jdoconn

The ford charger is here: http://ford.leviton.com/ $849

The fan intake in the Fusion Energi which runs most of time when I charge is located under the rear bumper aft of the muffler. There is a metal screen over it. Only issue I see is charging right after running the engine for extended period of time, you would be pulling in air heated by the hot muffler and exhaust piping. With the hybrid I'm sure Ford figures the engine runs infrequently that this is not an issue. But, interstingly they put a heat shield on the bottom of the plastic bumper which is aft of the fan intake. Hmm.

Holy crap! $0.50/kW-hr that's like $7/gallon; way more more than gas @ 40MPG.

FYI - The 120V charger operates around 1350W, 12A draw.

Extension cords on spools is not a good idea unless you unwind the length first. At 120v the charger/car will draw ~12A. depending on the gage wire could be a safety issue for fire and even then you will still have heating of the coil. Extension cords that are 12 gage wire or heavier are fine to use just don't leave the wire bunched up and risk heating the cable possibly causing a fire. The wiring in your house is a type of "extension cord"

Great work! Look similar to altenator values on standard car batteries with the engine running. Recharging the battery and making sure nothing in the charging cycle depletes the battery.

Unwinding the cord is an electrical heating safety issue and has nothing to do with final state of charge the car receives. The surrounding temp and initial battery temp when charging could play a favorable role in increasing what that final state of charge would be but generally is outside your control. On a cool night 65F-70F with the car cooled off, I've noticed the same increase in final SOC ~26-28. A good practice with extension cords as well is to lay them out unwound especially with high loads. Wound extension cords, say 100', have been know to generate enough heat to catch fire when drawing heavy, 20amps, loads. Most chargers has short cords, mine is 18' and I doubt you can wind that heavy cord enough times to really become a safety concern. However, it's a good safety practice and any energy that goes into heating the cord, the charger or your battery is paid for all the same and is ultimately wasted.

USAA = Best customer service, best rates. I'll never leave them. State Farm = Don't know about the rates but I've heard horror stories about customer service. Differing priorities I guess.