Goodbye to my Focus Electric?

[EVA]

Plus to me, a car is rather pointless in many cities. You have a car to get out of the city and go on some weekend trip. Which kind of means the FFE or Leaf become pointless.

Then why on earth do you have one???? :?:

Click on his name, read his earliest posts. Basically, the dude effed up big time.

Oddly, I've always thought he was a she. Something about having a life watching children and not being able to look at text messages if the car has a charge fault.

And yes, after you've read the first post, you've read them all. It is tiresome.

@Unplugged - always the resourceful person to find helpful information. Thank you.

 

[Gatorman82]

If they won't let you install an EVSE, you could try for a 220 outlet and use a portable charger

Heck, you could probably even live with a 110 outlet. Most of us probably got by with only the 110 for the first few months (I'm one month in and still waiting for a 220 setup).

I tried it for a month right after I bought the car. I'll be commuting too far for that to work.

 

[Gatorman82]

We will be living in a condo with dedicated parking spaces in a parking garage.

In case some of you don't regularly read the official Ford Forum (I don't very often) there is an excellent point made by a poster regarding the law in California. Enacted in February 2012, California requires condo associations to allow charging stations at the resident owner's cost. If the cost is unreasonably expensive, the association must provide a dedicated parking space near electrical power.

So if Gatorman82 lives in California, he's in luck. (Which brings me to a suggestion that each of us make sure our info is updated with location.)

Here's the statute: SB 880 http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml;jsessionid=73210777ecf27e4ea7ed74add052?bill_id=201120120SB880

I live in Maryland. Maryland is the best state on the East Coast for EV infrastructure, but doesn't have a law like the California law (I've done some research). A report to the governor in December 2012 recommended that a fund be created for the benefit of installing chargers in multi-unit housing. It would have applied to exactly my circumstances, but the fund was never created.

 

[Gatorman82]

An update:

I have contacted the garage owner (after weeks of trying) to see if I can pay to install my charger in their garage. They asked for the parking spot number and the specs for installing the charger. So it sounds like they are considering it. But I haven't heard anything after that and I move in a week. If they say "yes" and the installation isn't too expensive, I'll hang on to the car even if it takes a while to get my charger installed.

The bottom line is that I'd be paying $1200 to $1500 in taxes and registration fees to get a new car, and the FFE will save me ~ $70/month in fuel costs even vs. a hybrid, so I figure it's worth paying a coupla grand to have the charger installed. However, I worry that it will be more than that.

Keep your fingers crossed.

 

[hybridbear]

An update:

I have contacted the garage owner (after weeks of trying) to see if I can pay to install my charger in their garage. They asked for the parking spot number and the specs for installing the charger. So it sounds like they are considering it. But I haven't heard anything after that and I move in a week. If they say "yes" and the installation isn't too expensive, I'll hang on to the car even if it takes a while to get my charger installed.

The bottom line is that I'd be paying $1200 to $1500 in taxes and registration fees to get a new car, and the FFE will save me ~ $70/month in fuel costs even vs. a hybrid, so I figure it's worth paying a coupla grand to have the charger installed. However, I worry that it will be more than that.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Is there any electric service in the garage area? It doesn't take much to run 240V wiring provided that they have some open circuits in their panel. That's what our apartment building is doing for us. The maintenance staff for the building could probably do it. That's what our apt is doing, their electrician on the staff will do the install.

 

[Zurc]

I just had my charger install inspected and I have the Electrical safety Authority's sticker on my electrical panel so I'm good to go.
Just need that Car...... C'mon ford... sheesh.

Zurc.

 

[Gatorman82]

New Update:

Turns out one of the high level executives in the parking garage management company that runs my parking garage is an advocate for EV infrastructure. When he found out about my situation, he asked a Maryland manufacturer of commercial charging stations for a quote on installing two chargers in my garage. I should hear soon if the plan is approved. Keep your fingers crossed!

 

[Abelgoddard]

Dude, that ROCKS! Congrats! I'm pretty sure it'll come out good for you.

Just tonight my boss was asking about how it was going, and I jokingly told him we should get a level 2 charger installed at the office for my car. He laughed and I'm 99% sure it won't happen, but who knows, maybe my experience and enthusiasm will prompt more folks to get one. That said, I believe I'll be solo at work and trickling when necessary. For me that's not every day anyway.

 

[pjam3]

Click on his name, read his earliest posts. Basically, the dude effed up big time.

Oddly, I've always thought he was a she. Something about having a life watching children and not being able to look at text messages if the car has a charge fault.

And yes, after you've read the first post, you've read them all. It is tiresome.

@Unplugged - always the resourceful person to find helpful information. Thank you.

