Nevada Jim - I know how we feel - my dealer's Demo car came in several days before mine . While my car was in Buffalo, 60 miles away for 4 days waiting for a truck to bring it to Rochester. My dealer helped by letting me test drive the Demo car which at least let me know that it was worth waiting for.

Is anyone charging with electricity from PV panels yet? Just wondering what sort of mods you have to make to a typical home PV system to get 240 V and enough oomph to charge the car??

Or does the charger take care of all that, and you just feed it normal 120 V?

Excuse the newb questions!

When I thought my car was going to be built in April I tried contacting the Best Buy and the Geek Squad and couldn't find anyone to admit there was a deal with Ford. My dealer tried to get contact info and was also unable to get an answer. I am in Rochester NY it may be the Best Buy didn't expect there to be EV's sold here.

I don't see any advantage to what Ford ads talk about. I knew where my car was going to be parked and I knew where plug was on the car. It wasn't that hard to figure out where the charger had to be.

I know the leaf recommends charging to only 80% but I have a Focus EV and there is nothing in the manuals that suggests anything but full charge. The focus is newer and has a temperature control system for the battery.

Still Love my FFE - over 1300 miles 255 Wh/mile

I have experienced 3 time when the dashboard electronics didn't start up properly

Twice the left LCD panel that shows miles left in the battery didn't come on. I had to turn car off, get out of the car, close the doors and then get back in and start the car and it was fine. Just turning car Off and On while still sitting in the car doesn't do it.

Once Entertainment Panel didn't display the names of the stations on the push button. Touching the button selected the station but the button didn't tell what station it was assigned to. Solution was same as above.

Not serious but I wondered if anyone else had see these.

PS - I have solar panels on order that will cover all my Fuel plus lower my regular electric bill.

I've had mine for 5 weeks now and really enjoy the driving experience. The user interface and all the technology is reasonably well done, but I've had a couple of glitches - same as the others here. Not a big issue for me. One feature I really wish it had is an "Econ" or "Vent" mode for the HVAC. If you want outside air without any heating or cooling, you have to hit the A/C off button and turn the temperature down to LO. Anybody have a better work around?

Otherwise the car is truly a joy to drive. Plenty quick and handles great. Quiet and composed on the freeway. Very comfortable interior.

My one way commute is 19 miles of mostly 70 MPH freeway. Real world range is around 70 miles with a mostly freeway cycle.

I just got my home charger installed today. Coulomb / ChargePoint CT500 installed by Solar City. I also have charging stations at work.

Already applied for the stickers and CA $2500 rebate.

I have experience with this. I installed a 11.8 KW system on my roof last October. The idea was to generate ALL my energy in day-to-day living including the cars through the panels. I am an electrical engineer. I designed the system myself, bought all the parts online, and got a licensed and experienced installer to do the city permitting and install the system (was not easy to find such a person). As a result I could do it for 38K total. That is $3.25/watt before any rebates. State and federal rebates pushed the cost down to 25K. All these vertically integrated solar companies like SolarCity charge much higher. I am in the Bay area and my wife currently drives a Volt. I am eagerly waiting for my Focus Electric. The solar system is on track to generate 16,400 kwh for the year. I estimate my entire usage in my all electric home including both the cars will be about 14,500 Kwh per year. So I am almost about to pull off my dream of being energy neutral in day to day living. Bye, bye to PG&E, Shell, Exxon and Chevron - wont miss them one bit.

The wait for the Focus Electric has been frustrating. I do not want to buy one with leather and I will not pay at or above MSRP. I have been trying from early June. Ford sent only 10-15 non leather FFEs to the bay area so far. I will only buy frosted glass or silver. Then the number reduces to less than 5. Initially dealers were asking as much as 5K over MSRP. Finally, now the price has become more reasonable. I am hoping to get one by the end of next week. That will end by energy self sufficiency project which I started in 2003.

