meyersnole

As they should be... Mobile phones were once free to get us to sign up, now that everyone has one we are gladly paying retail for them every 2 years. Carbon tax will raise the price electricity and speed the migration to renewables. Once the renewable infrastructure is in place the price may settle.

Tesla has frequently acknowledged that they will not be profitable until the model 3 is successful. To date the company has a large amount of ramp cost to make the company successful. The cost to build an electric fueling network is not taken on by other private interests as there are not enough cars to justify the investment. They also need to build the facilities to create cars at the rate of demand. The good news is that once the investment is made, hopefully the maintenance of that network will prove much more financially manageable. We are also now seeing investment from more established in the industry since the market for this type of transportation has been justified. As to solar panels. Today we have much more efficient panels then we had a decade ago. So much more efficient that we now have significant lobbied interest from the established power companies to remove or even tax installations by private citizens. Dirty fuels are are subsidized in many ways, one is by the shift of the healthcare burden to public or or private interest. These industries are also regulated in a manner that they are guaranteed a profit (although limited) and subsidized for expansion.

2019 Ford 'Model E' hybrid, electric car coming from Mexico plant? Ford to invest $1.6 billion in new Mexico small-car plant, create 2,800 jobs Looks like the Model E is targeted for production in 2018 as a 2019 model, replaces the C-Max but may look more like the Focus and will not have a gasoline only engine. (Hybrid, PHEV, & BEV).

You can also go back and look at photos from US cities in the 1970s compared to today to see the impact of emission regulation (the clean air act).

You do not have to believe that we need to return to times before the middle ages to understand that we (humans) are having a profound impact on this planet. An impact that may or may not be recoverable. Probably depends on your definition of what recoverable means. Forget about climate change for a minute and just think about the ecosystems that have been changed by clearing forests, over fishing, chemicals dumped into the water systems, watersheds destroyed for development, or water sources drained for commercial development and on and on.... Non renewable power creation and emissions from vehicles have a significant impact on our health and is linked to aggravated asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, lung and heart diseases, and respiratory allergies. Truth is that cars are destroying us... just slowly. Are cars more of an issue than any other number of things humans are doing (like cutting down the amazon forest?) to this planet? Does the proportion really matter? Transportation by electricity is just part of a solution, does it really help if emissions are shifted to non renewable power creation, maybe some due to efficiency. We continue to reduce emissions and improve efficiency to stay ahead of the number of power plants required or cars on the road. Only have to look to China or other populous places on this planet to see that the air becomes toxic if we don't at least try. I would not call a vision of electrified transportation supported by wind/solar/geo/tides/dams ... in conjunction with a better storage medium (the better battery) back to the middle ages. Not sure what has been done or seriously proposed would be considered over reaction.

Welcome to the forum Ford Doctor... look around, there is a ton of information already in this forum, but if you can not find what you are looking for or just want to chat in the lounge then start a topic... This is a pretty active community and questions do not stay unanswered very long. :)

Tesla to 'Rethink' Model 3 Production Due to Huge Demand 180,000 pre orders on first day. Pretty impressive for an order you had to put money down and would not receive the car for a year or more. Maybe Ford will move up its plans on Model E? Will be interesting to see what kind of affect this has on GM and the Bolt... did they get it out fast enough and will this help or hurt their market?

Did not have any issues with the seats keeping their programming, but my windows needed to be reset all the time. Right before my car went out of warranty I just took it in and told them about it. There was a software update, but it did not resolve the issue. Brought it back and they replaced the switch and have not had any issues since.

