meyersnole

Interesting... if at first it does not work... ignore it and have the car surprise you with -- "would you like to hear the msg?" And for the best part, the first msg I get is "Check this crap out http...." My wife was in the car with me an absolutely lost it laughing. Thanks Scooter for the tip, it seems to be working now. Oh... and the link I got was from my neighbor where our wonderful elected officials are trying to outlaw selling Teslas in the state because they don't use a dealership network. Got to love how they are out for the peoples best interests (NOT). http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/09/2883125/law-would-stop-tesla-electric.html

I am pretty sure you should always leave it plugged in when you are home. The charging system will turn itself off when its done charging.

I spoke with someone I know who bought a Tesla S (performance model), and he did not describe his purchase as an EV. He bought a sports car that just happens to be an EV. He was comparing it to a Porsche Panamera and Cadillac CTS-V.

Been reading other forums with others having mixed results. Just tried deleting the device and re-adding it (no luck). See another suggestion of deleting it, performing a Master Rest on MFT but not willing to do that tonight (just finished resetting up all my quick dials) Gives me hope that I might be able to get it to work... just not tonight. For others who might want to try... http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forums/2011-mustang-talk/358535-ios-6-sync-map-bluetooth-profile-iphone-2.html#post3210979

You had me excited there for a moment. Maybe it's the Sprint version that is messing me up, but still no go. Won't send text and won't read them when received.

I tried to setup SMS (text) to speech on my car today and was disappointed to find out that it did not work. Quick trip to google shows that the iPhone is not supported for this feature. What?? 30% or more of the smartphone market, and that is not one of the first ones you support? Looking through the feature support, its pretty spotty on that feature. Hopefully they are still working the kinks out... http://www.nsapp.fordtechservice.dealerconnection.com/sync/usEN/sync_us_EN_iop_2_00.pdf Anybody have this feature working? Am I missing much?

There is also a 30A with 18' cord for just under $600, and a 30A with 25' cord for $750.... not bad. Would love to see some reviews on these. Bosch is pretty mainstream though, I might have to add this to my consideration list.

I know there is at least one more in my area ;) but I have not seen another one yet either. I have also seen multiple Volts, lots of Leafs, both flavors of Tesla, and a pair of Fiskers. Not sure I would recognize a Prius plug in if I saw one, do they look different then the regular Prius?

My preferred method!

Thanks for following up on this 47... I am not due to go to the dealer until I do a tire rotation in like 6 months or so. I will probably mention it to the dealer to get it put on the record, but plan to see what your outcome is before I push on it. You hear so many noises in this car that you would not normally hear because its so quiet! Backing up this morning I could hear the brakes grabbing, very odd... guess regen does not work in reverse!

Welcome to the boards younghov22! That is one of the possible routes. If you have to have the Ford logo on your charger. There are many different options though for L2 chargers. I myself am still using the charger that sold with the car, although I probably will install a L2 charger and am debating the Levitron models against the GE and Siemens chargers. I do think the consensus is that the Geek Squad offers little value add for their $99 charge.

Russael - I do apologize for making you defensive, that was not my intent at all. I appreciate a good discussion, and this one has been excellent. I should probably put it in my footer, but preface what I say with these are my opinions and I really am not trying to push them on you, just explain where I am coming from. Back to the conversation. In your first point of the rebate, the companies spend a great deal of effort to price these correctly and then make adjustments (rebates / promotions) to react to market conditions. Again, not my area of expertise so take these comments for what they are worth. So, yes the business takes advantage of the rebate and local incentives in addition to marketing the value of buying green to create worth. Jeff's approach is the rationalization of the purchase, which again I (personally, myself) do not believe works. I am not going to put it into a spreadsheet because there are too many variables that are unknown so you must make an assumption. Fuzzy data in, fuzzy data out. I like your approach of comparing similar cars, I really do... let me play devil's advocate for a moment. You picked the higher trim because that is the only one available (smart choice by Ford in my opinion), but what about the buyer with limited resources that would like to adopt this technology (efficiency) but is not interested leather, moon roofs, technology packages, etc? If there is a 9K delta for the battery, why can I not get base Fusion with the battery? ($31K - $3,751) How many of those puppies would sell? (And how much money would Ford lose on each one sold). The point I am trying to make is that its not a linear equation. Even though Ford is selling a $40 something thousand dollar Fusion.. the profit margin on the energi is probably very low relative to say selling a $40K Mustang or Explorer, at least now. But on the flip side of that how much is it worth to Ford to attract a buy such as myself who has never bought a Ford before (or any other US manufacturer for that matter)? Side comment: Still think they should have considered launching this technology in the Lincoln brand to attracted more like myself. On seeing Fusions everywhere. I have seen a few here, but I also see a huge marketing campaign from Ford on this car because they know they have a winner. In the words of Billy Crystal it "looks marvelous, absolutely marvelous". I really do expect to see quite a few of them on the road over the next few year. It could be even a bigger hit for Ford then the Taurus was in the 90s, and that would be saying something. I don't hang out at car dealerships, so I have no idea how many are on the lot verses waiting on custom order. In my mind Ford is bungling this one. 4+ months for a special order is about twice the time it should take. Given its a new model year I would think 12 weeks as the outside time it should take... especially if they want people out there evangelizing these cars. If they treat us as sold already so we don't matter, then that is being very short sighted. I can appreciate wanting some inventory, but take care of your customers especially when they are early adopters of technology. (By that I mean prioritize the energi's over the 1.6 ecoboost custom orders). I very strongly considered the looking at the Tesla and it is with in my means, but at this time it does not meet my value criteria. No car is really worth that much money to me, I am currently pushing my neighbor to buy one so I can drive it though! Thank you again for the well thought out conversation, again please do not take anything I say directly or personally. I truly respect and understand your opinions, even the ones I do not share. To close I fall in the inline with the comment made above by rprobst: "In my town, people don't challenge the decision to buy a car because you value it. I see at least one Tesla every day, and I often see Porsches, Maseratis, Ferraris, and other fancy icons. So nobody blinks about seeing an FFE." I don't often see Maseratis and Ferraris, but I do see them occasionally along with Fiskers, Mercedes, Lexus, you name it. From a local car club: https://www.facebook.com/groups/258619767576809/photos/ <== check it out, quite a few cool cars

