Ford plug-in hybrid drivers recharge more often than EV users

In a sort of “man bites dog” development for the green-car set, Ford plug-in hybrid drivers are hooking themselves up to charging stations at a greater frequency than drivers of the automaker’s pure battery-electric Focus, Green Car Reports says, citing a presentation Ford’s Mike Tinskey made in oh-so-green Portland, Oregon.

Using Ford’s MyFord Mobile smartphone app that tracks driving habits, Ford has found that about 60 percent of miles driven in Ford’s Fusion and C-Max Energi PHEVs are all-electric. Those models have a 21-mile all-electric range. So, should it surprise us that Energi owners plug in more frequently than Focus EV drivers? The Focus can go 76 miles between charges. Tinskey credits the phenomenon to what he calls “gamification,” in which Energi drivers make it a bit of a competition to find how far they can go without hitting the gas station. Since the Focus wouldn’t know what to do at a fuel pump, drivers only plug in when they need to.

Whatever the reason, the overall data set here is fairly small. Through May, Ford sold 2,027 and 1,194 units of the C-Max and Fusion Energy PHEVs nationwide, respectively, while moving 723 units of the Focus Electric.