Sandroad

I now have a more definitive answer than I previously posted to the question of next car. I just bought a Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid Touring. We liked our ’17 FFE, even with it’s limited trunk space and low roof line, for the first year of our ownership. We purchased it used and traded it in at a reasonable price, so we absorbed a little less than $4000 in depreciation over 12 months. After attending the Detroit Auto Show in January to check out PHEVs, we continued to look around a bit, but we were originally planning to keep the FFE through the end of the factory warranty a year from now. However, 4 precipitating events within just a couple of weeks of each other made us look harder at other vehicles and move more quickly. First, the ’17 Ford Fusion landed on Consumer Reports worst reliable vehicle list in their annual auto issue, with much worse than average reliability. Not too bad, but omen number 1. Second, that same week, we received the notice for the steering wheel recall and, whether related or not to that repair, we also lost the nav/audio computer. Those repairs took 2 trips to the dealer and a total of 4 days there. Not too bad, but omen number 2. Third, Ford announced they are discontinuing the Fusion. That negatively affects resale value and the effect is greater the longer a car model is obsolete. Not too bad, but omen number 3. Fourth, for some reason our FFE has been significantly increasing the times it’s running the engine for system performance (despite no HVAC use this time of year, no extra acceleration, and relatively fresh gas). That’s a new behavior which is likely ok, but somewhat defeats the purpose of a PHEV. Not too bad, but omen number 4. So, we we are giving the Clarity a try. Lots of risk and unknowns in that decision, but we like the MUCH larger interior/trunk space and the fact the Clarity has more than double the EV miles. Our solar charging station will be working hard to keep up with the Clarity’s big battery!

Here are a couple of photos of my solar charging station for my ’17 FFE. One photo shows a ground mounted solar panel array. There are two arrays with six panels each, for a total of 12 panels. At 250 watts for each panel, I have 3000 watts of production capacity. The other photo is of the charging station showing the charge controller, inverter, master switch panel, and 120VAC outlets. Directly below the charging station (but not pictured) are eight deep cycle batteries with a total usable capacity of approximately 7.6Kwh, so the car can be charged completely using the storage batteries going through the inverter. This is an off-the grid system not connected to the utility. It has both level 1 and level 2 charging capabilities, but using the level 2 capability requires full sun on both panel arrays, as well as some additional stored power from the deep cycle batteries. 240VAC charging uses a LOT of power! The charging station was $3800. The batteries and wiring were $1800, and the two solar arrays were $1300 each. So the total investment was $6900. When I ran some numbers on the first year FFE usage for us, it looks like the system will pay for itself in about 7 years. That will be about the time I’ll need to replace the deep cycle storage batteries for another $1800, so total payback time will end up being a bit of a moving target, but likely less than 9 years. All that being said, I didn’t do this for the financial side, I did it for fun, educating myself about solar, and reducing my carbon footprint for transportation. We use the FFE for all local driving, occasional longer trips, and used a total about 25 gallons of gas in our first year of ownership. The rest of the miles were courtesy of the sun! I’ve had a couple folks ask about sourcing the equipment. I get all my solar equipment from Northern Arizona Wind and Sun. They offer both individual items as well as complete pre-built systems like mine.

I took my '17 FFE in for the steering bolt recall and on the way home from the dealership after the repair I noticed my audio system would not turn on and my navigation system was not working. So back it went (1-1/2 hour round trip to the dealer). They had it for 2 full days. They spent a lot of time assuming it was operator error and tried resetting everything multiple times. Eventually they figured out it was a fried audio/nav ECU and replaced it. All is now ok. Although they didn't tell me this, I wonder if the computer was blitzed by the steering wheel work. The airbag has to come out and the steering column has to be disassembled a bit to get at the steering wheel bolt. The 12V battery should be disconnected when all that happens. Perhaps the recall wasn't done quite right? Anyway, all's well that ends well and my FFE has a tight steering wheel and working electronics. I'm looking forward to spring weather and finally removing the winter tires!

