New Focus EV Owner!

[albaba]

Hi all. I just picked up my 2012 pearl white Focus EV/leather interior! What a car! Looks great (inside and out), a plethora of std features, quick charge capabilities, incredible lease rate. Super impressed! Electrician coming over today to provide quote on Leviton 240V charging station. I went through the Geek Squad (per Ford's recommendation) and must say that they are totally clueless; at least the folks that take the calls. THey know very little about the system and seem to only be interested in taking the $99 payment. In any case, I will let you all know how things go with the electrician...

[BlueNotGreen]

Congrats!

One hint to a new owner is to always remember to hold down the brake pedal when turning on your car. If you don't, you may be able to move the car sluggishly for 20 feet or so, but then it stops moving (just far enough to get you into trouble). If that happens, you should power cycle the car (off and back on properly). During my early days having this happen was a stressful morning indeed (I had no clue what was wrong at the time). Another way to tell early that the car is not truly on is that the steering wheel works but is unpowered (difficult to turn).

Enjoy! -- My FFE works perfectly for my driving needs, and the acceleration is comparable to my V6, for most situations (obviously the car is not 240hp).

[albaba]

Thank you for the reply, and the tips. Looking forward to driving this new breed of car!

Congrats!

One hint to a new owner is to always remember to hold down the brake pedal when turning on your car. If you don't, you may be able to move the car sluggishly for 20 feet or so, but then it stops moving (just far enough to get you into trouble). If that happens, you should power cycle the car (off and back on properly). During my early days having this happen was a stressful morning indeed (I had no clue what was wrong at the time). Another way to tell early that the car is not truly on is that the steering wheel works but is unpowered (difficult to turn).

Enjoy! -- My FFE works perfectly for my driving needs, and the acceleration is comparable to my V6, for most situations (obviously the car is not 240hp).

[DeepEV]

I had my Silver EV for 1 month bypassed the Geek Squad and told dealer to give me name of the electric guy directly, he came down and gave a very good estimate. Still using 110v charger, working quite well, mainly I am charging at night, meets my needs. You may want to try for a month to see if 110v is just enough. I never drain my battery to zero.

[Dreaming-in-Focus]

Its funny, I purchased a level 2 charger as well and planned on getting it installed right away but couldn't line up an electrician for the install. The 110 volt charger was working so well that I actually sent it back! That saves me the cost of nearly 2 years worth of electricty.. By charging at home during the night and at work during the day I have not been below 20 miles of range at any time.. 50+ miles of driving a day. Its unfortunate to not be using the fast charging capability of the car yet, but hopefully within the next year prices for the L2s will come down.

[JimB_FFE]

Don't forget to take advantage of all the public charging stations.
You can find them at http://www.chargepoint.com
Go to the find stations page.
When zoomed in to the individual station level, you'll see green icons meaning those stations are available, and blue icons indicating those stations are in use. Some stations are reservable. You'll need a card to operate the stations, but if you call 1-888-758-4389, they'll send you a card.
Also be sure to get the smart phone app so you can locate stations using the most up to date info. The stations map in the car's on board nav system is not the most up to date.