Thanks for sharing that. I think it is yet another sign of this segment growing. It was not that long ago that the terms hybrid vehicle and prius were synonymous. Now all of the major vehicle producers, including the Porsche's of the world have one. Ford seems to be making a commitment here, but I would like to see it continue like Toyota which offers nearly all of its vehicles with a hybrid platform option (or plans to do so).

Russael, hopefully you don't think I am attacking you. I think we are on a lot more common ground than you think. Its probably more me than anything else, but the main argument I hear against buying into this technology is that its too expensive. I usually reply with the reasoning that I give above. People buy many types of vehicles for many reasons and they do not make economic sense. Pick any one metric to drill down on and the numbers will not make sense. 0-60 times for example can cost $10,000s to shave fractions of a second. Until you introduce the value concept. Another scenario that is likely to happen is that technology will continue to improve, reducing the future cost of the technology making things like battery replacement cheaper. It was a poor choice of words to say fun with numbers, but as I mentioned I was tired and did not want to block copy the work to make the point that I do not factor that type of information into my buying decision, at least not at that precision. Instead I tend to pay more attention to overall brand reputation (which Ford has been improving upon greatly) and usually look at projected resale of that model (which is almost always wrong at the when the time comes) when buying a car. In this case I think any projection would be wild speculation, as we are at the beginning of a new type of car. Focusing this back to the original topic, 365 cars sold, is obviously less than Ford can sell (or there would not be a ton of people on these forums saying WHERE IS MY CAR???) but they also don't want to have a whole lot of these on the lots and end up with a ton of inventory like Chevy and the Volt. We are paying a premium to buy these cars but at the same time are paving the way for this new segment. It appears that this is already more interest in these type of cars than originally speculated. I toyed with idea of buying a Tesla (or Leaf / Focus EV), I did not for many of the same reasons that people would not buy a energi. As long as there is enough people willing to buy into each of these segments there will be incentive to improve the economics (main part being the cost of the battery and R&D in how to lay out the drivetrain). Chevy, Ford, Toyota, and startups like Fisker and Tesla etc will continue to get the cost as close as they can and bridge the gap with value. Higher gas prices, the desire to promote alternative energy, and federal incentives will help with that value. Your statement about the Fusion Hybrid being the best value. It was good to see that demonstrated, as I have pushed a few people that direction when they approach this car solely on the economics -- a few of my past ramblings. This technology has gotten quite mature. It also has benefited from the evolution of the segment with better battery chemistry and more efficient drivetrains. While this segment use to require a tax incentive to purchase, it now commands a premium. We have bought into the idea that the PHV will also reach that status, but it will take time. Remember when looking at that article that it relates to the Leaf's battery and setup. Ford spent considerable time approaching this issue and has significant cooling / heating system (thanks Tesla for proving this works!) that will perform differently than Nissan's attempt at the issue. Funny you mentioned looking at OH, and the first thing I thought was Canada (I used Toronto) as a datapoint. What part of Michigan are you in? I was born just outside Detroit many years ago.