My wife and I are looking around a bit already after only a year of FFE ownership. We attended the Detroit Auto Show a couple months ago to look around at PEV and PHEV vehicles available. We were fairly disappointed that more manufacturers were not offering new ones that were affordable and/or didn't have an awkward avant-garde look to them. My overall favorites were the Audi A3 E-Tron and the Honda Clarity Plug-In, so we are going to track how Audi and Honda do with those. We are leery of Honda hybrids because we had massive, expensive failures in 2 previous versions of the Civic Hybrid. I hope Honda is now getting it right. For our FFE, when we bought it used last year, we simply didn't realize what a big deal it would be to have such a small trunk and low roof-line. Although we are in no hurry, we are likely to sell our Ford this year if the right alternative comes along. The writer a few posts ago that mentioned the FFE being a "gateway drug" for electric vehicles is similar to our situation. We are hooked!

My '17 FFE VIN is covered by the steering recall. My dealer put me on a first come, first serve waiting list for the repair that will start AFTER the bolt arrives at the service department. They told me it would probably be April before the part arrived and then they would call me when my work order came up. I took the bottom cover off my steering column but couldn't see up into the steering wheel area for a bolt(s). There is a single bolt clamping a smooth collar to a smooth shaft down near the firewall and if it came loose there would be no steering, but I'm not sure that's the problem area since the recall says "wheel", not "shaft". Meanwhile, my wife and I wonder if our car is safe to drive or are we rolling the dice that the good folks in Hermosillo got our bolt tight?

Thanks. That's what I figured. I'm considering replacing the 12V battery proactively with the Odyssey AGM that fits. I don't mind working hot with a second battery hooked up under the hood either. I just have to decide if it's worth $230.

If I replace the 12V battery and disconnect the leads, what will need to be reset in the car after connecting the new battery? Car is a '17 FFE Titanium.

I messed with the auto update feature of '17 for too long, trying everything I could think of. Finally gave in and did the USB update process and it worked fine, so I'm now on version 2.3. However, I did have to use a PC, since the MAC version of the USB file download does not work (no program I know of will properly decode the compressed files).

Within the next month, I'll be installing a set of Michelin X-Ice on my Energi. I have used the X-Ice previously on Honda and Subaru vehicles and have been very impressed with their winter behavior here in Michigan.

As you are deciding, make sure you consider the warranty. That 2014 may be out of the basic factory full car warranty. Unless you know the history of the car and can confirm no issues, buying one with the factory warranty in force might be good. As posted in other threads, the Energi can depreciate fairly quickly in some markets. We bought our 2017 as a corporate exec lease with 9XXX miles for about $17,000 less than the MSRP. Nice car, and no gas bought yet (3 months and counting).

Welcome. You've followed a similar path to me; the Energi is my first Ford. Enjoy!

The posts above have nailed it. No go for a single small solar panel to do anything useful related to the Energi. Your questions indicate you should take the advice from @flyingcheesehead and find a good local installer to answer your questions in context of your local situation. If you want to do further reading on your own about solar energy, I recommend the web site of Northern Arizona Wind and Sun. NAWS has dedicated a large portion of their site to solar energy systems education. It's not specific to charging an electric vehicle, but is all good info that will help.

Way to go! You'll continue loving the car, I bet. I sure like mine and I bought it under very similar circumstances to your purchase. I'm really impressed with the entire system(s) of the car and haven't used the ICE since we brought it home from the dealership last spring! I would, however, caution you to not rely only on Internet posts for your information about battery management. There is a remarkable amount of simply incorrect information out there that gets repeated and eventually treated as fact. Get your info from a reliable source like the owner's manual, manufacturer, or independent trade/consumer magazines with writers paid to get the facts. You may be avoiding actions you don't really need to avoid or not avoiding action that you should avoid which will lessen the cars ability to manage itself and your ability to enjoy the car! I'm just learning about all this myself and the PhD scientist in me is enjoying the hunt for valid and reliable info about this electronic marvel on wheels.

My system is not grid-tie. That is way too complicated bureaucratically for me. My panels charge a large battery bank that in turn charge the car through an inverter. I'll post complete details in a new thread when I get the system operational very shortly.

Check with Carfax or similar reporting system and see when the '14 was purchased and put into service. If it's less than 36 months ago, it would still have 1000 miles (or the remaining time) left on the full factory warranty and that's worth a lot on these complex cars. If something was goofy, Ford would fix it.