Putting our FFE in Earth Day festival - advice?

[Twinstangs]

My wife and I got asked to bring our 2013 FFE to a large day long Earth Day festival. We've been there before - biodiesel powered rides, demos on geothermal, wind and solar power, recycling, live music, food trucks, etc. but we have had our FFE for only a few months and have never been asked to show it in public. Anybody done something like this before? I anticipate questions on how the car drives, how long it takes to charge, range, how much one costs, how much the electric bill goes up if you get one. Anybody have any suggestions as to what else I should be prepared to answer?

Thanks!

 

[jmueller065]

I took my FFE to a couple of the drive electric events. It depends on how much do you want to explain to people.

Here is a link to my blog post I made about it: https://spareelectrons.wordpress.com/2014/09/19/drive-electric-week-ann-arbor/
(Note in the Pictures I had the juicebox plugged into the car for illustration only as the other end wasn't plugged into anything--I did get a lot of questions re: "How are you charging?" LOL!)

 

[EVA]

Just relax and have fun. They're usually a great event. You got the questions exactly right. Oh, somebody will ask where you put gas. Even after you tell them it is battery powered. And they will ask again. It is a lot of fun talking about the car.

You'll probably run into other electric car drivers - Tesla, Leaf, maybe even a Mitsubishi or RAV4. Other owners are a ton of fun to talk with.

I attended one drive electric event in 2013 when I first got the FFE. That event was a blast. Super awesome grass roots fun people. The next year I tried to attend one in downtown Chicago and ran into a major jerk with Nissan that told me to leave. They and Chevy were giving test drives in a major marketing way and drove away everybody else. They actually threatened to call the police on me and started to take a picture of my license plate. Hopefully, Nissan has calmed down in three years.

 

[Omen87]

Just relax and have fun. They're usually a great event. You got the questions exactly right. Oh, somebody will ask where you put gas. Even after you tell them it is battery powered. And they will ask again. It is a lot of fun talking about the car.

You'll probably run into other electric car drivers - Tesla, Leaf, maybe even a Mitsubishi or RAV4. Other owners are a ton of fun to talk with.

I attended one drive electric event in 2013 when I first got the FFE. That event was a blast. Super awesome grass roots fun people. The next year I tried to attend one in downtown Chicago and ran into a major jerk with Nissan that told me to leave. They and Chevy were giving test drives in a major marketing way and drove away everybody else. They actually threatened to call the police on me and started to take a picture of my license plate. Hopefully, Nissan has calmed down in three years.

I would have liked to have heard that call.

"Yeah, 911? This is Mr. Douchebag with Nissan. There's a guy here with a Ford that I don't like. Get rid of him."

"Sir, stop calling us."

 

[Twinstangs]

I took my FFE to a couple of the drive electric events. It depends on how much do you want to explain to people.

Here is a link to my blog post I made about it: https://spareelectrons.wordpress.com/2014/09/19/drive-electric-week-ann-arbor/
(Note in the Pictures I had the juicebox plugged into the car for illustration only as the other end wasn't plugged into anything--I did get a lot of questions re: "How are you charging?" LOL!)

I liked the blog, very helpful. Attendance at this event is in the thousands so I expect a lot of interested people. We have just the standard charger, but having it on display would be a good idea (as long as it doesn't grow feet and walk away when my back is turned ). I don't have a window sticker or any literature, was thinking of printing something off a website like Autotrader or Edmunds but haven't found anything I like yet.

 

[jmueller065]

I liked the blog, very helpful. Attendance at this event is in the thousands so I expect a lot of interested people. We have just the standard charger, but having it on display would be a good idea (as long as it doesn't grow feet and walk away when my back is turned ). I don't have a window sticker or any literature, was thinking of printing something off a website like Autotrader or Edmunds but haven't found anything I like yet.

You can print out your window sticker as long as you have your VIN (assuming you do since you have the car ). There are a bunch of websites that link back to Ford, like this one: http://mcmahonford.com/Look-Up-Window-Sticker/
Simply type in your VIN and hit the button.

 

[awefulspeller]

My wife and I got asked to bring our 2013 FFE to a large day long Earth Day festival. We've been there before - biodiesel powered rides, demos on geothermal, wind and solar power, recycling, live music, food trucks, etc. but we have had our FFE for only a few months and have never been asked to show it in public. Anybody done something like this before? I anticipate questions on how the car drives, how long it takes to charge, range, how much one costs, how much the electric bill goes up if you get one. Anybody have any suggestions as to what else I should be prepared to answer?

Thanks!

Ugh, earth day. Umm, how much goes into properly disposing of lithium-ion batteries? Where does the materials for those batteries come from? How are those materials harvested?

Sorry for the piss poor undertone, but I personally cannot stand it when electric vehicles get commonly thrown in the mix with the earth day counter culture because I'm not sure electric vehicles are as eco-friendly as they are made out to be. And, I just don't like earth people anyways.

God, if Ford Marketing had a pair of balls they would go totally backwards on the eco-ness of the FFE and try to highlight the opposite. Instead of having metrosexual man-boys in FFE advertisements, they should feature overweight people who have a long commute. Possibilities are endless. There are a lot of people out their who are genuinely interested in electric vehicles but their political ideologies combined with the green taint of EVs prevents them from purchasing.

