Last year? 
Probably.
Post 2
Please don't tell me you and Rob have been doing the pipe. 
B-mode made clearer
(see above)
Great information. The Ford Escape Hybrid has an "L" transmission position that equates the Prius' "B".
I used to use this to decelerate a lot, believing that slowing without using the brakes was a sign of driver skill and to avoid wasting energy lighting up the brake lights. But now I know this is nonsense. In "L" mode, the Escape Hybrid runs the engine in a no-fuel, elevated rpm mode to provide engine braking. It does not provide any more energy regeneration than using the brakes in "D". In fact, it wastes energy otherwise recaptured because of all those engine parts flailing around.
There are a couple of interesting aspects to this. Vancouver has some paved roads that climb/descend so much vertical that they exceed the battery pack's storage capacity. Such as the Cypress Bowl and Mt. Seymore roads. After a few trips up and down them, I realized the battery was full within one quarter of the descents, and that keeping the speed under control after that, and in "D", was completely done by the mechanical brakes. The solution was to use "L" almost all the way down. Using "L" dissipated energy by running the engine, delaying the fillup of the hybrid battery. In this mode, the engine uses no fuel, and resetting the mileage readout shows zero gas consumed on the descent. The Cypress road, especially, has a few turns where power is needed. I switch to "D" for these corners, and try to have the Escape in EV mode for as long as possible. (It won't go into EV mode in "L".) This frees up capacity in the battery, so it's longer before the battery is again full to capacity and I have to use the brakes. This approach minimizes load on the mechanical brakes, while the battery is going to be full to capacity at the bottom anyway. Where the Cypress road goes flat at the bottom, I can then use EV mode all the way to the onramp to the highway.
The second interesting matter is the mechanical brakes. In '08 or '09, Ford changed the Escape Hybrid's rear brakes from discs to drums. This was universally seen as a dumb idea. However, rear disc brakes also require small drum brakes to act as parking brakes, since disc brakes don't seem to work as parking brakes.
There are a lot of big hills in BC. Some people tow trailers with Escape Hybrids. Some people like me do 4000' descents creeping down rough old logging roads. These descents quickly fill up the hybrid battery, and even if there is battery capacity, the speed in "L" is far to fast for the roughness of the roads. As the discussion ArcticSteve posted, there is large potential to overheat the brakes and get into a runaway situation. This may be why towing is discouraged for hybrids.
If you overheat a hybrid's mechanical brakes in this situation, the ONLY option left is the parking brake. The larger standard drum brakes on the more recent Escape Hybrid will be more likely to save your bacon than the tiny parking drum brakes provided with rear disc brakes. Not that this scenario is likely, but it's something to consider.
I should add that on such descents, the front discs warm up before the rear drums, and you can get down any hill using the brakes as long as you're going slow enough to allow the brakes time to dissipate heat. It takes some experimenting before you learn how fast you can come down what steepness of hill with what load while keeping the brakes from overheating. So far this has never been a problem at highway speeds because of air resistance.
Just another note about the article. It says the Prius sits at stops with the engine off, and starts the engine when you release the brake pedal. Perhaps other Prius owners could confirm this. The Escape Hybrid does not start the engine when the brake is released. It waits until it can tell how much throttle you're applying, and starts the engine if necessary (which is most of the time). But you can go up surprisingly steep hills in EV mode from a stop, as long as the speed is low enough.
