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leptronjohn

Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2013
Messages
5
Location
Golden Colorado
new owner,
Hi Folks, my wife and I picked up or new focus a couple days ago. Our dream is to us as a toad behind our motor home and daily trips around town for my wife.
I have run across a couple thing I am still trying to figure out. Humm, I must not be able to read and comprehend any more.. :)
when charging on 110, it will shut off at 58 miles (several times now) if I open door and close, it will start charging again... any thoughts?
john
 
Please consult the owners manual on towing.
The manual:
"Do not tow your vehicle with any wheels on the ground, as vehicle or transmission damage may occur. It is recommended to tow your vehicle with all four wheels off the ground such as when using a car-hauling trailer. Otherwise, no recreational towing is permitted."

Also take into consideration the vehicles 3500 pounds. Can the trailer hitch, tow vehicle, and trailer handle it?
 
Jeffand
Thanks for the heads up on the towing. I see that an aluminum trailer will put me right at the five thousand lbs max that I want. Trailer will also carry my crossfire, fun car. Towing on the ground was not an option because of the rocks and dirt damage I have seen. Are you a MH guy?
We took the focus for a ride from Golden to evergreen and back around to I70 and back tonight, lighs, heat , seats all on. It did well on the rise of several thousand feet. It seemed to generate on the coast down the mountain, I did not know it would do that.
jo
 
No I don't have a motor home. I go tent camping with family. As for camping plans I have two trips planned. One is 160 miles away, this one I will use the Prius. The other camping trip is 83 miles away. This one I am planning to use the FFE on the trip. Since the state camp ground doesn't have a charging station, I will be taking my level 2 along with me. Many Wisconsin state parks are presently upgrading the camp ground electrical hookups. Some sites are getting 240 volt 50 amp electrical sockets. I have constructed an adapter cord for my Ford level 2 charging station. This will allow me to plug the level 2 charging station into 50 amp range socket. I will have to be carefull as to how much gear is loaded into the car. This will be an interesting trip.
 
Jeffand
I am interested in how you do on long trips. Also very interested in the camp ground plug conversion. We intend to push the envelope on distance too, guess some one has to do this for the manufacturers to know. I design and manufacture small electric helicopters, hence the interest in electric. Our heli's will run 45 minutes with 10 lbs under them. Maybe I need to build a pack like the focus has...
what part of the country do you live in? We are in Golden Colorado.. we need to get the profile area of the forum complete for this.
jo
 
I've been using this, took it along with me when we took a trip from Miami to Ft Myers last summer (150 mile oneway trip) worked out great! even with the car packed full of suitcases.
http://www.pluginnow.com/content/power-xpress%E2%84%A2 (got the plug version and installed a L6-30 socket on it)

Since the Ford dealerships down here didnt have any charging stations installed yet and didn't know at that time that I probably could use the RV parks, I got some adapters made for a NEMA 10-50 and NEMA 6-50 since thats what the dealerships had sockets for in their shops, they let me stop by and charge for free while I grab a bite to eat!
 
How to extend the driving range of an electric vehicle?
Step one leave the climate control off.
Crack open the windows if needed. The more you roll them down, the more aerodynamic drag you will produce.
Second step reduce speed. This reduces aerodynamic drag and rolling resistance.
Third step coast more. Begin coasting sooner when you need to slow down or come to a stop.
Third step make sure your tires are properly inflated.
A Ford Focus Electric will travel over 100 miles on a single charge under certain conditions
 
I had a few quest for the car today. checking under the hood, look under the chassis, and all that. My wife beat me to the punch, she headed out this morning with it to the grocery store and keeps calling to say she has to go somewhere else. I was thinking she would eventually run out of juice but, she just called to say she was shopping at kohls, oh, the charger there works. :) humn, I might have to buy another car.
I did order today the leviton 40 amp charger with 9.6KW. now to wire the garage.
Blavenn and jeffand keep the notes up, all the talk should help the next guys.
thanks
john
 
Hey are you planning on getting a Toyota RAV4 EV. It seems that this J1772 Leviton charger was built with the RAV4 EV in mind, and will work on any vehicle with a J1772 charging port. Keep in mind that the FFE will not draw more than 30 amps when charging. :)
 
Jeffand who.. other half
On the charger, I studied a bunch, never came up with anything better than ford suggested but, the unit I bought was 1200.00 direct from the manufacturer and I believe already that this is not the last electric car I am going to buy... by the way, what voltage are our battery packs?
john
 
Combined battery pack voltage is about 325 volts. As for the 40 amp charging station, there is nothing wrong with planning for the future.
 
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