Dear Ford...

[JimB_FFE]

Dear Ford,

The Focus Electric is a truly wonderful car to drive. Smooth, swift, solid, and silent.

There are a few minor issues I would like to bring to your attention:

Please reduce the sheen of the top of the dash. Sunlight reflecting off the dash onto the rakish windshield can temporarily blind the driver. Polarized glasses or a dash mat solves the problem as a work around.

Please ditch the bright metal trim around the outer dash vents. They reflect off the inside of the side windows right where you look into the side view mirrors. Some black pinstriping tape is a work around for that.

Please provide an ECO setting for the climate control that provides ventilation only with no heating or cooling. The work around for that is to manually set the A/C to off, set the temperature to LO, and the fan to minimum.

Please fix the climate control so that it comes back on with the exact same settings as when it was turned off. As it is now, if you turn off the climate control, all manual settings are lost. The only work around is to never turn it off.

Please provide a simple display that tells the driver how much energy is going into or out of the battery. It would be nice to know I'm regenerating even when I'm not on the brakes.

Please provide a "Manual Transmission" behavior setting that turns off the "creep" and provides heavy regenerative braking when you lift your foot off the accelerator. I find myself shifting into Neutral at long stop lights so I don't have to stand on the brakes.

That's pretty much it for what I'd change on the car. Otherwise you have a hit.

Thank you!

---

What would other FFE owners add to this list?

 

[Hocus Focus]

Please add option to turn off light ring. It is an attractive nuisance that invites trouble when parked outside overnight. I use a black garbage bag to cover it up.

MFT+Sync needs lots of tweaking. Software gets bogged down especially if I plug in USB and system becomes unresponsive for minutes.

Would like to use the key fob to open/close windows--bonus if I can do this through MFM.com too.

 

[BlueNotGreen]

How about a remote control that doesn't trigger "or are you just happy to see me" jokes. Seriously the remote is truly cumbersome.

Oh, and a lock for the glove compartment would be nice.

My gripes are small; this car really delivers on so very much.

 

[dmspen]

while we're at it...

How about a light in the charger storage area?

No single touch auto window up/down? Really?

Adjustable cup holders

Rear hatch release from the inside

Charge port inside release

 

[Econenviro]

I like the creep. I would like much stronger regen in low like the Chevy volt. Perhaps it could be configured in setup settings. Even if only by the dealer. My 2012 should be on Monday. I can't wait!

 

[ShilaCypress]

Nice comment. I like this.

 

[aldo]

I got the FFE 2 months ago. This is a fantastic car to drive. The main issue I have is range. Please Ford give us this car with a 200 - 300 mile range. If Tesla can do it, I believe Ford has the engineering know how to make it happen. I bet it will be a huge seller!

 

[goatea]

great topic. Hopefully Ford will read this.

The steering wheel needs a SIMPLE, one button setting to toggle between maps (navigation), phone, climate and entertainment screens. Toyota does a great job with this in the prius. I find the Ford buttons far too complicated and the screens are just too much when you're driving. It's distracting and frankly a little dangerous. Imagine the dumbest person in the world operating it and then design up from there. Think one button access and not 4 level deep menus. This needs someone from Apple to design this not Microsoft (sorry Sync)

Regarding Sync, I found that saying 'shut up' stops her from listening, but I'm sure there's a more refined approach.

I was partially sold on the car because the dealer mentioned the charger incentives from my local electric company Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Make no mistake, installing a home charger is a complicated bureaucratic permit process. If Ford would help simplify this process, they would stand to gain a lot more customers.

More range would be nice, but then again, that's more batteries to dispose of later on. I'm mixed on this option until someone figures out how to properly recycle batteries.

The driveability of this car is amazing. It's so powerful and responsive. Overall, I love it.

 

[Yoyogee]

Climate issues (simple vent, fixing the fan issue when turning on the climate system) are at the top of the list. I'd also like a "raw" battery budget setting that isn't tied to my last drive or key that will let me work the power gauge for longer trips. I normally speed around town ('cause it's so damn fun!) and my range budget takes a hit but I would really like to be able to reset the thing when I need to make a longer trip where I'll be sensitive to my range).

 

[danholl]

Climate issues (simple vent, fixing the fan issue when turning on the climate system) are at the top of the list. I'd also like a "raw" battery budget setting that isn't tied to my last drive or key that will let me work the power gauge for longer trips. I normally speed around town ('cause it's so damn fun!) and my range budget takes a hit but I would really like to be able to reset the thing when I need to make a longer trip where I'll be sensitive to my range).

I set the left panel to Trip 1 Enhanced and Reset it each time I charge the car. It shows the average Wh/mile used for the trip and shows how many kWh have been used since reset. A full charge is about 19kWh. These two numbers let you see how your doing independent of the computer prediction.

 

[Yoyogee]

Thank you danholl!

 

[JFS]

Please add option to turn off light ring. It is an attractive nuisance that invites trouble when parked outside overnight. I use a black garbage bag to cover it up.

I tried a couple of layers of blue easy release painter's tape, which only dulls the glow. Totally agree--the ring light should be a customizable option.

 

[goatea]

Climate issues (simple vent, fixing the fan issue when turning on the climate system) are at the top of the list. I'd also like a "raw" battery budget setting that isn't tied to my last drive or key that will let me work the power gauge for longer trips. I normally speed around town ('cause it's so damn fun!) and my range budget takes a hit but I would really like to be able to reset the thing when I need to make a longer trip where I'll be sensitive to my range).

