eatmyshardz said:
I have a commute of 52-55 miles one way with an accessible charger at work.
If you can't charge at work (technical charger breakdown, somebody else using it), then you're stranded
once in a while. May not be an acceptable risk; you know better than I. Or, with the 100 mile range of the Focus Electric, you can at least stop by somewhere on the way home to charge for 15 minutes to get you home, once in a while, talking occasionally when you can't charge fully at work.
At night, you could get by just fine with a normal, cheap, 120v feed into your battery, charging at 4 miles per hour at night at home, since you do a little daytime charging somewhere. (Chargers at work or at malls, for example, will do 20 miles per hour of charging since they are 240v 6.6kW.)
eatmyshardz said:
The 2017 FFE seems to be a good option for me and I have a local dealer who can setup a lease for 22k miles (I drive to work four days a week). $1500 down, $350 / month for 3 years.
OK, that looks like 5% interest on $20,000 borrowed for 3 years, with a $10,000 residual value at the end of the lease. (Like a balloon loan is what leases look like....) So the dealership is factoring in the $7,500 Federal rebate they keep, which is normal on leases. All good. Price of the Focus is $29,000 there on that lease. Comment:
Ford might have an incentive rebate, so I think you could get the payment to $300 if they chip in a Ford incentive on the price in the amount of about $1500. Or, the dealer may reduce the price. With the Bolt out now, they should be discounting Focus Electrics!!!!! (Maybe its just here in Colorado, but when I bought my Focus Electric in late 2015, there was some Ford rebates, due to low gasoline prices making the Focus Electric not selling much here.)
Use this Balloon Loan calculator for computing Lease Payments: https://financial-calculators.com/balloon-payment-calculator Note the balloon payment at the end is the future used-car residual value at lease end.
eatmyshardz said:
My biggest concern is just that the range really is going to be realistic for me. I doesn't appear there is a good way to test this. Any suggestions? I'm setting up a test drive with him for this week.
2017 Ford Focus Electric has about a 100 mile range.
Your range will drop to
75 miles total if you drive fast on California freeways (imagine that, Fast on a CA highway, who knew?! :lol: ). If you drive 80 mph, think 75 miles range tops. CA does have a moderate temperature climate, so not much problem there. You have to get below 35 deg F to really see range drop much on a Focus Electric due to ambient low temperatures.
Air Conditioner usage will drop range about 10 miles on a 2017 though.
Therefore,
driving fast, plus air conditioner usage,
you could see a 65 mile total range on your worst day.
I say buy it. But try to get that lease payment to $300 per month (with same $1500 down). Ask about Ford rebates or dealer motivation for at least a $1,500 discount on the lease original purchase price. A lease is really a purchase from Ford, as somebody buys it, then rents it to you, so there IS a purchase price, and assumed predicted future residual value too.
