Cold Weather

[md40022]

This morning in the Chicago area it is 7 degrees below 0. The "high" for today is supposed to be 4 degrees. And I do not plan on leaving the house at all, meaning the car, a 2010 Hybrid, is going to sit outside (I do not have garage parking available to me)

 

With previous non hybrid cars I've owned, on days like this, I would once or twice over the course of the day go start the car and let it run for a few minutes just for the sake of letting the alternator charge the battery for a little bit on a ridiculously COLD day where the car was just sitting outside.

 

Is that something that should still be done with the Fusion Hybrid? I am still on the original HVB, of course. And the 12 volt battery is about 2 or 3 years old. I would think letting the car run for a few minutes on a day like this would be a good thing, but knowing that it switches back and forth between the ICE and EV as it sees fit - part of me doesn't know if letting it run is serving any purpose.

 

Thoughts?

[VonoreTn]

As it gets colder out on a non-hybrid ICE (Internal combustion Engine) vehicle, the engine starting amps required of the 12 volt battery go up.  It might take 40 amps to start an ICE on a summer day, but 400 amps on a cold day in Alaska.  You don't have that kind of drain on your 12 volt battery because your 270 volt HVB starts the engine.  That's all I know.  My 2010 FFH stays the garage and I never had a cold temperature issue with it in 150K miles, and 11 years.  It still runs great.  I would keep an eye on the coolant levels under the hood, make sure they are at least at the minimum level or higher.  Other higher tech members here can tell you more. 

[md40022]

Thanks for the response. I've been dealing with the cold conditions my whole life, so checking coolant levels and what not are things I do consistently. The HVB vs. 12v battery and EV vs. ICE are new to me though, hence why I'm unsure. 

 

Normally if I'm sitting at home all day and not using the car on a day like today (below zero) I would start the car and let it idle for 10 minutes maybe 2 or 3 times over the course of the day just to let the alternator run on the 12 volt battery, but with the Hybrid now I'm wondering if I start it and it runs the ICE for just a few minutes before switching over to EV then am I actually accomplishing anything?  Did I cause more harm than good?  Did I stress the 12 volt battery during the start-up and then since it only ran for a few minutes before EV kicked in, did it not reap the benefits of the alternator charge that I was hoping for? If that were the case then it almost seems like it does more harm than good.

 

This is a brand new thing for me since I've only owned the car for 2 weeks.....

[VonoreTn]

This might explain part of the situation, you don't have an alternator. 

 

 

[Waldo]

First of all, starting and running your ICE vehicles in the past on cold days was not a great idea.  All that does is drain the battery, cause internal engine wear, condensation in you exhaust and waste gas.  Unless the battery itself really heats up - and it takes a good bit of driving to accomplish that, then it's not really charging up much anyway.

Secondly, while -7 feels cold, it's not really that cold.  Ford tests all it's systems to survive in -40 weather, so you're really not even close to the vehicle's limits.

Third, the hybrid really isn't that different from an ICE vehicle in this regard.  There's really no need to start it up in cold weather.  My 2014 Hybrid has been sitting outside in my driveway for the last month and I haven't even touched it.  Last year over Christmas it sat for 5 weeks.  Still on the original 12V battery.

 

What I have done though is ordered a CTEK trickle charger.  A device like this can keep the battery topped up over long periods of time.  I plan to mainly use it for my summer cars that sit in the garage all winter, but I'll also hook it up to my Fusion to see how well it works.

Edited February 8, 2021 by Waldo

[lolder]

Ford recommends that you run the car 30 minutes once a month to charge the 12 vdc battery. Charging the HVB takes only a few minutes. Otherwise no need to run the car. You will lose 7% efficiency (mpg) for every 10º F. colder  temperature, 7% for each 10 mph headwind, a lot for wet or snowy roads and a lot for heating the cabin. 70% of all winds are apparent headwinds because of the vector sum of the wind and vehicle speeds. This affects all cars but when you're getting 40 mpg to start in the FFH you get down to 30 or below easily in cold weather. That's 25%. 25% less in a car getting 20 mpg is  15 mpg.