Blue Ox for 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid

[Thorbill]

Well guys I had a long long post ready to post-it when my cell phone erase it all. So now you get the short version. Bought an h6 battery from Walmart $115 plus $17 core charge. It fits exactly into the battery tray and my vehicle by using the other plugged screw hole. All went perfect on my way home. I did give the vehicle 30-minute charge time at 6 hour intervals when going through the gears as required.

[rmclin]

Originally Posted by Thorbill

Well guys I had a long long post ready to post-it when my cell phone erase it all. So now you get the short version. Bought an h6 battery from Walmart $115 plus $17 core charge. It fits exactly into the battery tray and my vehicle by using the other plugged screw hole. All went perfect on my way home. I did give the vehicle 30-minute charge time at 6 hour intervals when going through the gears as required.

Could you keep us posted about the new battery and if it solves the problems? My Escape is at the dealer and he claims he can't find anything wrong. Says they test the battery and it shows good, which means they pprobably put a charger on it and give it back. I haven't towed the car yet (no place to go) but I keep getting the low battery shutdown and squirrly behavior of other electrical systems. I measured 10.6 volts on the battery before taking it to the dealer which tells me the battery is toast. It will hold a charge for a couple of days but then it starts shutting down again.

[Thorbill]

My vehicle is functioning as expected with the larger battery in it. As far as ridiculous stupid announcements or messages by the vehicle regarding conserving battery messages and other erroneous BS , that keeps up even with the larger battery. but after extensive testing with a multimeter of the battery in the vehicle I have never seen it go below 11.75 volts while towing all the way home which was 18 hours total. Within 24 hours of being home I still got one of those stupid messages. there are obvious flaws in the software and Ford will not talk about it other than tell you to see their stupid dealers who are stupid enough to just keep testing the battery that is too wimpy for the vehicle for towing. They must have at one time planned on using a larger battery. The battery tray is perfectly designed for a larger battery. There are wires connecting the positive and negative leads together at the battery. I have no idea why. But the wire is exactly the right lenght to accommodate the h6 group 48 battery rather than the wimpy one they put in the vehicle.

[rmclin]

Originally Posted by Thorbill

My vehicle is functioning as expected with the larger battery in it. As far as ridiculous stupid announcements or messages by the vehicle regarding conserving battery messages and other erroneous BS , that keeps up even with the larger battery. but after extensive testing with a multimeter of the battery in the vehicle I have never seen it go below 11.75 volts while towing all the way home which was 18 hours total. Within 24 hours of being home I still got one of those stupid messages. there are obvious flaws in the software and Ford will not talk about it other than tell you to see their stupid dealers who are stupid enough to just keep testing the battery that is too wimpy for the vehicle for towing. They must have at one time planned on using a larger battery. The battery tray is perfectly designed for a larger battery. There are wires connecting the positive and negative leads together at the battery. I have no idea why. But the wire is exactly the right lenght to accommodate the h6 group 48 battery rather than the wimpy one they put in the vehicle.

Is the $115 Walmart battery you put in a lead acid type? The OEM Ford battery is an AGM. I suspect Ford used an AGM to eliminate corrosion and the potential for hydrogen gas release in the trunk area. The Ford charging circuit is also set up for an AGM battery.

I am having the same issue with the Ford dealers you had and I suspect your right about the charging software. I spoke to the Ford tech working on my car today. He has escalated the issue to Ford and is waiting to hear back. He did say that he can see the error logs showing a drop to about 9 volts on the battery. He did agree with me that that low voltage is the likely cause of the electrical gremlins I am seeing. Lifgate won't open, backup camera doesn't always work, and strange error messages are frequent. The tech asked how much the car is being driven, which at the moment, is not a lot.

I have the car set up to tow but other than testing the taillights while connected to my RV for 5 minutes, I haven't towed it anywhere. I removed the fuses on the RVi charger before I took it to the dealer so there is no parasitic draw there. I may end up replacing the battery on my own like you did with as big an AGM as will fit.

Thanks for your feedback and please keep me posted on your solution. I'll keep you posted on my dealings with Ford.

[BadgerRV]

Please keep us updated. I'm having my Escape set up to tow next week and want to be sure it gets done correctly. Thanks!

[Thorbill]

My original battery was not an AGM. It distinctly has a acid drain hose connected to it that exits thru the bottom of the battery tray. I reconnected it to the new battery all fit perfectly. I would appreciate it if you would double-check that yours is an AGM. Because the charging software should be different if it is. Also the capacity should be more.

[rmclin]

Originally Posted by Thorbill

My original battery was not an AGM. It distinctly has a acid drain hose connected to it that exits thru the bottom of the battery tray. I reconnected it to the new battery all fit perfectly. I would appreciate it if you would double-check that yours is an AGM. Because the charging software should be different if it is. Also the capacity should be more.

Car is currently at the Ford dealer so I can't check but the tech asked if I used an AGM battery charger (mine is automatic select - flooded/AGM/Gel). He said the 12 volt battery is an AGM and using the correct charger is neccessary. He also stated that Ford says the charging voltage should be no higher than 12.5 volts. This seems way too low since every charger I have ever seen runs about 13.5 volts. A fully charged battery should read over 12.6 volts according to my battery charts. If the charge voltage is no higher than 12.5 volts the battery never gets fully charged. I think they're just grasping at straws and they really don't have an answer so some of what I've been told might be BS.

