busi­ness Sem­i­nars in Tra­verse City, Michi­gan this year is the new C-MAX Energi.
Arriv­ing this fall, the big ques­tion for C-MAX dri­vers is: Which EV mode do you want?
Dri­vers can change modes with each press of the EV mode but­ton. The mode cur­rently selected is dis­played in the driver’s left instru­ment clus­ter screen.
EV: Auto
“In EV: Auto mode, the vehi­cle auto­mat­i­cally takes advan­tage of plug-in charge,” said Kevin Lay­den, Ford direc­tor of Elec­tri­fi­ca­tion Pro­grams and Engi­neer­ing. “When the charge is depleted, C-MAX Energi oper­ates as a full hybrid.”
EV: Now
Now mode, the vehi­cle oper­ates in EV mode using plug-in power. The gaso­line engine will not oper­ate unless an over­ride set­ting is selected or cer­tain con­di­tions are present such as the accel­er­a­tor pedal being fully depressed and the dri­ver enabling the gas engine. EV: Now also acti­vates a spe­cial Man­age EV screen to mon­i­tor functionality.
EV: Later
Later set­ting saves plug-in power for later use, like tran­si­tion­ing from high­way to lower-speed res­i­den­tial neigh­bor­hood use. C-MAX Energi oper­ates in nor­mal hybrid mode, using both gas engine and elec­tric motor. Plug-in power is reserved until the dri­ver switches to the EV: Now or EV: Auto setting.