Ford Focus Electric Forum

I am baffled at the energy usage display on the lefthand side of the dash; it only goes up to 6 watts? so when I accelerate the meter is pegged, but what is more unusual is when I am at a complete stop the needle goes to the top. If I put the car in neutral or park nothing changes and I have all the accessories off. Can anyone explain why my car is indicating a large energy consumption with me at a stop?
Thanks in advance.

The units are in Wh/mile x 100. So the 3 reading is 300 Wh/mile. At a stop, you are only using a relatively small amount unless you have several accessories, including heat going. I assume that Ford decided to just peg the meter at '6' because the instantaneous reading will always go off the chart when accelerating from a standing stop.

The blue 'cup' is the average Wh/mile level you would need to maintain to meet the budget established at start. The white triangles (if configured to show) show your trip average Wh/mile.

The energy meter indicates your current energy usage, expressed as Wh (watt hours) per mile. Thus, what the gauge shows is necessarily based on your current speed (keep this point in mind for later).

A watt hour is a unit of energy, explained here:
http://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/definition/watt-hour

The range displayed by the energy meter in the FFE is goes from 0 Wh/mile x 100 (at the bottom) to 6 Wh/mile x 100 (at the top). In other words, it goes from 0 to 600 Wh/mile. The markings are just simplified for a clean look.

The reason the white line goes to the top when you stop is because the meter shows Wh per mile -- in other words, as I already mentioned, the computation of the reading (in part) is based on your current speed. When you are stopped, your current speed is zero. If you recall from math class, anything / zero = infinity. Thus, the line "pegs" at the top when stopped.

Another way to think of it... when your car isn't moving and you apply full energy get moving, ALL of the available power is being used to start moving the car (initially at an infinitely slow speed just above zero miles per hour, and then a little more, and a little more, etc.). At that instant of starting to move, your energy usage per mile is at its "highest". As you get moving, it comes down from infinity. And, as you do the opposite, slow down and finally stop again, it inversely goes back up to infinity.

Who says you don't need math in the real world.

Btw, if the average Wh/mile displayed in the trip meter is something like 250-300, you're doing pretty well, and will likely achieve the "76 miles per charge" range claimed by Ford. This average corresponds to roughly the middle (3 Wh/mile x 100) of the energy meter.

Thanks for your response. I understand the meter better now, but wish it better reflected power consumption while I am at a stop and while I am moving forward. It's like having a speedometer that only goes to 25, yes it works part of the time but not when you need it the most. When I drove the tesla it has a nice power meeter integrated with the speedometer that gave you instantaneous power consumption no mater how fast you were accelerating and gave you the amount of regenerative breaking energy recovered while slowing down.
When I have all the accessories off and the car in park it still pegs the energy consumption meeter. All the other cars i have driven with instantaneous MPG's built in don't read any fuel mileage since I am not moving.
I will stop complaining now!