Doing a little thought exercise, the 12 volt battery in the hybrid does not start the engine, it only powers the electronics when the car is not running. The car has no starter or alternator in the traditional sense. Engine starting is done by the high voltage hybrid battery pack and the electric motor which is also the generator. The correct 12 volt battery for this application would be a deep cycle battery, not a cranking battery. The charging profile for a deep cycle battery would be somewhat different than a cranking battery. If the charging voltage is indeed limited to 12.5 volts I can see why these things have issues.

When I get the car back I'll probably buy as large a deep cycle battery as will fit. Something like an Optima Yellow Top, which is a deep cycle battery.

[rmclin]

Originally Posted by Thorbill

My original battery was not an AGM. It distinctly has a acid drain hose connected to it that exits thru the bottom of the battery tray. I reconnected it to the new battery all fit perfectly. I would appreciate it if you would double-check that yours is an AGM. Because the charging software should be different if it is. Also the capacity should be more.

Doing a bit more research on this it is very difficult to find any reference for a direct replacement battery for the 2020 Escape hybrid. O'Reily lists a T4 as being an exact replacement battery for the Exacpe hybrid. The O'Reilly T4 battery is a sealed lead acid, not an AGM. This is a $50 battery at PEP Boys and is about the size of the tiny battery in my garden tractor.

If what I have been told me is true and Ford set up the charging circuit in the car for an AGM with a charge voltage no greater than 12.5 volts and then installed a cheap lead acid battery it is no wonder so many people are having problems. A lead acid battery requires a higher charge voltage than an AGM and it charges at a slower rate. Charge voltage too low and inadequate charge time. Sure fits the symptoms.

[rmclin]

Originally Posted by Thorbill

Well guys I had a long long post ready to post-it when my cell phone erase it all. So now you get the short version. Bought an h6 battery from Walmart $115 plus $17 core charge. It fits exactly into the battery tray and my vehicle by using the other plugged screw hole. All went perfect on my way home. I did give the vehicle 30-minute charge time at 6 hour intervals when going through the gears as required.

I finally got my car back from the Ford dealer. The dealer replaced the battery and the backup camera (again). They also said the PCM (Power Control Module) software was incorrect and they updated it.

Once I got home I inspected the battery and it was replaced with a Motorcraft BXT-99RT4-A (BCI Group number is 99, T4 is the DIN Code if your looking for a replacement). Researching this battery on the Motorcraft parts website - guess what? It is a standard (flooded) maintenance free battery. So yes, you do need to hook up a battery drain line in the trunk to vent acid if you overcharge to keep it from exploding. Not that the charge rate could actually achieve this.

So all the stuff I was told about this being an AGM battery with special charge rates and voltages is so much BS. The only good piece of advise I got was "You might want to hook up a battery charger once a week if you don't drive the car a lot".

I am now going to look for a suitable sized AGM battery, preferably deep cycle rated, and save this new Ford battery for my lawn tractor.

[rmclin]

This is the mounting hardware for the mouse sized battery Ford puts in the hybrid. As you can see from the Ford documents the battery is conventional (flooded lead acid).

[BadgerRV]

For those towing the 2020 Escape Hybrid...are you towing AWD with 4 wheels on the ground?

[rmclin]

Originally Posted by Thorbill

My vehicle is functioning as expected with the larger battery in it. As far as ridiculous stupid announcements or messages by the vehicle regarding conserving battery messages and other erroneous BS , that keeps up even with the larger battery. but after extensive testing with a multimeter of the battery in the vehicle I have never seen it go below 11.75 volts while towing all the way home which was 18 hours total. Within 24 hours of being home I still got one of those stupid messages. there are obvious flaws in the software and Ford will not talk about it other than tell you to see their stupid dealers who are stupid enough to just keep testing the battery that is too wimpy for the vehicle for towing. They must have at one time planned on using a larger battery. The battery tray is perfectly designed for a larger battery. There are wires connecting the positive and negative leads together at the battery. I have no idea why. But the wire is exactly the right lenght to accommodate the h6 group 48 battery rather than the wimpy one they put in the vehicle.

Decided to quit screwing around with the Ford tiny battery and took your advise. I bought a H6 (group 48) AGM battery. You are right it exactly fits the space in the trunk where the original battery was mounted. Once I was in there I set up a parasitic test to see if there were any large current draws. My amp meter could only go down to 100 mA where it would read 0.01, so I suspect the draw is lower. Anyway, I am hoping the larger battery takes care of the strange behaviours I have been seeing. I'll post how it goes over time.

[mjeffrey]

Originally Posted by BadgerRV

For those towing the 2020 Escape Hybrid...are you towing AWD with 4 wheels on the ground?

Both FWD and AWD versions of the 2020 Hybrid are towable. We tow the AWD.

Downside of the AWD is that you can't dolly tow it if necessary.

[BadgerRV]

Originally Posted by mjeffrey

Both FWD and AWD versions of the 2020 Hybrid are towable. We tow the AWD.

Downside of the AWD is that you can't dolly tow it if necessary.

Thanks for the clarification. I'm glad you could confirm the AWD is flat towable. I felt certain it was, but the shop doing my baseplate and brake install suddenly had reservations. Hopefully I can get it all resolved with them tomorrow. We're looking forward to getting all set-up and enjoying some adventures.