Ford’s mid-size SUV now has batteries included as the long-awaited Escape Plug-In Hybrid arrives
The 2022 Ford Escape Plug-In Hybrid – or PHEV, for short – is the Blue Oval brand’s first foray into electrification in Australia and gives the mid-size SUV a useful electric-only range to vastly increase efficiency. Whether it makes the Escape a more attractive offering, however, is a very different question.
Going up
There’s no easy way to say this. Compared to the Escape ST-Line FWD on which it’s based, the 2022 Ford Escape PHEV costs an extra $15,000 – or, put another way, a premium of almost 40 per cent.
Launch pricing starts at $53,440 plus on-road costs but this will increase by $1000 from July 1, 2022, Ford citing increased production and freight costs.
Today’s marker is also up from the $52,940 plus ORCs announced in February 2020, but that was just as the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold and delays and cost blowouts have struck the industry – including Ford – since then.
Battery fires in Europe forced a stop-sale of the Escape PHEV overseas too.
Now that it’s here, the Escape PHEV is priced right at the top of the mainstream mid-size SUV segment, among the likes of the – admittedly conventionally powered – Kia Sportage GT-Line, Hyundai Tucson Highlander and Mazda CX-5 Akera.
There are also conventional petrol-electric models to consider such as the top-selling Toyota RAV4 Hybrid (from $39,900 plus ORCs).
In order to soften the blow slightly, Ford has added extra standard equipment – specifically, partial leather trim, a 10-speaker B&O stereo and 10-way power-adjustable driver’s seat.
However, our test car has all three options fitted: $675 of prestige paint (five of the eight colours qualify), $1950 for the ST-Line Option Pack (power tailgate, head-up display, LED headlights and front heated seats) and the $1500 Parking Pack (Advanced Auto Park Assist, front camera and door edge guards).
All up, you’re looking at $57,565 plus on-road costs, or $58,565 from July 1. And that’s quite a lot.
Kitted out
So equipped, the 2022 Ford Escape PHEV has plenty of kit, the aforementioned adding to keyless entry and start, dual-zone climate control, wireless phone charging, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and auto lights and wipers.
Infotainment is handled by Ford’s SYNC 3 system with satellite navigation, digital radio, Ford Pass app connectivity, voice control and smartphone mirroring. A pair of USB-A ports handle charging in the front with a further USB-A and USB-C port in the rear.
Rear accommodation is quite good. There’s plenty of space, perhaps even room enough for three smaller folk to sit across, and the seat itself is comfy with a reclinable backrest. ISOFIX points are fitted to each outboard seat and there are three top tethers.
Up front there are some nice touches – the ST sports steering wheel, carbon-look strip along the dash, a few red-stitched leather pads – but the overall ambience is quite grey and sombre, and scratchy, hard plastics abound.
This is, again, where the issue of price raises its ugly head. At the standard Escape ST-Line’s $38,490 plus ORCs price point, the interior raises few questions. But at north of $50K it’s up against the likes of the top-spec Kia Sportage (soon to include hybrid power) and Outlander which do a much better job of offering a premium environment.
On the safety side you’re well catered for, with adaptive cruise control including stop-and-go traffic function, autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection, blind spot detection, lane keep assist, rear cross traffic alert with auto braking, traffic sign recognition, driver monitoring and more.
Front and rear parking sensors are also standard with a reversing camera, though as mentioned the front camera fitted to this test car is part of an option pack.
Boot space is a useful 556 litres, which expands to 1478L with the 60/40-split rear seat folded down, which can be done via levers on the sides of the boot. In addition, there’s a 12V outlet, bag hook, quartet of tie-down points and a space-saver spare lives under the floor.
Unlike some cars, which sacrifice space in order to accommodate a plug-in hybrid drivetrain, the Escape PHEV offers exactly the same luggage-carrying as its standard counterparts. Handy.
All change
Where the 2022 Ford Escape PHEV really differs from its siblings is under the bonnet.
