I'm not sure if I will by buying another Battery Electric Vehicle.
The Focus has left a bad taste in my mouth regarding legislation and marketing... On paper, the FFE made good sense. My commute is 25 miles one way, at highway speeds, with no charging at work, the 115 mile range as advertised SHOULD work just fine even with a 20-30% reduction (70-80 miles) in the winter and with stickier tires.
While I was very excited to have it the first year I got it when I took delivery in April of 2022, the following winter when I found the range had dropped to FIFTY miles with the heat running, I was less than enthusiastic. Ditching the heat to extend range is not only uncomfortable, but unsafe as the windows fog up.
It's technically not the vehicle's fault, but I believe I was mislead with skewed and missing data and the data is misleading because of poorly worded legislation...
By all accounts, this is a Compliance Vehicle.
Why do Compliance Vehicles even exist?
Ford didn't even try to design a powertrain or battery system. They outsourced the motor to Magna International (A Canadian based conglomerate) and the batteries are made by LG-Chem (South Korea).
It's my understanding that legislation states that manufacturers need to sell Zero-Emissions Vehicles to do business within certain states (California and states that have adopted California's requirements.)
This legislation, again to my understanding, does not specify that it needs to be sold in any number or make up a certain percentage of the manufacturer's volume of sales. This results in a limited production run of cars, only being sold in dense metropolitan areas, and with minimal design effort and zero marketing or dealership support. While Ford was making money hand over fist on the high volume selling and high profit margin trucks and SUVs, these economy cars sat in back lots, unwanted.
But Ford gets to say, "Meh... We tried." And to the letter of the law, they did indeed comply.
Chevrolet has been doing the same with the Bolt (EV) and Spark models. Honda did the same with the Fit electric model. Mazda has done it with the MX-30. All low effort "Attempts" just to tick a box and get around the law.
I believe this legislation needs to be changed to favor people getting into smaller, more efficient vehicles, as legacy auto has had plenty of time resting on their laurels, suckling the high profit teat of SUVs and Trucks.
Because this is a Compliance vehicle, corners were cut. They used a basic economy car shell, but didn't consider adding a little R&D to improve range and marketability. (As they never intended to sell in high volume.) Replacing the steel doors, hood, fenders, and tailgate with aluminum components would have dropped weight. This increases range and practicality of the vehicle, making it more appealing to consumers. It also has a very power hungry resistive heater rather than a more efficient heat pump. This method of heating the cabin results in a VERY poor winter range.
Being that "range anxiety" is one of the common concerns with people that are researching EVs, I believe every effort to achieve maximum range should be made.
Which brings me to deceptive/misleading marketing. Every manufacturer's range specification always says, "Up to xxx Miles." And we have an MPGe number that is essentially meaningless. My car gets 107 MPGe, whatever that means. (My electrical provider does not bill in gallons.)
In the gasoline engine car world, we have Miles Per Gallon figures. They are given to us under Highway Cruising and City Stop-and-Go driving situations. We're given the best case scenario and worst case scenario.
In the EV world, we are given one number. The BEST case scenario.
A more realistic figure of summer and winter range would be preferable and give prospective buyers a more honest figure to calculate with.
But the positives about the FFE are definite negatives in other EVs.
I chose the FFE because it's based on a bog standard Econobox, the gasoline powered Ford Focus. It's a simple, basic car that just happens to be electric.
That's what I was looking for.
I DO NOT need motorized door handles that pop out when I approach the car. Sounds like a hassle in the winter with ice and snow. The Porsche Taycan has vibratory motors to shake loose ice and snow from the door handles. Sounds like something else to fail and need to be replaced... How long are manufacturers going to keep stocking parts like that? I prefer a plastic and metal door handle that I can just grab.
I DO NOT need full self driving.
I DO NOT need summon mode.
I DO NOT need autopilot.
Ditch all that software and computing power. Cut the costs, Simplify.
I DO NOT need a 20 inch tablet in the center stack to control all vehicle functions. HVAC especially; I like knobs and buttons. I do not have to take my eyes off the road to adjust the climate controls with buttons. The Tesla Model Y has a menu to adjust the dashboard vent direction. Again, something that adds expense, distraction, and a point of failure. What's wrong with little plastic flappy louvers for dashboard vents? No software there. No motors there. No added complexity to fail. I'm fine with an 8 inch display for infotainment and navigation.
Ditch all that and you can remove a lot of software development labor and computing power from the car, but you can also eliminate the modem and Over-the-Air updates that are necessary to keep those features alive. What happens to all the modern EVs when 4G-LTE or 5G is sunset like 3G was recently.
I have cars from the 1980s from before when cell phones and even CD players were ubiquitous. Yet these cars have modern Android Auto, streaming audio, navigation, and voice activated features. How/Why? Because I have a computing device that I keep up to date that's separate from the car in my pocket. I install infotainment systems from aftermarket suppliers like Kenwood and Sony. If a new feature comes out that I want, I can opt to upgrade. It's not forced on me and it's not withheld from me based on the whims of a manufacturer.
Hell, my brother has a Tesla Model S. You can play music over the car's horn. You can make a fart noise when a passenger sits down.
What is the purpose of this? It's wasted labor and materials that make the car more expensive and more complex.
And EVERY car is going this way, it's not just EVs... But they did lead the effort to do so.
While I can get service manuals and wiring diagrams for my cars, I cannot get software source code or other types of intellectual property like that. This severely impacts diagnosis and problem solving and hampers right to repair.
Planned obsolescence by making a car a disposable tech gadget...
But instead of upgrading a $200-300 phone and or a $200-300 stereo system every couple years, the entire $50-100K car needs to be updated every few years.
I don't like it.