OK... there are two topics in there, let me see if I can explain myself. (Warning, it has been a very long week and I am tired so I may ramble or be a little incoherent) 1) While I agree with most of what you said, I 100% disagree with the statement that cars are not about economics. Cars are made by a business, and that business's goal is to make money. People buy what they can afford (well, most of them anyway) and the electric car for the most part is out of reach. Businesses are all about economics, indeed. But you have to introduce the concept of value when you have these discussions. For example, I do not agree with your statement of people buy what they can afford. Many people perceive value in certain cars and spend in excess of what they can afford leveraging future wealth. Others perceive little value in any type of car and buy whatever is pragmatic or utility. Many in between. It is the value you place on comfort, safety, performance, efficiency, status, and reliability among other attributes makes it worth it or not. The economics of similar car Ford Fusion gas vs that same car as an Energi does not have to pay for itself over its lifetime to be "worth" it. Nor in my opinion can it, at least today. 2) Fun with numbers I stopped trying to analyze your numbers when you said your break even was 15 or 16 years. Unfortunately each cycle (charge) we take reduces the capacity of the battery just a little. How little is really dependant on your climate http://www.mynissanleaf.com/wiki/index.php?title=Battery_Capacity_Loss I looks like I can expect about 9 years life from battery, while you should get in the 13 to 14 year range. However performance is traded for life. I would get more energy per cycle at the higher temps. I am not an ee and not going to pretend like I really understand this beyond the basics. In any case, you can not use your numbers as a constant to prove your point. ====== Making my statement another way without using the word economics. This type of vehicle will not become mainstream until the price point and total cost of ownership roughly equates to traditional gas powered cars. I did not factor total cost of ownership when purchasing this car, nor is that a factor in many of my past purchases (BMW, Acura, etc). I am a technology nut and a car guy. I appreciate the technology and driver experience. Sometimes I value speed and precision this time valued efficiency over performance. Simply, this car was worth it to me.

Malibu, did you see that I filled in all the colors on the order sheet and sent it back to your email?

Yes. We are the early adopters. And for the privilege of being among the first to drive around in extended range electric vehicles (either by gas supplement or larger batteries) we are willing to pay a premium. There is no arguing the economics of our car choice, even if you electric bill was half what it currently is you will not make up the difference in cost of that battery, today (from its gas powered equivalent). However, the EV1 and early hybrid vehicles once faced this same problem. Expensive lead acid and ni mh technology worked against Toyota but they made the Prius work anyway. With a 10% ($2,000) federal tax incentive on a $20,000 car smaller than a Corolla, the company claimed it broke even. Look at the Prius now, while not the profit engine that SUVs were for Ford and others, it controls a sizable market of next generation cars and has even licensed its technology to other car companies (at least Nissan). In 2009 Honda claimed to make about 15% profit on the insight, it is guessed the Prius is slightly less. From the consumer end, the older Prius' on the road in need of a better charge are benefiting from the new found interest in electric propulsion and can replace their packs for about $2,600 or about the cost of a transmission repair. My hope is that if I keep this car longer than the battery warranty (unlikely) then the next battery this car sees will be much cheaper and have significantly more power storage in its chemistry (very likely). And I am banking on that, as I don't want to have a car five to seven years from now that someone is afraid to buy due to unknown or prohibitive maintenance expense. I think the odds are in our favor that the same joy we receive out of driving these cars -- as well as evangelizing to everyone who says "whoa nice car -- what? That's electric??? No way!" about how great this car really is. Most cars are not about economics anyway. Not sure why so many try to debate them all that way. A car for the masses however is about economics and when there is an electric or PHEV model that economical, it will become popular. Given the progression from hybrid to EV / PHEV and the push for energy independence would lead you to believe its only a matter of time before the economics work themselves out.

:) Ahhh... not a particularly good speller. Caret is what I meant to type.

From memory I am not sure if the carrot shows when the circle does. The carrot shows up during cruising, as in downhill and the excess energy is stored back into the battery. The circle is much more energy from brake regeneration then the carrot from downhill.

Pretty sure it includes the installation charges as well, not just the cost of the charger. Most of us don't like playing with 240v current and pay someone to do it for us.

Sweet!

Congrats newbeetle! Another energi gliding around the triangle.

Welcome Neil

Per the link that I posted above, your rear windows (both doors and rear window) have no legal light restrictions. Looks like the drivers doors Must allow more than 33% of light in.

In North Carolina the legal limit on tint would prevent that from happening here (no darker then 35% all around). Some states have no restrictions on the rear windows, here is a tool to see what your rules are: http://www.tri-statewindowtint.com/us-state-tint-laws.html Did you ask for darker tint on the rear? Or it just seems darker? I have the 35% on mine (legal limit) and have no issues, would have gone darker if I could have.