 

[Twinstangs]

My wife and I got asked to bring our 2013 FFE to a large day long Earth Day festival. We've been there before - biodiesel powered rides, demos on geothermal, wind and solar power, recycling, live music, food trucks, etc. but we have had our FFE for only a few months and have never been asked to show it in public. Anybody done something like this before? I anticipate questions on how the car drives, how long it takes to charge, range, how much one costs, how much the electric bill goes up if you get one. Anybody have any suggestions as to what else I should be prepared to answer?

Thanks!

Ugh, earth day. Umm, how much goes into properly disposing of lithium-ion batteries? Where does the materials for those batteries come from? How are those materials harvested?

Sorry for the piss poor undertone, but I personally cannot stand it when electric vehicles get commonly thrown in the mix with the earth day counter culture because I'm not sure electric vehicles are as eco-friendly as they are made out to be. And, I just don't like earth people anyways.

God, if Ford Marketing had a pair of balls they would go totally backwards on the eco-ness of the FFE and try to highlight the opposite. Instead of having metrosexual man-boys in FFE advertisements, they should feature overweight people who have a long commute. Possibilities are endless. There are a lot of people out their who are genuinely interested in electric vehicles but their political ideologies combined with the green taint of EVs prevents them from purchasing.

I marched in the first Earth Day when I was in Jr. High, so I don't consider earth people counter-culture. More pro-culture.
I grew up in Cleveland and remember when the river downtown burned, when the chrome on the cars would pit at two years due to emissions from the steel plants, etc. We just had installed a 6.8kW solar panel system feeding the grid covering all our electrical power including charging the car. How an overweight person with a long commute would be a target market for electric vehicles is beyond me. Yeah, the Teslas appeal to the testosterone levels, but our cars don't.An electric car charging off a coal powered plant has the same overall environmental impact as driving a normal gasoline fueled car. One charging off a natural gas fired plant has similar impact to a hybrid. Since we run on sun and not hydrocarbons, we have about as light a footprint as we can get without resorting to bicycles.

 

[jmueller065]

God, if Ford Marketing had a pair of balls they would go totally backwards on the eco-ness of the FFE and try to highlight the opposite. Instead of having metrosexual man-boys in FFE advertisements, they should feature overweight people who have a long commute. Possibilities are endless. There are a lot of people out their who are genuinely interested in electric vehicles but their political ideologies combined with the green taint of EVs prevents them from purchasing.

Have you seen this ad for the FFE?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tmh0rv_1ec

 

[Jon_h]

Ugh, earth day. Umm, how much goes into properly disposing of lithium-ion batteries? Where does the materials for those batteries come from? How are those materials harvested?

Sorry for the piss poor undertone, but I personally cannot stand it when electric vehicles get commonly thrown in the mix with the earth day counter culture because I'm not sure electric vehicles are as eco-friendly as they are made out to be. And, I just don't like earth people anyways.

You are right to be "not sure", because you are wrong.

 

[Twinstangs]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/electric-cars-are-not-necessarily-clean/

Like I said, they are as clean as the power source. Yes, there is some impact from the batteries, but improved technology is whittling away at that impact. There are some smug tree-huggers who think their car don't stink at all, but the CO2 and other emmissions are just transferred to a power plant, usually someplace else. Smart people know the difference. That is why we spent the money to install our power system so we are generating zero emissions power for our FFE.

 

[Jon_h]

I did the math for Michigan. 40% CO2 savings on our dirty grid.

 

[Jon_h]

Even from coal source, a BEV breaks roughly even with an ICE car on CO2. Nowhere in the US is 100% coal, and coal is plummeting. Stop spreading untruths.

http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default...ner-Cars-from-Cradle-to-Grave-full-report.pdf

 

[Twinstangs]

You can print out your window sticker as long as you have your VIN (assuming you do since you have the car ). There are a bunch of websites that link back to Ford, like this one: http://mcmahonford.com/Look-Up-Window-Sticker/
Simply type in your VIN and hit the button.

Tried it. Got:

Please check back later.
The window sticker has not yet been
released for this vehicle.

Found http://researchmaniacs.com/VIN-Number-Lookup/WindowSticker/Ford.html, same negative results. :-(

 

[triangles]

:lol: My FFE is 37% nuclear!

 

[Twinstangs]

Thanks cutler03gt for all your information!

 

[cutler03gt]

Thanks cutler03gt for all your information!

My pleasure.

Happy our old FFE got good home.

Let us know how Earth Day goes.

 

[amped]

I did the math for Michigan. 40% CO2 savings on our dirty grid.

At first glance that doesn't seem like a full life cycle analysis. Including mining/drilling/refining/transportation etc. emissions and line losses etc. would probably change the numbers but you'd likely get a qualitatively similar result.

UCS's analysis ( http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/11/Cleaner-Cars-from-Cradle-to-Grave-exec-summary.pdf ) would suggest that your calculation is optimistic. OTOH, the grid emissions factors data they used for that report were from 2012, IIRC. Carbon intensity has probably improved since then. Southern Co., the major energy producer in my neck of the woods, has cut its carbon intensity by ~25% over the last decade (most of that between 2007-2012).

 

[jmueller065]

In Michigan (at least Southeastern MI) the local providers have been putting large solar installations all over, and there are a few big wind farms up in the thumb.

 

[cutler03gt]

I'd love to have solar on my roof at some point, but with the amount of overcast we get, it doesn't seem to practical.