I set the left panel to Trip 1 Enhanced and Reset it each time I charge the car. It shows the average Wh/mile used for the trip and shows how many kWh have been used since reset. A full charge is about 19kWh. These two numbers let you see how your doing independent of the computer prediction.

I thought a full charge was 23kWh? I'll try your suggestion.

 

[SolarSteve]

I would like to own a Ford Focus electric but living near Holley New York and commuting to Henrietta New York may present anxiety issues in the winter. The biggest drawback to electrics is the infrastructure. There are no charging stations unless you buy a Nissan and go to one of their dealerships for a 30 minute charge. Nissan dealerships are all over the place and close to where I work. Ford dealerships are few and far away. I was a loyal Ford Ranger owner but now I am not sure.

 

[WattsUp]

As far as commuting, if you can park near even just a standard outlet at work that you'll be allowed to use, and charge with the included Level 1 charger for 10 hours (while you're working), it should give you a 50% charge. Could that make the FFE work for you?

I use my FFE for commuting and I rarely charge anywhere other than work or home. If you can get a Level 2 charger installed at home, you will easily always have a 100% charge in the morning (takes only 4 hours). If you can get one installed at work, even better.

 

[WattsUp]

No single touch auto window up/down? Really?

@SolarSteve: Sounds like your auto up/down feature has been disabled. To re-enable, see this thread.

 

[WattsUp]

I thought a full charge was 23kWh? I'll try your suggestion.

The battery in the FFE has a total capacity of 23kWh. But, it is damaging to fully discharge a lithium-ion battery (this is why "battery management" is so important in these systems) so the car never does this.

The safely usable capacity of the battery is about 80-90% of its total capacity. Ford is fairly conservative and appears to use around 83% in the FFE (23kWh x 0.83 = 19kWh).

The 76 mile EPA rating of the FFE is based on the usable 19kWh amount and an average energy consumption rate of 250Wh/mile, so you're not being "cheated" in any way. 19kWh / 250Wh = 76

Also, those of us who are able to eek out more (80, 90, 100 miles) are all doing it with the same 19kWh. In a very simplistic calculation (i.e., not considering energy from regen) to go 100 miles, your average energy consumption would need to be 190 Wh/mile.

 

[dmen]

I thought a full charge was 23kWh? I'll try your suggestion.

The battery in the FFE has a total capacity of 23kWh. But, it is damaging to fully discharge a lithium-ion battery (this is why "battery management" is so important in these systems) so the car never does this.

The safely usable capacity of the battery is about 80-90% of its total capacity. Ford is fairly conservative and appears to use around 83% in the FFE (23kWh x 0.83 = 19kWh).

The 76 mile EPA rating of the FFE is based on the usable 19kWh amount and an average energy consumption rate of 250Wh/mile, so you're not being "cheated" in any way. 19kWh / 250Wh = 76

Also, those of us who are able to eek out more (80, 90, 100 miles) are all doing it with the same 19kWh. In a very simplistic calculation (i.e., not considering energy from regen) to go 100 miles, your average energy consumption would need to be 190 Wh/mile.

Maybe a small detail, but the EPA range rating of the FFE is NOT based on 19kWh of available battery. The EPA doesn't say the FFE gets 250Wh/mi average energy consumption. Where did you get that from? The EPA's info on the vehicle sticker says they think you'll get 320Wh/mi. Their 76 miles doesn't exactly make sense b/c you'd need 24.32kWh to go that far at that efficiency, but those are the numbers on the sticker.

 

[jmueller065]

Maybe a small detail, but the EPA range rating of the FFE is NOT based on 19kWh of available battery. The EPA doesn't say the FFE gets 250Wh/mi average energy consumption. Where did you get that from? The EPA's info on the vehicle sticker says they think you'll get 320Wh/mi. Their 76 miles doesn't exactly make sense b/c you'd need 24.32kWh to go that far at that efficiency, but those are the numbers on the sticker.

The EPA has a standard "course" or "route" that the manufacturers use to get the data. Each manufacturer runs their vehicle on a dyno simulating that route (which would include some stopping--regen). (Yes the EPA doesn't really actually run the test; the vehicle manufacturers do and submit the data to the EPA which will either bless the data, or send them back with "run some more testing").

 

[WattsUp]

Maybe a small detail, but the EPA range rating of the FFE is NOT based on 19kWh of available battery. The EPA doesn't say the FFE gets 250Wh/mi average energy consumption. Where did you get that from? The EPA's info on the vehicle sticker says they think you'll get 320Wh/mi. Their 76 miles doesn't exactly make sense b/c you'd need 24.32kWh to go that far at that efficiency, but those are the numbers on the sticker.

I didn't mean to imply that the EPA worked backwards from the capacity to arrive at the 76 mile range. I was simply pointing out that all the numbers make sense after the fact. So, poor choice of words on my part.

By saying "based on", I meant to highlight that the 76 mile range "is rooted in the reality of" the facts I outlined. I'm know the EPA arrived at their rating from empirical testing. But, we can do the math and find that the rating indeed makes sense.

If you drive yourself to 0 miles range remaining and do a full charge, you'll find that about 19kWh is added back your battery. It is common knowledge that lithium-ion batteries in EVs are never fully drained to zero... 80-90% is about as much as can be safely used. In the FFE, you simply don't get to use the entire 23kWh capacity. We seem to be allowed about 83%.

It's also been my experience that if I keep the average wH/mile to 250, I can always achieve at least the rated 76 mile range. And, this makes perfect sense to me, given the usable 19kWh capacity of the battery.