Ford Focus Electric - Wow! - Anybody Else Know?

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Originally Posted By: lubricatosaurus
Also, if I ran out of electrons & was stranded by the side of the road, I'd likely be within 10 miles of home anyway, close enough to pester a friend or the wife to bring a generator. Should be rare, maybe (?!?). I will keep a Car And Driver mag in the car for those times I have to wait 2 hours for rescuing/charging.


At 10 miles, counting all the effort, wouldn't it be better to just call AAA and have them drop it off in your driveway? If you have to wait 2hr, well that is usually longer than AAA takes, at least for the couple of times I needed them.
 
Get AAA, what are you going to sit in the car for 6 hours making sure no one steals the Honda as it charges?
 
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Get AAA, what are you going to sit in the car for 6 hours making sure no one steals the Honda as it charges?
Likely 2 to 3 hours tops. Depends of course. Magazine rack in car.
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I anticipate being stranded once a year.
Reminds me of a crazy (but hot) girlfriend I had a couple of years ago; She would run out of gas once a month! No kidding, and in a gasoline car of course.

Originally Posted By: DuckRyder
http://newsroom.aaa.com/2011/07/ev-charging-statio/Apparently AAA has the capability to charge, I'm not sure how prevalent it is, but it seems like it would be worth looking into.
Cool! Didn't know AAA was into feeling sorry for electrics these days. Actually, Ford has free towing available for their new cars for a couple of years.

The Honda generator is kind of expensive, yet a cool toy to have for when the power goes out on the house. My C-Max Hybrid (other car) has a 110v outlet on-board, but it can't handle the 1600 watt charging rate, too bad, would be nice to have it as a portable rescue charger on wheels!

Originally Posted By: supton
At 10 miles, counting all the effort, wouldn't it be better to just call AAA and have them drop it off in your driveway? If you have to wait 2hr, well that is usually longer than AAA takes, at least for the couple of times I needed them.


You're prob right. Avoiding da embarassment of a tow might be worth something though.
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Anyway, I can get 4 miles per hour charging at 120v, so about 2 hours hooked up to the charger might be enough.
 
I think it makes sense for these cars to have a small gas engine for emergency charging or just range extension, sort of like the Volt, but run the gas engine just to charge the battery even while the car is being driven.
On average my Focus uses about 1/3kwh per mile to get to work(33kwh/gallon of gas, car gets 33mpg, gas engine only 1/3 efficient), so a 3kwh generator should be able to extend the range of an electric car atleast 10 miles per hour of running on a highway and more in city driving.
 
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
I think it makes sense for these cars to have a small gas engine for emergency charging or just range extension, sort of like the Volt, but run the gas engine just to charge the battery even while the car is being driven.


That is BMW's approach. The BMW i3 has an ultra-small gas engine on board that just turns a generator, thats all, no wheel turning from the gasoline engine. The Volt on the other hand, is really like a plug-in Prius where the gas engine can turn the wheels directly via the planetary gearset.

To me its better to buy or own NO gasoline engine, for at least one of your cars! Less to maintain, no extra dead-engine mass to haul around. The 600 lb battery in my Focus Electric is already too much.
bmw-i3-145.jpg
 
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I'll find out from Ford if I would be allowed to run a honda generator inside a tiny (200 lb) trailer, while driving, and having the charging cord hooked up. Should keep the battery topped off as you drive!
 
I would check with ford for roadside assistance and check with AAA. Your car insurance may be an option...
The Honda Genny nice, but I wouldn't drag it around. Keep us up to speed...
 
Originally Posted By: lubricatosaurus
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
I think it makes sense for these cars to have a small gas engine for emergency charging or just range extension, sort of like the Volt, but run the gas engine just to charge the battery even while the car is being driven.


That is BMW's approach. The BMW i3 has an ultra-small gas engine on board that just turns a generator, thats all, ...


Just to provide additional clarity - The i3 can be had either way, pure electric or with a RE (Range Extender). The range extender is purported to be a 650 BMW Scooter engine and is not noted for refinement, it has something like a 2 gallon fuel tank.

I need to do additional research but I don't believe it will actually charge the battery, I believe it starts at around 10% battery and keeps the battery above 8% or so, I'm also not clear if it will keep going indefinitely if you continue to stop and fill the tank. I don't really think it is intended for a continuous duty cycle though.

I don't really think I'd try the trailer thing, but you never know...
 