Actually I have the car for a week now. I got it from Harrold Ford in Sacramento for invoice price minus the $1000 factory cash - about 36,234 plus tax, tags, fees. Had to wait for three hours at Martinez while it charged before driving it back to the south bay. Great car - more than sufficient for my 25 mile total commute. Just use 120V to charge back in 6 hrs. On those rare days where I do use 70 miles still have 50 miles after overnight charge -enough for next days commute. Finally my solar array is being put to complete use. No gas bill is a bliss (wife drives a Volt).

IGH,

Does the price $36,234 include the $2,500 CA rebate?

Or did you make an argument for a lower price which they accepted?

Thanks IGH.

I see that you report that you are now basically energy independent. That's great. Hope many more follow.

We are about 80% uncoupled from relying on the "system" to provide our energy needs - with our recently installed 5.5 kW SunPower solar array which is guaranteed to produce about 9,000 kWhr/year. Our out of pocket, after rebates, was $14,432.

The next step would be to be able to use the battery pack in our new Focus EV as power for the house if the grid goes down. I see that power companies have considered using this synergistic approach to help load level their need for generating power by using these car batteries - one leaves the car plugged into the grid and if they need to use its storage they replace it in off-peak usage hours. Have you any knowledge about this "plan"? What do you think of it? Plus/Minus.

BTW I figured we will probably put about 5,000 miles a year on the Ford Focus to run local errands and do local outings - most of which are at 45 mph - and in our high desert location this means less air drag. I roughly calculated that the EV would take about a month's worth of normal household electricity a year or 1,000 kWhr's assuming the car obtains 5 miles per kWhr.

@JT

Just curious as to what brand and size charging dock you had decided upon and whether you installed it yourself, or what details you had to go through actually installing it, and whether the end result was ok.

IGH wrote "For the Focus electric, 5 miles per Kwh is doable but a bit optimistic even at 45mph."

I have no car related experience with this yet - I garnered the 5 miles per kWh potential from the "110 Miles Plus Club" at http://www.myfocuselectric.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=663 where I see one fellow managed 128+ miles on a charge while driving at 35 mph.

Has anyone knowledge of how to use the battery in an EV as a part of a battery backup system for off grid use?

Thanks

@Greg

These 128+ miles are based on ideal conditions with no stopping. A more realistic picture appears in the community section of the myFordMobile website. There they provide a ranking list named "Zen Master" based on how efficiently people have driven their FFE in the last 30 days. Currently the number 1 in that list in the Pacific region is at 203 watthours/mile which is the 5mile/Kwh which you are aiming for. However just at number 10 it increases to 243 watthours/mile. I think I will make that list in another 15 days. :) This is why I am saying 4miles/kwh is more realistic.

https://www.myfordmobile.com/content/country/default/jsp/login/login.faces

This is the website. You can sign in as guest and look at the community data.

I have driven my focus EV 3300 miles with an average of 252 Wh/mile with mixture of expessway and street driving - expressway here has a 55mph speed limit. If I drive in "zen' mode I can easily get 240 but since I rarely go a distance where there is a concern I have given up zen driving in favor of driving in sports car mode - a lot more fun.

This Volt story is BS. There is no Volt available in CA for 10K below MSRP before all the rebates. The max you can do it 2-3K below and even that you will have to shop around.
If anybody knows a CA dealer offering 10K off before any federal or state rebate let me know. The FFE can be had for 4K below MSRP but you need to shop around. The car is in short supply and Ford does not seem very committed to pure EVs yet.

They factor in the state and federal rebates to artificially inflate the discount. In CA a 10K
discount will mean effectively 19K below MSRP or half price. This is just not possible. This is another hit piece on the Volt that has been going on for the last couple of years. Just like the one that suggests Chevy losing 50K on each Volt by dividing the R&D costs with the number of Volts sold so far (Yeah right so when GM sold the first Volt they lost 1 Billion dollars !). You can Google that too - you will get 1000s of hits.

