Car Washes EV Friendly?

[FlufferMew]

Hey, so I was just curious what everyone's preferred method for car maintenance was. Do you take your EV to an ordinary car wash? Have you ever had any problems doing so?

I have a friend with the Rav4 EV who called his local car wash to make sure they could take electric vehicles. The employee on the phone acted confused and nervous, and after speaking with the manager, said "No" because they wouldn't want to damage it." :/ So, being naturally paranoid about everything, naturally, this made me paranoid.....naturally. Haha.

So as of right now, I've stuck to just washing and vacuuming my EV myself. I'm assuming car washes should be no problem though, right? The car has to stay on to be in neutral, correct? As long as I communicate that to the employees everything should be fine I'm assuming?

 

[jmueller065]

My FFE goes through a normal car wash at least once per month--sometimes more. Its a car if you can't take it through a car wash then you can't drive it in the rain either! (Mine has also been through more than one puddle at least as deep as the floorboards.)

 

[FlufferMew]

My FFE goes through a normal car wash at least once per month--sometimes more. Its a car if you can't take it through a car wash then you can't drive it in the rain either! (Mine has also been through more than one puddle at least as deep as the floorboards.)

Lol yay. Yeah I'm not worried about water contact. I mean, it is a car! XD I'm more worried of the employees not knowing how to get in in neutral or keep it on and stuff like that.

 

[WattsUp]

Yeah I'm not worried about water contact. I mean, it is a car! XD I'm more worried of the employees not knowing how to get in in neutral or keep it on and stuff like that.

I take mine to a car wash regularly, but it's one of the ones you just sit in your car while it pulls you through, so I'm "driving".

I haven't had yet to "give" my car to someone else to drive (valet, etc.), but I've often wondered how much explanation might be needed about the "Ready-to-Drive" light and/or, even with explanation, they will still not be able to figure out how to move the car.

 

[jmueller065]

I haven't had yet to "give" my car to someone else to drive (valet, etc.), but I've often wondered how much explanation might be needed about the "Ready-to-Drive" light and/or, even with explanation, they will still not be able to figure out how to move the car.

Believe it or not, the way the push button start works on the FFE is pretty much the same as it works on all the ICE Ford's (and especially the Hybrids). Even the proximity keys work the same as the "luxury" Ford's (mostly top of the line Limited models, our old Edge had push button start and the same keyfob--the only difference was that there was no "ready to drive" popup as you could hear the engine). It is also similar to the push button start on the even more expensive luxury brands from other OEMs. Thus it won't be that foreign to them at the valet or the car wash.

 

[WattsUp]

Believe it or not, the way the push button start works on the FFE is pretty much the same as it works on all the ICE Ford's (and especially the Hybrids).

Sure, but I bet the ICE versions though, don't throw a fit if you put the car in gear too soon. (Which causes the FFE to fail to move into the RTD state.)

 

[jmueller065]

Sure, but I bet the ICE versions though, don't throw a fit if you put the car in gear too soon. (Which causes the FFE to fail to move into the RTD state.)

LOL Fair enough; ICE cars don't have that problem anyway as the valets know to listen for the engine running (not something you can do in the FFE; can't even watch a tach to see if the engine is idling!).