Just bought 2012 Focus EV

[rowekmr]

Hello Group!
I just bought the above with 44k from insurance auction (involved in accident). It arrived without key, 12v battery dead and no charge cord with battery meter at 0.

I have had many hybrids and wanted to try an EV after having a PHEV (Fusion)

I got key cut (headache at locksmith) and programmed, installed new Motorcraft 12v battery and bought used Ford cord and charged it up. I set up the MYFord app and took it for a drive. At first the ABS and traction lights were on but after a few miles they went off and the rust from the rotors were cleaned up (making rubbing sound).

I driven it about 60 miles doing close errands the past 2 weeks making sure I charged it to 100% after each trip. The battery meter miles started at 66 for first charge and was at 74 last night at 100%. I took it for my first long trip and did 34 miles round trip. There was a Level 2 charger at the end just in case the battery got too low. The battery level indicator (and miles) dropped fast until it got to the halfway point and then slowed down. It was slightly less than halfway when I arrived home.

What is the difference between the budget miles and the battery indicator miles? What does the status number mean? What is the miles to regen?

Also what should I look for and/or do to be an informed owner?

Thanks!

 

[kalel14]

Download the owner's manual from the Ford site and it will answer these questions and many more.

 

[jmueller065]

Actually the owner's manual doesn't really do a very good job of describing all the dash gauges.

The range to empty value of the FFE (commonly called the "Guess-O-Meter") is a calculated average of your driving habits and electricity consumption heavily weighted to your most recent driving. As such the value you see will markedly change: go on the freeway and the value will appear to drop much faster than your moving; drive down a 25mph speed limit street and the range will appear to increase. Turn on the heater and you'll immediately lose 10+ miles. (The A/C is MUCH more efficient than the heater.)

The status value is calculated two different ways depending on weather or not you are using the navigation system:

When not using navigation: At a full charge the FFE will store the range to empty and decrease this value linearly as you drive. The status value displayed is the difference between this calculated value and the current range.
As an example: At a full charge the car shows 70 miles range. Drive for 10 miles on the highway. Now the range displayed is 55 miles (but the internal stored value is 70-10 or 60) the status display will show -5 (55-60). It is a way for the car to "gamify" your driving: If you always have a >=0 value for status you will be driving efficiently.

When you use navigation (e.g. put in a destination and let the car guide you there) the status value will be the difference between the distance to your endpoint and the range display (e.g. if you program in something that is 40 miles away and your range to empty is showing 64 miles the status will be 24). I loved this feature: If I was going somewhere that was on the hairy edge of the range I could program it into the nav and use the status value to determine how fast (or slow) I had to go to make it.

 

[rowekmr]

Thanks so much!
I did read the owners manual and quick reference guide and still I didn't understand.

Is there a way to measure battery degradation then?

Also how close have you gotten to 0 miles? What is your typical maximum range you will plan to drive? I was going to get it fairly low and just do local errands to see what I can comfortably get in range.

Actually the owner's manual doesn't really do a very good job of describing all the dash gauges.

The range to empty value of the FFE (commonly called the "Guess-O-Meter") is a calculated average of your driving habits and electricity consumption heavily weighted to your most recent driving. As such the value you see will markedly change: go on the freeway and the value will appear to drop much faster than your moving; drive down a 25mph speed limit street and the range will appear to increase. Turn on the heater and you'll immediately lose 10+ miles. (The A/C is MUCH more efficient than the heater.)

The status value is calculated two different ways depending on weather or not you are using the navigation system:

When not using navigation: At a full charge the FFE will store the range to empty and decrease this value linearly as you drive. The status value displayed is the difference between this calculated value and the current range.
As an example: At a full charge the car shows 70 miles range. Drive for 10 miles on the highway. Now the range displayed is 55 miles (but the internal stored value is 70-10 or 60) the status display will show -5 (55-60). It is a way for the car to "gamify" your driving: If you always have a >=0 value for status you will be driving efficiently.

When you use navigation (e.g. put in a destination and let the car guide you there) the status value will be the difference between the distance to your endpoint and the range display (e.g. if you program in something that is 40 miles away and your range to empty is showing 64 miles the status will be 24). I loved this feature: If I was going somewhere that was on the hairy edge of the range I could program it into the nav and use the status value to determine how fast (or slow) I had to go to make it.

 

[jmueller065]

Actually I've never driven my FFE down to zero miles. The closest I got was about 5 miles in the dead of winter (I think I only went about 50 miles then too). Note that I don't have my FFE anymore--haven't had it for 4 years now.

Its really hard to measure battery degradation by using the guess-o-meter.

One method used in the forums here is the following:

• Make sure the enhanced trip meter is on
• Charge to full
• Reset the trip meter
• Turn on the car and turn on max heat (unplugged of course)
• After a few hours the battery should be empty
• Look at the trip meter to see how many kWh was consumed

I believe when new a 2012 (with the smaller battery) will read something like 18-19 kWh for this test.

If you have an OBD-II reader you can read some parameters that also show the battery charge/state/etc. (search the forums here).

 

[rowekmr]

Today I stretched the range more. I planned a 48 mile round trip and brought charge cord just in case.


When I first started the battery meter showed 79 miles. The first 25 miles were highway doing 65 mph no a/c. Then a few miles city driving then 20 miles again highway.

I ended up doing 49 miles and at the end the battery meter said 17 miles left. I’m relieved because this sat so long before I got it at 0 I was worried the battery was severely degraded. The electrical drivetrain is still in the 8 yr 100k mile warranty but I heard degradation isn’t covered.

 

[Anti_Climax]

You noted that the percentage seems to drop fast, which is similar to what I saw on my 2012's old battery. It's an artifact of voltage droop for aging cells.

