85 mph limiter

Has anyone considered defeating the top speed limiter. I accelerate nicely to 85 then it kicks in - I know we could squeeze a 100mph sprint out of these things if the speed wasn't limited - I am sure there are warranty issues. I love the way the car drives in that 70-85 range - pretty entertaining

I would worry that one reason for the speed limiter is to limit motor and drivetrain RPM. In a normal car, the engine is still at a reasonable RPM when the cars hits the governor. The FFE has a one speed transmission, so it's possible maximum governed speed is also the drivetrain safe limit.

Really hard to say if the car will go a lot faster than 84 MPH. There are a lot of things involved, it might seem like it could go faster, but maybe it can't.

It would be nice to know why they put that limiter in at that speed. It could be insurance. It could be suspension. It could be drive train. It could be heat and battery life (remember Ford packs in a safety factor on the top and bottom of the battery to preserve battery life - a prudent approach). It could be the car won't go any faster, aerodynamics kicks in the worst way.

Guess I'm saying, defeating the limiter could be a dangerous thing or simply prudence.

In any event, not sure anybody can get anywhere near that limiter to defeat it anyway.

Yeah, you probably shouldn't try to increase the speed...but it is fun to try. People have been modifying cars for years and there is a big market of aftermarket performance enhancing products out there....and very few are targeted at keeping or improving fuel economy.

I can only speculate why the speed is limited, but I can think of 2 possibilities.
1) The motor is likely brushless; which means a controller energizes coils in a sequence in order to make it turn. The faster the motor controller steps through the sequence, the faster it goes. There may be a limit to the rate at which the controller can step through the sequence.
2) The power consumed by the motor increases with the square of the speed. The batteries can only deliver so much power to the motor; however, I think this is less likely the case because the the maximum speed isn't reduced if you are going up hill with the heater on....at least I don't think so.

So if #1 is the reason, a whole new controller may be needed....or, put on bigger tires.

Yeah - The question about safety and reliability has always been an issue with modifications. I just have to believe we will see some more assertive sports tuning on the FFE in the coming years. As far as I can tell , the platform is very stable, it handles great, and you get up to 85 in a hurry especially in L. At that point you can tell there is still a lot left in the power band and the electronic limiter kicks in. I can't wait until they chip it, start racing these things and put a quick charge in to make it more practical at the track - fun times! It wil be a sustainable, entertaining way to race. Its coming mark my words. It is just a different demographic than we see here with the early adapter techie types who are more interested in squeezing more miles out than going fast..

Last night I stopped at a light next to a loudly-tuned Civic hatchback. He squealed his tires away from the stop and headed at full throttle down a long empty slope toward the freeway onramp about 2 miles distant. I had obviously not revved my engine or otherwise indicated I was interested in a contest of speed or manliness.

"I wonder if I can keep up ?"

A few seconds later: "Wow, I can really smell a lot of unburned gas in his exhaust"

A few seconds after that: "He's really determined to get to the freeway in a hurry. I think I'll back off."

I'm not the sort of guy who goes 75 in a 45 zone, but the FFE gave the ability to be so just once.

I'm coming from driving a 998 cc three-cylinder hybrid Honda, so the power off the line is a novelty.