Nah, not a female and didn't F up. Just thought I'd try out the FFE. I didn't like the Volt nor Leaf. After about 8 months with the FFE, I decided to order a Tesla and should have the Model S by the end of the year. No need to worry about a 70 mile range anymore.

 

[hybridbear]

Click on his name, read his earliest posts. Basically, the dude effed up big time.

Oddly, I've always thought he was a she. Something about having a life watching children and not being able to look at text messages if the car has a charge fault.

And yes, after you've read the first post, you've read them all. It is tiresome.

@Unplugged - always the resourceful person to find helpful information. Thank you.

Nah, not a female and didn't F up. Just thought I'd try out the FFE. I didn't like the Volt nor Leaf. After about 8 months with the FFE, I decided to order a Tesla and should have the Model S by the end of the year. No need to worry about a 70 mile range anymore.

How are you going to charge the Tesla? If you can't charge the FFE at your house I'm not sure how you'll keep a Tesla charged.

 

[pjam3]

Click on his name, read his earliest posts. Basically, the dude effed up big time.

Oddly, I've always thought he was a she. Something about having a life watching children and not being able to look at text messages if the car has a charge fault.

And yes, after you've read the first post, you've read them all. It is tiresome.

@Unplugged - always the resourceful person to find helpful information. Thank you.

Nah, not a female and didn't F up. Just thought I'd try out the FFE. I didn't like the Volt nor Leaf. After about 8 months with the FFE, I decided to order a Tesla and should have the Model S by the end of the year. No need to worry about a 70 mile range anymore.

How are you going to charge the Tesla? If you can't charge the FFE at your house I'm not sure how you'll keep a Tesla charged.

I charge my FFE at the various charging stations around me now. However when you start with 80 miles and go down to 65-70 miles just to go half a mile, that's a problem. My range has been around 70 miles because of this since I got the car. It's not such a huge deal when you go from 200+ miles. down to say 190+ miles. That is a Huge difference. If i go a few days between charges, who cares. Plus my trips to newport beach and huntington beach won't be one of those pulling my hair out barely making it moments anymore. And the Model S has super chargers where I don't need to wait 4 hours at some middle of nowhere charging unit. As stated before, time is more important than money to me, so 20-30 minutes compared to 4 hours is everything.

This is the problem most people seem to ignore. I've talked to many many people in Southern California about the FFE, Leaf, Tesla, Volt, etc. Many of them have spent $500K or more on Condos. Condos without garages. Some have asked if they should pay for a Model X. Pay as in cash. So money isn't their issue. The problem is always around charging. Will the condo association put in charging stations. Will they do this. Will companies do that. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. But when you get 200+ miles you don't worry as much because there are many charging stations everywhere in California. And with Tesla, it's pretty much free most of the time because of what they've done. When you have a car that gets about 80 miles of range, it's a problem.

It's just funny that ford kind of dismisses half of us or others just assume whatever they want, and most of us just wind up paying cash for a Tesla. Ford just doesn't want to sell Electrics. That's the reality. Many areas of California have people with money, but not Bill Gates money, who live in $500K+ condos or townhomes. We want electric cars, but we can't charge at home. Tesla's are parked up and down my street. You can't charge on the street. But you can charge at the 100 different stations.

200+ mile range is far different than 80 miles or less.

 

[WattsUp]

When you have a car that gets about 80 miles of range, it's a problem.

Unless one was to drive 30 miles per day, and charge overnight... and then it's not a problem.

Of course, if one was to buy a car with 80 miles of range and then wish to drive 100 miles per day, without allowing for the extra required charge time or station availability, then yes, that would be a problem (but not with the car, or it's range, or the charge time, or the stations).

Congratulations on your Model S. Hope you enjoy the forum over there!

 

[Zurc]

(' Ford just doesn't want to sell Electrics.")


Yeah ford seems to be lagging for some reason or other. I checked on the FFE I ordered back at the beginning of may and found out that it was slated for an august build. They had no vin number, no build date, no delivery date to give me after 10 weeks.
Wife said she liked the 2014 leaf so we bought one and I canceled the ford. I have delivery in a couple of days after the paper work is taken care of. The car is in the show room, its a color I like, I had a great test drive, Warranty is adequate, and the car has full options.
I didn't go for the extended warranty because I don't think the cost of the extended warranty is reasonable although the options are very nice. It only took 3 days to see it, test it, decide on it and shake on it. And it took that long because I waffled for a couple of days to make sure I really wanted the car. Far cry from Fords efforts. Apparently they only have 3 cars in all of Canada as of a week ago. The co-owner of the dealership sent me a full apology for the "miss communication" Very nice of him but its not the dealership I'm dis-satisfied with.

Zurc.