At 16,000 miles and less than 3 years issues are covered by the manufacturer's warranty. I would challenge anyone to name a car that has not had some cars that were problematic. Having said that, this car has had more than its fair share of problems. On my 2013 car most of them were fairly minor. A washer added to keep the car from pinging as I drove off, replacing the window switches because they could not keep their programming (even after the software update), countless software updates (and there are still bugs in MFT), and a few recalls. Fortunately I have not been hit with improperly wired cars (shorting issues), transmission failures, or main battery failure that have all been discussed. Having said that, I bought a car that can read the road and nudge the steering wheel when I am drifting, slow the car when I am about to run up on the car in front of me, tell me when a car is riding in my blind spot, do most of the work for me if I want to parallel park, and give me mountains of data on what is going on with the car as I drive. Any one of these systems fail and the warranty is paid for and that is before the labor to put it back in the car. We have long past the days of fuel/air/electricity to make a car go. Have been for a while. Not just this car, all of them. In the past I just use to sell a car before it turned 60K-75K on the ODO because I do not like messing with the maint years. Found out that this does not always work with my second BMW (did not keep the first one long enough to know if that would have been an issue -- it kept eating me up replacing tires), but had much better luck with the Acura I replaced it with and kept that car 7 years before buying this car. I would also recommend getting an extended warranty, but not because I think that something is destined to fail but because there is so much tech on this car that the opportunity for failure is high. There are not enough Fusion Energis on the road for Consumer Reports to even acknowledge their existence, but the hybrid and base model for 2013 is listed as a good bet (and 2014, 2015) -- not bad for a major redesign year.

I am pretty sure that I have added files to the stick and had it reindex. Have you tried to go into the system and look for a song drilling through the menu? Will that prompt a reindex? My suggestion is to go the Ford Sync forum and look for the solution as there are a lot more people with experience of the sync system. http://fordsyncforum.com/ You will have to create an id on that forum to post. I did this early on to diagnose some performance issues and they were pretty responsive.

Unfortunately I fear the problem with diagnosing our cars comes down to lack of experience, especially for those of us who own these cars outside of the state of California (where I would guess the majority of these cars were sold). In the US, since 2012 there were only a total of 28,902 Fusion PHEVs sold and even if you add in the CMAX PHEVs at 26,392 that only totals just over 55,000 cars. Even though there are mechanics that are trained to work on these cars they simply do not have a lot of experience working on them. This sometimes leaves us a little frustrated at the dealer as they contact other resources that may have more experience. Could be a lot worse though... there are PHEV cars out there that have only sold in the hundreds... imagine having an issue with a car with that low of production. That is what I find so great about this community. When we share experience and bring that knowledge back to the dealerships it cuts the wait time down considerably. I know the last time I brought my car in and stumped them with the Go Times not working Jeff_h bailed me out with the solution that same day. :) Source: http://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/

The last time I took the car in I had them update the MFT software (because I could not download and update the software myself). My phone and the website would not reconnect to the car until they did a reset by interrupting power at the battery, and then it took some time before it started working again. Basically it reconnected half way home from the dealer (the dealership is over 17 miles from my house). I tried numerous things including deleting the app and reinstalling without success before trying this option. The dealer also was not familiar with the system and not sure what to do.

My car is just out of factory warranty. Does anyone know what happens if there is a TSB (known issue) after the warranty period? I have an extended warranty, but it has a deductible. Am I on the hook for a known problem? It is amazing how much software is involved with this vehicle. Knowing how this industry works that does not exactly make me feel comfortable.

I had that same issue from Acura. Bought the DVD for $149 (normally $199) with free shipping (woohoo!) after 2 years hoping to see all the new roads being built in the area. Unfortunately there was almost no change in the map, just the POI and a fix for daylight savings time. Meanwhile my wife used a little garmin unit that I bought $99 updates for life and they updated quarterly. Was not happy. They said that they did make map updates, it was just not in my area. I still have the same SD card that was in the car when I purchased so I am hoping that the A7 version will be better, but I am going to wait a bit for the price to come down to the $50-$75 range. Still surprised that they eventually get down to that price. I guess that there is a huge mark up from the dealers and the OEM lists that same price when direct marketing. Another example of where you are locked into one method of update, you get what they sell you. Just hoping that the next vehicle that I get will have apple/android integration so I can just use the map program on my phone.

I also had a part broken during this recall. I was provided a rental (a Ford Fusion this time -- usually it was a really small car) and they asked me to give them another day to replace the cable assembly that broke during the repair. I agree, this is a major repair. I am not sure, but I think my keyless entry has worked a little better since the repair.

Looks like the previous owner drove about 74% of the time on battery. So unless your driving habits are the same, you are going to see a drop mpg. Since you have a 2013, you can turn on the MPGe option and see how you are doing including the electric driving. Welcome to the boards! Enjoy your new car.

