Hello, should I return my car?

[onlybimmers]

New member/owner here of a 2104 Fusion. Glad to have these forums for things like this.

I bought my car from Carvana, and I am within my 7-day window. I absolutely love the Focus Electric with one exception. The range is far worse than I expected. Using the ford app, over the past 4 days, i am averaging, 315 /Wh per mile. Only ran the HVAC very seldom and some night riding with headlights on. A few spirited runs but mostly easy on the throttle. Temps from 45-75 this week.

It seems that I am ripping through this battery. Is this consumption normal for this car, doesn't seem it's practical to go anywhere with this car but very local.


Thanks and have a good day!

 

[Heima]

Ideally, you should be getting about 75-80 miles per charge. If the weather is colder (50 degrees for example) it will be less. If you have the HVAC heater on, it will be even less. If you do spirited driving, it will be even less. You could be getting only 50 miles per charge with those 3 constraints. Maybe worse. If you are getting worse, there might be something wrong with the battery pack. If that is the case, you might want to return the car.

I drive on relatively flat roads, do not use the HVAC but heated seats on occasion, and with my careful manipulation of the go pedal and very mild braking, I get about 250 watts per mile average. I have a 2017 with the larger battery, so I get about 115 miles average per charge.

When the weather warms up, so long as you do not use the A/C and go easy on the go pedal, you might get up to 90 miles per charge. That's not freeway miles though, just around town driving.

Is this your first electric car? It can be a weak point for those who had different expectations from what they are getting from their electric car. And know that even with Teslas people complain about poor range. If you are not happy with the FFE, and you can return it, do so. It is better to have a car you have confidence in than one you feel uneasy about driving too far.

An who knows, maybe Carvana will knock a few thousand off the price so they won't have to take the car back. You never know.

Good Luck

P.S. When you give a value in watts per mile, you are giving an efficiency, like miles per gallon. Like a gas car's mpg, the efficiency varies with speed, road, weather, temperature, driving style, load, tire pressure, etc....
The battery capacity in KWatts is like gallons for the fuel tank. The more KWatts (gallons) available, and the better the efficiency (mpg) , the further you can drive.

 

[onlybimmers]

First, thank you for responding. My model says 76 EPA rating, but most say 50 in real-world driving which I seem to be hitting without the HVAC running. This is why I was asking, This is my first electrical, and I have 2 days to return it if there actually is an issue, so I appreciate the help!

 

[Heima]

Hmm, if it was my car, I think I would return it as 50 miles is far too little range considering the battery pack. I can understand your concern. I owned a Fiat 500e before the FFE and it had an official range of 85 miles, but in summer and no A/C, I would get about 95 miles, though the gauge would often say 103 miles. You might be happier with the Fiat 500e. While it does not have the luxury or the 4 adult seating of the FFE, it is a blast to drive. More performance than the FFE.

Alternatively, you could go with a 2017 or 2018 FFE, which has the larger battery pack and DC fast charging. The extended range and more importantly the DC fast charging can make long distance drives a possibility. Not Tesla range and convenience, but at least a 100 miles between fast charges in good weather.

 

[onlybimmers]

Just to wrap this up....

I did wind up returning the car. I really didn't want to as this car exceeded my expectations in every area, except for the range issue. The night before calling in to return, I did a highway run with no HVAC and driving carefully. I was only able to get 30 miles out of it. Around town was better because I could regenerate. I could do maybe 40.

I did find a '17 and started the purchase process. Really like the platform, and amazing that only 2500 were built in 17/18. That's a staggeringly low number for a production vehicle.

 

[Heima]

Congrats, and thanks for keeping it "in the family".
The 2017 and 2018 with the greater range and DC fast charging make a great car better.

Guess you will have to change your moniker, eh? (onlybimmers)

 

[Anti_Climax]

When I bought my '12 in 2016, the battery was down to around 75% of the original capacity. Depending on how old that you're was and how hard it was driven, it very well could have degraded to 50 miles useable range.

You can actually check the battery capacity with a few different tools.

 

[electrons]

The 315 WH per mile energy economy figure onlybimmers got on the returned 2014 model was very close to the EPA rated 320 WH/mile, so that wasn't the problem. The 50 mile range was though. I'd get that on my 2016 FFE when I ran the heater in the winter, but it's too low for normal driving. Must have been some kind of battery degradation going on I guess on the now-gone 2014. Smart to return it.

 

[LizisBriwi]

Oh, I don't think you'll be able to come back, or if you can't, the process will take quite some time before the determination and acceptance of the problem. I'd say that's pretty much it, and the power consumption is deficient, but the amount exceeds the norm, and that's not normal. My desire to buy a car was very high, and I wanted to buy it already used because I have no problems with it. I found an ideal variant, only that the price was too low for this car so I decided to check it. After using https://www.car.co.uk/check-mot-history , I found out that the car was in a road accident three times, I was a little shocked.

 

[Valyner]

Do as you want

 

[Onqaper]

Go check a Ford service center, and ask them to look at your batteries. They might need a replacement.