How long will the FFE last?

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wessurf

New member
Joined
Jun 23, 2019
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2
Considering purchasing an FFE - I commute from 70 mi round trip 5 days a week. I've test driven one and other than a small cargo space and touchy brakes I like the car. A lease option is not likely to work for me because I'll be putting 18K miles a year on any car I get.

Wondering what kind of experience drivers have with the FFE? I know ford is done making passenger cars effectively ending the FFE.

Wondering if I'm going to have a hard time finding someone to work on the car if something comes up.

Wondering what the battery degradation is like under normal charging / driving. Is it 10% loss every 20K miles?

My understanding is that the replacement battery cost is so expensive that most people just find another car.

Could another battery like the tesla battery be installed aftermarket to give these cars an extended lifespan?

Appreciate any and all comments!

Wes
 
Wes,

I recently purchased a 2012 Ford Focus Electric in September 2018, specifically to use for commuting 40 miles a day. I am confident that a 2012 -2016 with an estimated EPA range of 76 miles with Level 1(L1) and Level 2(L2) would meet your daily commuting needs with a healthy battery. I'm confident that a 2017-2018 with an EPA range of 115miles with L1, L2 and Level 3 charging would more than well meet your needs as well.

I purchased my car in the Fall and had access to L1 charging at work, as I when I purchased it from the prior owner, they informed me that for our winter's that they recommended that I charge at work to cover any range loss due to the cold. This had been my primary concern prior to purchasing the vehicle as, I wanted to be range confident in the worst of conditions(e.g stuck on the highway for several hours in a winter storm in under 20F weather). My experience in the Fall and Winter have been great commuting because of that advice and as of late winter/early spring, I've increased my habit from simply commuting to using my car during work to get allow me to get between sites minimally 10 miles away, but as far as 20 miles away. However, at these sites, I do have access charge via L1 when I will be at one site for 3+ hours and L2 if less than 3 hours, which will ensure that I have enough range for the commute back home.

Thus, my recommendation is for the 2017-2018, if you do not have any plans to charge at work, as I think this will cover your full round-trip needs. I recommend the 2012-2016, if you have the option to charge at/near work, to provide a buffer if you need. One of my habits in driving after I purchased my car, was I primarily started driving on the streets versus the highway because I enjoyed the regenerative breaking on my commute, which improved my range confidence. The highway speeds in my area is 55 miles for 80% of my commute and the last 20% is 65. On the street, it ranged between 35-45 and I generally saw complete better accuracy to the EPA estimate.

In terms of maintenance, I've only had an alignment, wheel balancing when putting on a set of new all season tires, which I will rotate with winter tires and the cabin air filter. The car presently has 62,000 miles on it and I purchased it with 48,000, so I've driven it 14,000. I estimated 10400 miles initially for work(40 miles a day x 261 working days). Accounting for the weekends(40 miles a day x 104), which would add another 4160 miles, I would just be 3,440 less than the 18K that you anticipate.

In terms of routine maintenance, your local mechanic should be able to do the general service work you need. You can use Ford site(https://www.ford.com/dealerships/) and choose Certified Electric Vehicle Repair, to see if there is a dealer close to you for any specific EV repairs. I have at least two in my area, so you may be able to find one close to you. I invested in getting a subscription of alldatadiy.com, as I had already had a subscription with my prior vehicle. I have viewed the wealth of knowledge in this forum as well and if I need can purchase the service manual from Helm Inc(https://www.helminc.com/helm/homepage.asp?r=https://duckduckgo.com/). I was able to purchase a wiring manual for under $15 on eBay, as I was interested in knowing the differences betewen the 2012 and 2017 wiring for the charge port and battery wiring.

As I've had a desire to do longer distance driving, I had been interested in some of the projects on the forum pertaining to fast charging for my model year. During this time, the parts department priced the replacement battery for a Focus a $22,000 and at the time, I found two 2017 Focus within 500 miles of my area for $17,000, I could have purchased a newer model for less than the battery.

Lastly, I have not run any test on battery degradation. 19.50Kwh is the maximum amount of energy that was put into the battery for my longest trip, which was 53.9 miles on a 30F - 40F winter day using defrost and heat in December 2018.
 
Thanks very much for your detailed reply! While cold weather won't be a concern for me in the SF Bay Area. More and more I am looking at a 2015. I will be able to charge at work so the range is less of a sticking point.

My main concern is if the battery does go out on me the high price for replacement pretty much ends it right there.

Appreciate you taking the time to respond!

Best,
W
 
I just want to remind you of the notorious Stop Safely Now (SSN) issue with the FFE. I bought a used 2012 FFE and currently experiencing random SSN and stalling coming to a stop. Unless the car has extended warranty, I wouldn't buy it since I found out that the 100k/8years warranty on the drive train and battery is strictly for the drive motor and battery. So far my car has new PCM, new wire harness and those are not covered under the above warranty. The adviser told me that the PCM would have cost me $3,000 but since I have extended warranty I only had to pay $100. Yet they still haven't completely fixed the SSN issue.
 
Where do you live? What is the winter like?

I have a 2015 FFE and live in suburban Chicago. The polar vortex will have you calling off with a 2015. I have a 24 mile one way commute with no charging at the office. If it is below 32, I use the ICE vehicle, otherwise, i'm driving with the seat heater only. Single digits, I don't think I could do the commute at all.

I know the 2016+ batteries will give you better range.

Good luck
 
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