Finally sealed a deal on a 2013 Ford Focus Electric,question

[Jasper7821]

I finally was able to get rid of my BMW lease and worked a deal with the FFE. The original deal went up but I got more from the guy taking over my prepaid lease and so it still works out to close to the same as the original deal.
I got the white platinum with leather and 15k miles a year. Payments are $363.53 on 3yr lease and zero drive off fees. The payment includes all taxes.
I wanted a better deal but I got $1k more for my car then I originally sold,the lease for so that makes almost makes up for the $321 I was originally quoted.

Anyways, I got the lease worksheet and the car has 137 miles and been on the lot for 207 days. Is there anything I should worry about?

I'm excited to finally get my electric car, then 76 mile range just barely works for my day commute, but if needed I an plug in 110 at work.

I read somewhere that the 2014 car may have 100 mile range. If it does oh well, I want my electric car now

I also bought the Clipper Creek charge station for $595 and $8 shipping and no tax.

 

[v_traveller]

Congratulations! Nice color.

I'd have jumped on your deal... I'm paying $3.54 less per month after $0 drive-off, but only have 12K miles/yr. Could use more mileage allowance at this point, now expecting to run 18K miles/yr. Unlike you I kept my ICE and was expecting to use it to commute once or twice a week, but ever since I got my HOV sticker it just sits in the driveway.

I looked for info on the 2014 FFE, this is all I found... is this what you saw?
http://terrysfordofpeotone.com/2014-Ford-Focus-Electric/
Everything about the 2014 in this "article" is purely speculative. I would think a dealer would be smart enough to not put crap like this out there, and should be spanked by the manufacturer whether it's leaked information or pure conjecture... but if the 100 mile range does become truth, at least we have a lease, which makes it easier to upgrade (at least emotionally) in a few years.

Anyway, to your question about what to worry about with an FFE sitting on the lot for 200+ days... others should chime in, but what I personally would worry about is how the battery range may have been affected by how the dealer stored the FFE over that time. I would push the limit at least once to know what kind of range to expect in the future. My worry would be that the FFE may have been kept outside with a full charge for an extended period of time... see the following article on acs.org (American Chemical Society):

http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=222&content_id=CNBP_032579&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=611a1503-700c-48a3-8ef2-077191a6eec8

To quote:
Cugnet explained that the lifespan depends mainly on the battery’s temperature, state of charge and charge protocol. Battery performance begins to suffer as soon as the temperature climbs above 86 degrees Fahrenheit. “The higher the temperature, the lower the battery service life,” he said. “A temperature above 86 degrees F affects the battery pack performance instantly and even permanently if it lasts many months like in Middle East countries.”

Cugnet also recommended that electric vehicle (EV) owners pay attention to how much their battery is charged, another factor in a battery’s longevity. He reported that a fully-charged battery is more vulnerable to losing power at temperatures above 86 degrees F.

I suspect your FFE is probably okay, I'm just recommending that you test it, maybe down to 1-2kWh left (i.e. less than 10 miles range), to make sure. One deep discharge won't kill the battery... at least it didn't in my case.

 

[jeffand]

Since the car was on the lot mostly during the winter. I would say this would not be a problem. The only issue could be the 12 volt battery. But this battery is relatively inexpensive and would not be of significant concern.

 

[Jasper7821]

Thank you very much for the replies, I tod the dealer the drive battery was my concern about being left out in the Tucson heat for months and he said it spent most of the time as te main demo and was on the patio (which is covered)
Hopefully I'll be ok. The 12v battery I'm not worried about since they'll probably change it anyways if I push the issue.
What I will do as a condition of my purchase is to drive it with the salesman maybe 30 miles down the freeway and back to make sure I'll be able to make my 68 mile work commute.