I got the flyer as well and have read in the past about going the ebay route. How do these people get these? Anyone get burned on one of these purchases? I see that you can get the A7 update now for ~$100... I assume this will drop in a few months to the $50ish level that the A6 update is available for.

Just turned 36K on my 2013. If there are changes in the range they are minimal. I have had a few of the TSBs applied, but for the most part no big issues. I did purchase the extended warranty to 100K miles as this car is pretty complex and any repair could be quite costly.

Can't say this does not intrigue me. http://www.hybridcars.com/2017-chrysler-pacifica-plug-in-hybrid-minivan-to-get-30-miles-ev-range/ 16-kwh battery (30 mile range) 2 hour charging time on 240v Wish Ford would do something similar with the Flex.

I really dislike the decision to not record these short trips. I travel to the local YMCA (1 mile away) or the grocery store (also 1 mile away) five or six times a week. Yet according to the website my car is only charged and not driven.

Welcome to the group jmd

And that is the rub. I like the driving features of the Fusion for travel, but my wife would like a travel car that has a bit more space for the luggage, better seating position, etc. Really surprised that so much of the cars are shared, but you can not get the same options. The C Max is a very nice car.

I would have considered the C-Max but the lack of ACC and other travel friendly features were kinda a deal breaker for me.

This car has definitely changed the way I drive. I seem to get more satisfaction from an efficient launch from a stop light than I use to get from stomping the accelerator and feeling the g force in my previous car. I pay attention to my brake score.. although I have relaxed a bunch and no longer try for 100 each time (too much traffic where I live and don't want to cause issues). But very disappointed if I am not in the 90s! I plan my routes so that I have a fighting chance to make it home without engaging the engine and leave myself more time to make it to my destination. I drive more secondary roads and am not passing many cars anymore. If it is not too cold I might just try the seat warmers rather than the heater on short trips. Why? Because this car does an excellent job of telling me the impact of all of those actions and rewards me with high efficiency ratings when I do them well. Things I don't do... I still turn on the heat or AC when I am in the car for an extended period of time (I have learned that the A/C impacts things much less than the heater... so I am much quicker to turn that on). I just left my climate system on all the time in my other car, I do not do that anymore. I still drive about 5-10 miles over the speed limit on the highway (drive with traffic) even though I know this kills my lifetime MPGe. In the end you have to find that balance that you can live with. This car is helping you become a better driver, by that I mean you are much more in tune with your car -- understanding how your actions impact the efficiency. Something most drivers do not understand. Most of us are competitive and feel compelled to act on that information... welcome to the addiction!

flyingcheesehead, I completely agree with everything you just stated but want to add just a few things. Ford dealerships, at least mine, have been attacked by the same cost cutting that has plagued corporate America. I do not think they allow for proper training but it is still probably expected to happen (mandated). So this leads to a customer experience where I go to pick up my car and the service advisor has 10-15 keys and work orders scattered about his desk. He is answering questions from people who are there, frantically entering in mechanic's notes into the system, resolving the billing (they let the cashier go 2 years ago and moved that responsibility to service rep), and tracking down parts, etc. All three; the mechanic, the service advisor, and the service manager all stared at me with a blank look on their face on various questions I had on a car that is now almost 4 model years (3 calendar years) old -- apologizing that they just don't understand how the systems work. One of my fears in buying $40K car from Ford is that the dealer experience would be far from what I was use to experiencing (@ Acura & BMW my last 2 cars) and so far that is realized. And this is a shame because this really is a wonderful car. It does not appear like like they are not trying, just too few resources and improper training. When they started and announced the whole EV certified dealer program it sounded promising. Wonder what happened? Ford seems to be in a wait and see what happens mode. I would guess they do not want GM to get too far ahead, but at the same time are looking at the lay of the land and notice low fuel prices will harm this market for the foreseeable future. This paid off, but had gas been @ or near $4/gal when GM came out with the Bolt and Ford was still sitting there with an 80 mile Focus... they would have been scrambling. It might take a carbon tax to put more interest in the electric car market, current political climate does not favor that approach. At the end of the day I still enjoy plugging my car in and driving around on electricity. As long as the battery lasts the projected 10 years and it is not too costly to replace I will be very happy overall with my purchase. I am just happy that Tesla is out there pushing this market or it probably would have faded away some time ago.