lokicat

Seriously, $75K+ for a dressed up Volt? http://www.cadillac.com/future-cars/elr-electric-car/reservation.html Why would anyone want this instead of a Tesla for the same money or less (more tax rebates on Teslas)? I was considering this if it was in the $50K range fully loaded. Thank you GM for making the decision for me!

LiON batteries have a finite number of times that they can recharge from being fully depleted. However, if the batteries are recharged at about 20% or higher remaining charge, that does not count towards the finite limit. This is why most iPhones will never need a battery replacement. I suspect Ford has built these batteries to maintain this level of charge even though the display says 0%. I personally think, we will all be more likely to upgrade our battery once a higher capacity option is available from Ford or other 3rd party well before the original wears out.

I would also add that the key has a very surprisingly long range compared to other keys I've had/have - BMW, Mercedes, Lexus.

HTC One running 4.3 Android. I couldn't figure out why it worked sometime and why not other times. Here is what I found and it seems to always work. If you are connecting for the first time or updated your OS, or made changes to BT settings and texting doesn't work, do this: 1) Delete the phone from Sync 2) Delete Sync from phone 3) Make sure you have at least one new text on your phone that you have not read yet. 4) Add your phone to Sync 5) Wait for all the connection stuff to complete - takes a min or two 6) If done right, you will get an alert that a message is available 7) Play the message, then delete it 8) Done It was step #3 that I figured out why I got this working somethings and not always. I didn't always have new text messages when I sync'd. Hope this helps some of you that haven't got this working yet.

L2 charger is a much more convenient so just to make sure you have looked into all your options. I assume you need a sub panel because you don't have any spaces left in your main panel for a 240V breaker. However, consider: 1) Depending on the model of your panel, you may be able to combine 2 120V breakers with a single 240V breaker in a space of two sockets. This type of breaker is called a "quad". You would pull out two single breakers and replace the open slots with a single quad. For more info, you can search "quad circuit breaker" on Home Depot. This is the case with my panel and I will need a quad if I install another L2 charger when I get a second EV. 2) Even if you end up having to install a sub panel, keep in mind there is a federal tax credit of up to $1,000 (33% of the cost of equipment plus installation) for installing a level 2 car charger. You may be eligible for even more rebates from your city/state or utilities provider. That can ease the pain of that sub panel cost.

While paying more than $1 per hour is more than gas, I will pay a higher premium if I am at a shopping mall where finding a parking spot is difficult. This will come in real handy during christmas.

This thread has made me remember to close the port. Now I need something to remind me to plug in. Forgot to plug in twice in the past month. Maybe Ford can add a function with the mobile app that reminds us if it detects the car is at home and not plugged in.

DMV cashed my check on 6/26 and I'm still waiting on the stickers. San Mateo county CA.

At 70 MPH and no climate controls going I get 47 MPG. Same speed with AC going I get 41 MPG. One thing I would recommend is to not use hybrid mode for short distances of less than 5 miles. Like most cars, your engine needs a higher amount of gas to get to stable operations so the first 2-3 miles will be under 20 MPG. Same thing on my Prius.

Same for me. Same phone but running 4.2.2. Plus today, neither the app or website will update the charging status since about 8:45AM PDT. On a positive note, they finally added some nice upgrades to the website: - My Driving - this has a lot of good info on all the miles I've driven since purchase - Customizable Charge profiles - now I can set different profiles for home and office Unfortunately, everything freezes up when the profiles try to sync. I'm guessing that Ford is in the middle of updating their systems.

Friendly tip - make sure your clock is set correctly. My was set to AM instead of PM and impossible to tell from just looking at the time. Even though the clock was set to auto update, I don't think it auto updates AM/PM. That will cause your value charge to not work.

I swear I never forget the close the charger port, but every so often I come back to my car and it's open! Anyone else?

What is this "gas" you speak of? :)

I recently upgraded my HTC One to 4.2.2 and everything works the same as before. I also found out that Pandora streams and also supports track skipping from the Sync controls via BT, but it does not show the track titles. On Pandora, there is an option to enable BT controls for cars. For text messaging voice playback on sync, you have to enable it in phone setup. It's set to a simple alarm by default. Give that a try.

My lifestyle includes a lot of dining out so yes 10 free miles for an hour charge has bumped up my EV usage to over 80% of my total miles for where I need to drive every day. This also gives me the extra juice to run climate controls and have some fun driving. The only difference from before my NRG is I don't have to hunt for parking. I generally see more Volts than other EV or PHEV. On a funny note there are literally lines of Leafs at Blink chargers because their DC charger is free for the remainder of 2013. That one is worth sitting in your car for 30 min to get a 90% charge. I have a picture of a busy day and I added a caption "too many leaves and not enough trees".

I got both Chargepoint and Blink Networks. Both offer free cards and have pros and cons. Chargepoint tends to be from Palo Alto to SF while Blink is South Bay. Chargepoint costs are set by the facilities owners. Blink is a flat $1 per hour which gets you about 40% charge. Even at that rate it's still cheaper than gas. One thing I like about Chargepoint is that it also has a 120 port that is rarely used. If I just need to top off or I plan to park for a long time, I just use the level 1 charger so I leave the level 2 for someone who needs it. The cover of the 120v socket locks over your plug to deter theft.