You can do the "enhanced trip" energy measurement noted above without just sitting and running the heat. And if you do that test, you'll get an unambiguous value for your energy capacity. I highly recommend it.

Take it on a trip you know it can do and when you get home, do the heater run down to take it the rest of the way and make note of the energy reading on the trip meter before charging it back up.

Once you have that you can make your own direct estimates of remaining capacity and mileage - if the battery has 16kWh of capacity, and you use 4, you know you're at 75% even if the meter is drifting to the point where it says 60 or 80-something. And if you know your average Wh/mile is around 300, then you know that capacity will get you 50-55 miles even if the guess-o-meter is off in the weeds. Just be mindful how AC and heating will change that estimate.

 

[jrnorman18]

That sounds great. Hope you're enjoying your new ride.

 

[tinilk]

Take it on a trip you know it can do and when you get home, do the heater run down to take it the rest of the way and make note of the energy reading on the trip meter before charging it back up.

For an accurate measurement you do have to use the heater to run it all the way down from 100% to 0% (per jmueller's instructions). If you drive the car for part of the test you'll end up with a lower-than-actual measurement, because regen braking energy that goes back into the battery while driving gets deducted from the trip meter's measurement of kWh consumed.

Brand new a 2012 FFE would've had about 19 kWh capacity. At this point you can expect to see something like 15.5 to 16.5 kWh.

 

[rowekmr]

Wow there is an strong underlining science to understanding and optimizing these lol!

For now I just enjoy the up to 60 miles for daily commuting. One day I was going to not charge it and just drive local errands until it gets down to 2 or 3 miles to have a more realistic max range.

I now charge with the 220v charger mainly does it degrade battery more than the 120v supplied charge?

I recall on the Leaf’s forums they suggest to charge battery to 80% vs 100% for better battery life. Does that apply to our batteries?

 

[Silverrabbit1954]

Please go to “Topping of Bad for Battery” topic. They meant topping off. In this string of dialogue, there is a place that states Ford has SOC at 100% actually only charges to 90% of capacity and SOC at 0% actually is 10%. That is 20% of 23 KWh battery - very close to the useable 18 KWh when new. I do use a TurboChord 240v 16 amps. It puts in 3 KWh per hour. I have had a fusion energi, 2015 focus electric, 2017 focus electric and clarity electric. So far with slower charging, very little battery degradation - maybe 1 or 2 KWh after the third year. Battery does not heat up as much with slower charging.

We have one more year on Clarity lease - return Clarity and trade-in Impala for long range Model 3. Payments and insurance would be the same monthly cost. Then purchase Focus Electric for $7917 when its lease up. Wife still feels that we need one gas car. She wants a RAV4 Hybird instead of Model 3. Happy wife for happy life! Maybe Model 3 just like the dream car of teenage years, never realized. We cannot afford a RAV4 and Model 3. Thank God I really like the Focus Electric!

Silver Rabbit

2017 Focus Electric
2017 Clarity Electric
2017 Impala

 

[tinilk]

I now charge with the 220v charger mainly does it degrade battery more than the 120v supplied charge?
I recall on the Leaf’s forums they suggest to charge battery to 80% vs 100% for better battery life. Does that apply to our batteries?

As Silverrabbit said there's a buffer of about 10% at the top and 10% at the bottom (might be 8% at one end actually if memory serves) of the battery range to help with longevity. This buffer is a much larger % of the battery's capacity than the very small buffers on Tesla or Chevy Bolt batteries, so it's much more important on those cars to limit charging to 80% or 90% than it is on the Focus. Still I personally try not to charge to 100% (which is actually ~90% SOC) and then let it sit like that for days especially if it's hot out.

Level 2 (240 or 208 volt) charging is actually better for battery longevity than Level 1 (120 volts). First of all L2 is slightly more efficient, so you save maybe 2-4% that's lost as heat when you charge on L1. Compared with Level 3 (DC Fast Charging), Level 2 is actually not very fast and the battery chemistry can handle the L2 charge rate very comfortably as long is it's kept cool during charging.

Also L1 only provides so little power (about 1.4 kilowatts) that if the battery is very cold or hot, there isn't any extra power available to condition the battery. So the charger has to warm or cool the battery before it can start charging, then stop warming or cooling once it's charging (or pause while charging and switch back to cooling). When the car is plugged into L2 and has 6 or 7 kilowatts available, that's enough power to use some for warming or cooling the battery while using the rest for charging.

 

[rowekmr]

Thanks so I will keep using the Level 2 charger at home.

 

[Anti_Climax]

If you drive the car for part of the test you'll end up with a lower-than-actual measurement, because regen braking energy that goes back into the battery while driving gets deducted from the trip meter's measurement of kWh consumed.

It's deducted because it went back in and can be "reused". I won't argue that discharging and recharging may skew it a bit with efficiencies taken into account, but when we're talking about capacity that should be the only consideration. And since it's basing that number on the internal "energy to empty" value, when it says one kWh went back in it means that the battery itself shows one kWh of actual stored energy added back.

If you measure the total liquid in a big jug one cup at a time, pouring cups back in won't really impact your total so long as you keep track of what went in versus out and you're not spilling it everywhere.

My driving discharge test came up with exactly what I expected from the brand new pack - so long as it's a highway drive and not stop-and-go even the impact from those efficiencies should be minimal.

Now that I have the OBD scanner/logger, I'd actually be up for to comparing the total energy on the logger and trip meter between heater only, highway drive and stop and go - if only to help others that have to do it with just the trip meter.

 

[smon58338]

I like the stories you share.






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