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
I think it makes sense for these cars to have a small gas engine for emergency charging or just range extension, sort of like the Volt, but run the gas engine just to charge the battery even while the car is being driven.
On average my Focus uses about 1/3kwh per mile to get to work(33kwh/gallon of gas, car gets 33mpg, gas engine only 1/3 efficient), so a 3kwh generator should be able to extend the range of an electric car atleast 10 miles per hour of running on a highway and more in city driving.


How about this: a 5kW generator "box" that you put into the trunk "just in case" on some trips where extra range is required. When doing short trips, remove from car to save weight, and just charge overnight, like normal. The rest of the time, it's plugged into your house in order to do double duty for when the power goes out.

Not saying I'd want to hoist a 5kW gentset on a regular basis, just that it'd be a selling point for me, and perhaps others.

Heck, some communities ought to be all over that. Instead of barely-regulated OPE hammering away during every power outage, one could be using much more emissions regulated (and probably more quiet) gensets.
 
DuckRyder and supton,
Thats about the way I see it too.
I don't need or want to haul a generator around every day, even the small 2000 watt Honda generator at only 46 lbs. Only rarely.

The trailer idea (a very small trailer of course) is kind of attractive for long trips of 200 miles at a time. Filling a Jerry Can or proper fuel cell with 5-10 gallons of gasoline, next to a small Honda generator, and then modifying the car to take the trailer's amps while I drive on the trip would be perfect.

A very small trailer like pictured below, with a small fuel tank inside feeding the Honda generator, and a wire leading to the car's battery area (modifications and engineering problems, I know):
hybrid-trailer-blackfly.jpg
 
What about a cargo carrier mounted to a hitch? Although a generator (especially 2 stroke) with no catalyst would be funny to see powering an electric car.

What is the charging requirements (amps) for these?
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
What about a cargo carrier mounted to a hitch? Although a generator (especially 2 stroke) with no catalyst would be funny to see powering an electric car.
What is the charging requirements (amps) for these?


Only the 4-stroke cleaner generators are decent in my opinion. A cargo carrier cantilevered over the back bumper is acceptable for a 50 lb generator, yes, could do that. This is only for long trips of course, and only feasible if you can hook up the generator to give coulombs while u drive.... Charging requirements are 120v at 12 amps, and 220v is much better.

Really for driving and charging at the same time to extend range, you'd need a real engineering solution and connection points, software mods, semi-heavy stuff.
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
What about a cargo carrier mounted to a hitch? Although a generator (especially 2 stroke) with no catalyst would be funny to see powering an electric car.

What is the charging requirements (amps) for these?


Starting to sound redneck....
van-with-air-conditioner-unit-attached.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: Tuffy1760
Good trip planning will go a long way

That's true. With all the dozens of known routes I take to/form local towns, it turns out its kind of easy once you get used to passing gas stations and just figuring how far home base (or a plug-in) is.

Some bad news though: How much C02 does the Focus Electric make vs. a gasoline Focus 1.0L Ecoboost? Good news for gasoline users, bad news for me. Focus Electric causes 24 lbs of C02 per 32 miles of driving, while a gasoline Focus 1.0L Ecoboost causes 20 lbs of C02.

My calculation is based on
----7% electrical transmission line losses
----16% battery charging losses
----70% coal electricity at 2.1 lbsC02/kWH
----30% natural gas electricity at 1.2 lbsC02/kWH
----gasoline Focus 1.0L Ecoboost gets about 32 MPG
----electric Focus gets 32 Miles Per 10 kWH

Notice how much less carbon per kWH natural gas makes vs. coal!

Its actually about tied if you assume City driving cycles only, or if more hydroelectric or wind electricity or nuclear is used (I assumed no renewable/nuclear energy), or if charging efficiency is higher, which it might be at my trickle-charge 120v rates I do it at. I also didn't try to include the carbon footprint of gasoline refining & distribution, so the Focus Electric may indeed tie the Focus Gasoline here.

((Not buying oil from the Middle East: Priceless, for everything else, there's MasterCard....))

Some references I used for basic numbers: http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=307&t=11
https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=74&t=11
fueleconomy.gov
 
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Not sure how the Focus Electric still achieves a near perfect 49%/51% f/r weight distribution with that massive battery back there tailing along:

ford-focus-electric-21.jpg

2015-Ford-Focus-Electric.jpg
 
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From the federal govt: "Electric vehicles convert about 59%–62% of the electrical energy from the grid to power at the wheels"

A Tesla motor/battery seutp:

Tesla_Motors_Model_S_base.jpg
 
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