If you want to see how bad new technology causes problems, go to the Tesla forums and you will see things like: Software update bricked my electronicsDoor won't openCar died with 10 miles leftThere are parts missingWhat Tesla does well is fix their own cars. The whole concept of 3rd party dealers and auto manufacturers has been a roadblock to better customer service ever since the 50s. For example, North Carolina auto dealers are trying to sue Tesla and put an injunction on their cars due to their direct sales model. How well do you think a Ford/GMC auto dealer will fix your $100K Tesla? I've personally experienced auto dealers trying to do more "warranty" fixes then needed just so they could bill it to the auto maker. One time on my Prius, it was exactly 11 miles past my last complimentary maintenance and they wanted to charge me $200 for the scheduled maintenance. When I questioned why they were being so strict, a service manager came by and apologized and told me they would take care of it. When I got my invoice, I paid nothing, but they charged Toyota nearly $400. My whole point is that it sucks that you had such a fundamental problem compounded by the long weekend, but your dealer is not providing a good experience for you. Your car will run fine once the problem is fixed.

I don't have a separate meter on my charger so I am taking a number that a couple folks have measured in this forum. I am using 7.5 KwH to fully charge and $0.16 per KwH. My actual cost is lower because I probably get more than 20% of my charges free.

Hi All, I thought I would share my calculations I used to buy the Ti NRG. Here is what I came up with. Assumptions 50,000 miles of drivingBase MSRP of each model - 30,200 (Gas), 32,100(Hybrid), and 40,100(NRG)$5250 Federal and state tax credit ($1500 for CA) for NRG26 MPG combined for gas model$4 per gallon of gasWhat I wanted to know was what my MPGe would have to be for hybrid and NRG to break even for the extra I would pay for hybrid and NRG over gas model. Here is what the calculations came out to be: Titanium Hybrid - minimum 35 MPG average to break even after 50,000 miles Titanium NRG - minimum 65 MPGe average to break even after 50,000 miles Analysis Maintaining 35 MPG or better for the Hybrid is pretty easy to do so I would say Hybrid is well worth the premium over gas. It's worth mentioning that Ford's claim of 47 MPG combined is highly suspect. The tricky part for the NRG is that 65 MPGe is difficult to calculate because it depends on how much you run on EV and your electricity cost. In my case, I am at least 72 MPGe as my EV usage is about 60% of my total miles. My actuals could be more because I get free charging at times when I shop or dine out. Long Term If you plan to own for more than 50K miles, then NRG really starts to shine. Using the same 35 and 65 MPGe numbers, here is what 100,000 miles looks like: Titanium Hybrid - saves $2,056 over gas model Titanium NRG - saves $4,581 over gas model Conclusion Both Hybrid and NRG can offset the premium costs over the gas model within 50K miles. For those deciding between Hybrid and NRG it really comes down to lifestyle and not so much dollars. The main reason why I ran the numbers was to refute many professional reviews that stated that the premium over the standard gas model was not worth it.

I have the new AT&T HTC One and here are results: BT connection - no issues and very easy to setup. Connects within 10 sec of starting the car. Phone - works Phonebook - works and downloaded my contacts Text Messages - works with voice over (best feature imho) Voice Command - works (not impressed with Sync voice. Doesn't support natural language like Siri or Google Now) BT Music streaming - works but plays in order of device music player (if the phone is playing a playlist, the car will play exactly the same) USB connection - charges the phone, but will not index music so not working at all BT Music streaming works well. I can skip ahead or back and the song info displays on the main screen. No album cover art. There is a very slight lag from the controls, but hardly noticeable - about what you would expect from a remote control. In order to change playlist, I have to change on the phone. Since the music is streaming from the phone, no DRM problems. USB stick will not play if the song is downloaded form iTunes or Google Play due to DRM. Sound quality is very good. Some not so great points: -BT volume is lower than HD radio so have to remember to lower before switching to radio -BT input is at the next screen of music input options so need to scroll down to access -BT cannot display music index or play lists -BT song info does not display in right side dash display. Only shows "Bluetooth Streaming" -I can't recharge from the USB port because the Sync system tries to index the music and gets stuck

The number of sockets you need for the circuit breaker depends on the type and brand of electrical panel you have. Some can support single slot 240V, others can only take double. It's not a matter of amps but must be double pole and not single. There are also "quad pole" breakers that give you both a single 240V line plus 2 120V lines all in a double socket slot. Very useful if you don't have any spare open sockets. Really need an electrician that can tell you. Home Depot also has a useful guide: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/catalog/servlet/ContentView?pn=Breakers&storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053

One more tip - If you used the 120V charger the first time you connected to the website or app, your settings for value charge will stay at 120V. When I installed my Level 2 charger, I had to edit my value charge profile and switched it to 240V. I was wondering why it was taking 3 hours to charge 50%. Not the most bullet proof or intuitive software but does what it's suppose to once you figure it out. Even Leviton's installation video was wrong so nobody's perfect I suppose.

Best one yet! I'm trying to figure out how to use a Charepoint charger in my shopping mall and a lady in a Nissan Leaf yells at me that the parking space is only for EV cars! I pop open the charge cover and she goes "oh, that's cool". This raises a philosophical question - I don't need to charge but the lady in the Leaf does. Is it only right for me to let her have the spot?

Problem solved: My car's clock was not correct. It was set for AM instead of PM. Funny thing is that I used GPS time setup. I did again just to see what would happen and it got the PM correct, but was back one hour. I just manually set the correct time in the car and now everything is good.