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eatmyshardz

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Mar 28, 2017
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I'm in the market for an all electric car for access to the HOV lanes in California. Right now my reasoning for all electric vs a hybrid with access is because I think the white stickers have a better chance of getting extended beyond 2019 than the green stickers (hybrids).

I have a commute of 52-55 miles one way with an accessible charger at work. The 2017 FFE seems to be a good option for me and I have a local dealer who can setup a lease for 22k miles (I drive to work four days a week). $1500 down, $350 / month for 3 years.

My biggest concern is just that the range really is going to be realistic for me. I doesn't appear there is a good way to test this. Any suggestions? I'm setting up a test drive with him for this week.
 
eatmyshardz said:
I'm in the market for an all electric car for access to the HOV lanes in California. Right now my reasoning for all electric vs a hybrid with access is because I think the white stickers have a better chance of getting extended beyond 2019 than the green stickers (hybrids).

I have a commute of 52-55 miles one way with an accessible charger at work. The 2017 FFE seems to be a good option for me and I have a local dealer who can setup a lease for 22k miles (I drive to work four days a week). $1500 down, $350 / month for 3 years.

My biggest concern is just that the range really is going to be realistic for me. I doesn't appear there is a good way to test this. Any suggestions? I'm setting up a test drive with him for this week.

Is it your only car? Do you have a gas car for longer range driving? That would be the determining factor. You will not be able to realistically take the FFE for out more than 55 miles from your home.

In the winter the 55 miles may be an issue but if you drive slower you can make up for it. In warm weather you can easily do 55 miles at 65mph.
 
55 miles is easy in CA even on the previous FFE...I don't remember ever getting less than that in cold PA!


so '17 FFE is for sure. The only issue is the fact they still have the same 30A L2 charging (besides fast hard to find DC chargers ) so that will take 5 hours+/-
 
The other car for long trips isn't really a problem - if you need to go on a longer trip, just rent a car. It is far cheaper and easier than keeping an old ICE around.

Probably the only thing you could do to mess up that range is drive 84 the whole way. You might not make it. But at 65-70 with the 2017, should be no problem

Cold weather is less than 45 degrees. Lower than that starts to effect range.
 
I live in Southern California. My commute is 55 miles round trip. I make it easily with 15 to 25 miles remaining. Weather does impact it a bit, the rain more than anything since I need to run the defroster to keep the windows clear.
 
eatmyshardz said:
I have a commute of 52-55 miles one way with an accessible charger at work.

You don't state whether you have charging capability at home. If you're thinking of charging only on the "work" and, and you have a 55 mile commute, then it seems you'd be pushing your luck a bit, even if it's all flat terrain and you drive like my Granny. If you have charging at both ends, then range shouldn't be a problem.
 
eatmyshardz said:
I have a commute of 52-55 miles one way with an accessible charger at work.
If you can't charge at work (technical charger breakdown, somebody else using it), then you're stranded once in a while. May not be an acceptable risk; you know better than I. Or, with the 100 mile range of the Focus Electric, you can at least stop by somewhere on the way home to charge for 15 minutes to get you home, once in a while, talking occasionally when you can't charge fully at work.
At night, you could get by just fine with a normal, cheap, 120v feed into your battery, charging at 4 miles per hour at night at home, since you do a little daytime charging somewhere. (Chargers at work or at malls, for example, will do 20 miles per hour of charging since they are 240v 6.6kW.)

eatmyshardz said:
The 2017 FFE seems to be a good option for me and I have a local dealer who can setup a lease for 22k miles (I drive to work four days a week). $1500 down, $350 / month for 3 years.
OK, that looks like 5% interest on $20,000 borrowed for 3 years, with a $10,000 residual value at the end of the lease. (Like a balloon loan is what leases look like....) So the dealership is factoring in the $7,500 Federal rebate they keep, which is normal on leases. All good. Price of the Focus is $29,000 there on that lease. Comment: Ford might have an incentive rebate, so I think you could get the payment to $300 if they chip in a Ford incentive on the price in the amount of about $1500. Or, the dealer may reduce the price. With the Bolt out now, they should be discounting Focus Electrics!!!!! (Maybe its just here in Colorado, but when I bought my Focus Electric in late 2015, there was some Ford rebates, due to low gasoline prices making the Focus Electric not selling much here.)
Use this Balloon Loan calculator for computing Lease Payments: https://financial-calculators.com/balloon-payment-calculator Note the balloon payment at the end is the future used-car residual value at lease end.

eatmyshardz said:
My biggest concern is just that the range really is going to be realistic for me. I doesn't appear there is a good way to test this. Any suggestions? I'm setting up a test drive with him for this week.
2017 Ford Focus Electric has about a 100 mile range.
Your range will drop to 75 miles total if you drive fast on California freeways (imagine that, Fast on a CA highway, who knew?! :lol: ). If you drive 80 mph, think 75 miles range tops. CA does have a moderate temperature climate, so not much problem there. You have to get below 35 deg F to really see range drop much on a Focus Electric due to ambient low temperatures. Air Conditioner usage will drop range about 10 miles on a 2017 though.
Therefore, driving fast, plus air conditioner usage, you could see a 65 mile total range on your worst day.

I say buy it. But try to get that lease payment to $300 per month (with same $1500 down). Ask about Ford rebates or dealer motivation for at least a $1,500 discount on the lease original purchase price. A lease is really a purchase from Ford, as somebody buys it, then rents it to you, so there IS a purchase price, and assumed predicted future residual value too.
 
When I got the 2016 last year end of April, it was $500 Down, coverage for minor damage on return(up to $4500), and $272/mo. I forget what Ford called that coverage but it was a standard add-in on the lease.
 
With the longer range of the new 2017 Focus Electric, you should be just fine. Especially with charging capabilities at work. Awesome. Go for it.
 
eatmyshardz said:
I have a commute of 52-55 miles one way with an accessible charger at work. The 2017 FFE seems to be a good option for me and I have a local dealer who can setup a lease for 22k miles (I drive to work four days a week). $1500 down, $350 / month for 3 years.
You do realize that 110mi round trip x 4 days a week x 52 weeks a year is over 22,800 miles/year? You'd be out of miles on your lease in one year!!!

You're probably better off to just get a good deal on one and buy it. Worst case, you'd probably get at least 6 years before battery degradation started infringing upon your ability to make the 55mi commute. In all likelihood it'd last much longer than that and you'd want to replace it before it would no longer do your 55mi one way commute.
 
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