Gone is the 183kW/387Nm 2.3-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine that makes the regular Escape such a strong performer and in its place is a new hybrid powertrain.
This consists of a 2.5-litre Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder engine and a 14.4kWh battery pack that combine for 167kW. It possesses reasonable performance, though nothing like the stirring acceleration of the 2.3-litre turbo that makes the regular Escape the sprinting star of the mid-size SUV segment.
It prefers lighter loads, leaning on the electric motor’s torque where possible. Floor the throttle for an overtake and there is a small instant push of electric torque, but also a hesitation as the continuously variable transmission takes a moment to figure itself out.
The Escape PHEV’s headline figure is its claimed combined-cycle fuel consumption of just 1.5L/100km, though that’s really a quirk of the testing procedure and your actual consumption will depend heavily on how often you’re driving using electric power.
Ford claims an all-electric range of “in excess of 50km” – 56km, according to Ford figures quoted overseas, citing WLTP protocols – and our testing certainly backs that up, managing a useful 75km from a full battery.
The driver can choose to let the car balance battery and engine power, use electricity alone (as long as there is sufficient charge), use only the engine and save the battery power for later, or use both power sources but have the engine charge the battery as well.
So even without the ability to plug the Escape in there are still efficiency gains to be had.
It’s not possible to fast-charge the Escape, but its smaller battery means that an overnight charge on a regular power point will top it up.
The battery warranty is eight years/160,000km, while the rest of the car is covered by Ford’s standard five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty.
Servicing costs are the same as a standard Escape, with capped-price servicing setting you back $1196 over four years/60,000km with intervals of 12 months/15,000km.
A step back
There’s a peculiarity to the mechanical make-up of the 2022 Ford Escape PHEV, partly due to how Ford Australia has specced it.
By specifying the ST-Line trim, the Escape PHEV scores the lower, firmer sports suspension as standard and the correspondingly focused ride.
It’s actually quite well judged when you consider that the regular Escape is one of the more dynamically adept SUVs available, however the PHEV doesn’t quite scale the same heights for a number of reasons.
The first is the extra 220kg it carries over and above its purely petrol siblings. The second is that by being front-wheel drive only, it uses a torsion beam rear suspension rather than the more sophisticated multi-link set-up of the all-wheel drive models.
This in and of itself isn’t the end of the world as the Escape PHEV still drives quite well, but the trouble now is that this dynamically focused chassis is now powered by a powertrain that wants to be driven as economically as possible.
Quite the juxtaposition.
Dazed and confused
In a vacuum, the 2022 Ford Escape PHEV sounds like a reasonable proposition. It drives reasonably well, the hybrid powertrain offers decent performance and the prospect of miniscule fuel bills and its practicality remains unaffected.
Unfortunately, it completely negates the strengths of the standard Escape: value for money, benchmark performance and excellent dynamics.
Buy a regular petrol-powered ST-Line AWD and not only will you have a superior vehicle but you’ll be able to fuel it for five years with the savings.
Introduce the competitor set and the situation becomes even murkier. If running costs are a concern, the flagship diesel offerings in the Kia Sportage and Hyundai Tucson, and the hybrid Toyota RAV4, are all relatively miserly when it comes to fuel use as well as being cheaper and better equipped.
As it is, the Escape PHEV just prompts plenty of ‘ifs’.
If it offered the performance of the 2.3 turbo with the possibility of zero-emissions motoring. If it was based on the Vignale with its higher spec and softer suspension. If the price premium was $8000 rather than $15,000.
Any one of these scenarios would result in it having a much stronger case. But as it is, it just doesn’t add up.
How much does the 2022 Ford Escape PHEV cost?Price: $53,440 (plus on-road costs)Available: NowPowertrain: 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol-electricOutput: 167kW (combined)Transmission: Continuously variable automaticBattery: 14.4kWh lithium-ionRange: 56km (WLTP)Fuel: 1.5L/100km (ADR Combined)CO2: 33g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2020)
Keyword: Ford Escape PHEV 2022 Review