I bought mine from Harrold Ford Sacramento for invoice - 37234 and 1000 factory cash (available till 10/1 on the 2012 model). That works out to be about 3.8K below MSRP.
Fairfield Ford and Morgan Hill Ford were willing to offer similar deals for cars on their lot. If they had to get the car from another dealer it was 1K higher. Unfortunately they did not have the cloth seat model I was looking for. So I drove all the way from Sacramento to the South Bay in the FFE with a 3 hour charge stop at Martinez. Had some immediate brushes with range anxiety.

Actually it is for the 120V charging that came with the car. I do not have a 240V charger as with a 25 mile total commute 120V suffices for me. It may actually be 22%. I did not measure that accurately but estimated roughly.

@Greg

Oh, ok you guys are talking about 'battery efficiency', and other 'parasitic' losses. Yeah 80% is pretty good. Its at least that good in my Volt, and no where near that in my Tesla. But as your figures show, electricity still ends up being 1/4 the cost of gasoline. My juice is about the same here in Buffalo as you guys pay.

I always like detail. Thanks for the comparison between the FFEV and the Lexus. They are similarly sized cars?

Do you happen to know the ampere rate of your 120 volt cord? My 2011 volt is either 12 or 8 depending on the switch on the 'cord', but the 2013 volts default to 8 and you can only change it to 12 by going thru 4 menus in the car EVERY TIME!
My Tesla 2011 Roadster can is either 12 or 15 depending on a touch screen setting for the 120 volt cord. Since the car has a 230 mile range, and the battery efficiency is much lower (surprizingly) at 120, I rarely use it although for the Volt its fine. Its like watching grass grow or paint dry. About 2 1/2 days for the 12 amp setting.

The 120 Volt charger that comes with the FFEV does in fact charge at 12 AMPs - I found this data on the backside of the charger. This means that it can charge 1,440 watts per hour using E = V * I. Assuming a 25% parasitic loss this would result in 1,080 watts per hour seen by the battery.

On one of my trips the battery indication was 11.9 kWh of juice was used. To replenish that charge would thus take 11.9/1.08 = 11.01 hours.

I have both cars. The Volt feels more solid but is half the EV range. My wife burns about 2 gallons per month. She has a 12 mile one way commute. I drive the FFE. The interface for the FFE is too cluttered. For a car that you can drive maximum 1.5 hrs at a stretch, there is no need to provide so much electronics. The Volt interface is simpler and more well thought out. The Volt lacks the 5th seat which we miss when grandparents visit however the trunk space in the Volt is better than the FFE. The FFE has better electric efficiency than the Volt but only about 10% better. (30 vs 33Kwh/100miles). The Volt is more expensive by about 4K. The FFE I got for 40K (out the door) and got 10K back. The Volt I got for 43K and got 9K back. The Volt gives you the option of going on occasional long trips using gas. With FFE you are limited to a 75 mile radius and have to have a good plan for charging. As for reliability the Volt has been rock solid so far. The FFE interface has some niggling issues in the interface and recent reliability ratings for Ford has been poor mainly due to the poor electronics.

I've had my Focus EV for 6 weeks now and was one of the 1st to get one in Washington State. I've noticed the battery performance is down from it's best (67 miles) in October to about 57 miles now in December. I want to thank the person who mentioned Ford only uses about 85% of the battery because I was searching for that information. I would start getting range anxiety @ about 14-15Kw used. I drive a 70 Mph highway everyday, the majority of my commute - and it's hilly. The best I've seen is 240Wh over 35 miles, but I've also seen 380Wh on the return. I'm averaging 3 miles a KW. The sheer lack of availability of this car sure makes it seem like it's a compliance car. They've been making them for over a year now, it's reasonable to think you wouldn't have to wait 9 months like I did.

Thanks. Is there a "sweet spot" around 60 mph that provides a good combination of speed and efficiency?