Getting Acquainted with the Focus Electric

[ChargedUp]

Having put over 31k behind the wheel of a Volt since January 2011, I am inclined to compare the Ford Focus Electric to the Volt. But in fairness it should be said that the Volt and the FFE are not really competitors. The Ford would be best suited as a local commuter car and offers the advantage of greater electric mile range and efficiency coupled with zero emissions and zero engine maintenance. Also throw in game changing recharge times. The Volt because of its “range extending” gas engine can be driven anywhere, anytime, and offers better handling and a much more useful cargo carrying capacity. The FFE’s clear competitor is the Nissan LEAF, not the Volt.

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THE JOYS OF EARLY ADOPTERHOOD

Sadly I must report a serious issue with the FFE. After about 10 days of having the car it started displaying a “Stop Safely Now” message with an exclamation mark in a red triangle symbol. Power cycling two or three times would clear it, and I could then drive.

Two other owners have reported the same issue. At least one owner reported it happening while driving down the road, and was subsequently unable to get the car to start again and had to be towed...
http://insideevs.com/getting-acquainted-with-the-focus-electric/

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

if you put "17-18 Kwh" into the battery while the "A/C was going full tilt" to maintain battery temperature you must that your 4.5 miles/kwh math is not accurate i hope.

do you have any stats on "wall to wheels" charger efficiency? during various temp ranges?

if the LEAF is 88-90% efficient then what is the FFEV rated? faster charging helps but much more power used for BMS might kick it into the mid 80's? maybe

say 85% making your effective wall to wheels at 18 kw/2 hours and 4.5 miles/kwh less than 35 miles/hour which is right since the LEAF gets about half that at 16 amps.

guessing you dont have many DCFCs in your area then?

 

[camasleaf]

This would seem to defy the limits of the 6.6kW charger, so more investigation is needed to confirm this. Still at those rates some may find that the Focus charger eliminates the desire for ChaDemo.
http://insideevs.com/getting-acquainted-with-the-focus-electric/

we drove the Leaf over 150 miles yesterday with two short stops of less than 20 minutes for charging and got home with the battery half full. (one stop was 10 minutes longer since I enter the store with ... my wife). The battery temperature started at 5 bars in the morning and never went over 6 bars. Quick charging is a very important feature for us. I would not consider buying my next EV without QC.

But I would also be willing to pay the extra money for a battery cooling system that will keep the battery cool during QC.

 

[ChargedUp]

if you put "17-18 Kwh" into the battery while the "A/C was going full tilt" to maintain battery temperature you must that your 4.5 miles/kwh math is not accurate i hope.

Those numbers are NOT wall to wheels. That was not 17-18 but rather 17 kwh used on one occaision and 18 kwh on another. This is according to the dash on the vehicle itself. The 4.5 mi/kwh is also according to the dash, again NOT wall to wheels.

When I was referring to the AC going full tilt I meant while it was charging. It probably was not going full tilt, but with the fans going it makes quite a racket. I guess if you are not driving down the roads the fans have some serious work to do.

do you have any stats on "wall to wheels" charger efficiency? during various temp ranges?

I do not have these stats.

if the LEAF is 88-90% efficient then what is the FFEV rated? faster charging helps but much more power used for BMS might kick it into the mid 80's? maybe

say 85% making your effective wall to wheels at 18 kw/2 hours and 4.5 miles/kwh less than 35 miles/hour which is right since the LEAF gets about half that at 16 amps.

Yeah, absolutely do not have enough data to even hazard a guess about efficiency at this point. I am on the fence about a TED, if only I would pull the trigger I could answer these questions.

Actually I think experience has shown that up to a point faster charger is more efficient, if for no other reason than you are being "inefficient" for less time. Thus 240v charging tends to be more efficient than 120v charging.

And while we might be tempted to think that running AC to cool the battery will make us less efficient, we have to keep in mind that a cooler battery will accept charge more readily so it should be pretty close.

guessing you dont have many DCFCs in your area then?

They are not available in my corner of southeast Virginia. There are some up near Washington DC. For those who have DCFC at their disposal, that is great. And while most DCFC are free at this point, that will not remain the case for very long. And the prices I have seen tossed around charge quite a premium.

I guess the point I would make is this. The 3 phase power DCFC requires is not something that can be readily installed in a home/or even many commercial sites. L2 goes up to 19.2 kwh, and is something that could conceivably be installed in residential space and most commercials sites, and at 19.2 kwh you really are at speeds that rival DCFC, without the issues of a 3 phase installation.

Of course these faster recharge rates come with a cost on battery life expectancy, and if you live in hotter climates this really becomes a serious issue, especially if the car is not equipped with robust thermal regulation.