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Not Quite New Energi Owner


markb
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I was told six weeks and it's been a bit over four.  I guess I should check back with the dealer.  I wasn't going to report in until I had it but, for those considering a Level 2 home charger station, I did quite a bit of research and concluded the Siemens Versicharge had the best package of features:  1) A 20 foot cord;  2) A delay feature up to 8 hours (our power company offers a discount for charging late at night and 3) a NEMA 4 enclosure (waterproof, not just water tight).  Bought it from Amazon (free shipping and no tax). We live in a 60's home with a carport so the charger, while protected from normal rain, is exposed to the weather if there is a strong wined.  That positioning works out great in my case because the main electrical feed to the house is just around the corner of the wall at the far end of the car port where I had the electrician mount the charging station.  So, there it is, lonely and waiting for something to charge!  :waiting: 

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4 weeks... oh it's so cute. I was 149 days order to delivery... heck I went 15 weeks before a VIN. Granted, I ordered 2 weeks before they started scheduling, but still.

 

I was quoted 12 - 20 weeks. At this point you are looking at a 2014 as they aren't scheduling 2013s anymore and not building 2014s for 2 weeks yet.

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Welcome, markb. I've had my 2013 Fusion Energi for 3 months and it continues to amaze me. The regen process, even after the EV portion of the battery has been initially depleted, is remarkable. Only put 23 gallons in tank since April 5th. 1750 miles. 

 

I didn't order one in advance but found the car to be so scarce (as in "none") that I put a deposit on one while it was still on the train from Mexico. I really would have preferred the SE's tan cloth interior but am coming to appreciate all the options on the Titanium. 

 

I am retired so I just use a standard 120v wall outlet to charge the car every night but let us know how the Siemens does. There have been a few times that I wish I had a quick charger if I need to run out for a 2nd time that day. One gets so spoiled driving in EV Mode. 

 

This forum has been so helpful. Don't be a stranger. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just picked mine up yesterday.   I was not expecting it to be quite so gorgeous.   It feels like a luxury car compared to my wife's 2010 Fusion Hybrid.  Spent quite a bit of time trolling this board for information on getting an Alternative Fuel license plate here in Georgia and took the printouts to the dealer.  They seems to understand and committed to getting it done right.  I have my fingers crossed.  Now the real challenge -- figuring out all the technology.  I ordered everything so there is a lot to learn (and I'm a techie)!

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Just picked mine up yesterday.   I was not expecting it to be quite so gorgeous.   It feels like a luxury car compared to my wife's 2010 Fusion Hybrid.  Spent quite a bit of time trolling this board for information on getting an Alternative Fuel license plate here in Georgia and took the printouts to the dealer.  They seems to understand and committed to getting it done right.  I have my fingers crossed.  Now the real challenge -- figuring out all the technology.  I ordered everything so there is a lot to learn (and I'm a techie)!

 

Glad to hear you got it... you may have seen a posting about this already, but just in case - you said yours is loaded, so see that slot on the top of the dash right in your line of sight, about 8" wide or so?  That's the collision avoidance feature, and when it goes off it blasts a red light up onto the windshield and starts beeping loudly.  Follow a car that is making a right turn into a driveway and purposefully coast a bit close while that car is turning, and BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP off goes the avoidance alarm.  if you aren't aware of this feature, the first time it goes off it can scare the pants off of you (it sure did for us), so I figure maybe a heads up may be in order.   Enjoy the car!

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Hi, markb. Yes, the car has so many bells and whistles - literally! It just takes a while to learn which ones are serious, although most are just to warn you. 

 

The people in this forum are wonderful. I was talking to 2 Ford salesmen the other day and can see that they still don't have much of a clue. You will get much better advice from this forum, although my Ford service adviser seems to be pretty knowledgeable.

 

Be sure to install the MyFord Mobile app and check out all its features. But if you ask a question here, it will probably be answered within hours, if not minutes. 

 

Enjoy your Fusion Energi!

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Thanks, I'm definitely learning a lot.  Installed MyFord Mobile on our iPad before I even got the car.  Linked it yesterday and almost nothing works (lots of red circles with slashes through them) but I understand from a thread on this board that I have to await a second notification that may not come for a day or more -- strange.  Wonder what that's about?

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Thanks, I'm definitely learning a lot.  Installed MyFord Mobile on our iPad before I even got the car.  Linked it yesterday and almost nothing works (lots of red circles with slashes through them) but I understand from a thread on this board that I have to await a second notification that may not come for a day or more -- strange.  Wonder what that's about?

That is to prevent someone taking a test drive and taking control of the car.  The second request in the car will be at least 24 hours after the first one.

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Got the second request and the app now works.   Functional but hardly impressive.  I'm loving the car but I don't think Ford really has their act together yet with respect to documentation, training aids, apps, etc.  Seems awfully disjointed to me. 

 

Moving on to my next Energi "adventure".  Signed up for GA Power's PEV rate plan (1.3 cents/KWH from 11PM - 7 AM) and programmed the car to recharge then.  Plugged it in.  My Siemens Versicharge charging light came on but the app says "waiting to charge".  Anyone run into this kind of behavior when, presumably, the charging station doesn't realize the car is programmed for specific hours?

Edited by markb
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The car is drawing 60 watts of power for the on-board electronics in the car waiting to charge at 11 pm.  The light on the charger will come on if the car draws any power from the charger, even only 60 watts.  If you have the Versicharge, you could simply use the delay feature on the charger to delay charging until 11 pm.   That way you would not be wasting 60 watts of power waiting until 11 pm. 

Edited by larryh
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  I'm loving the car but I don't think Ford really has their act together yet with respect to documentation, training aids, apps, etc.  Seems awfully disjointed to me. 

Plenty of how-to videos here. :)

 

https://owner.ford.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Owner/Page/OwnerVideoPage&year=2013&make=Ford&model=Fusion%20Energi

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Wow, this board is fabulous!  I guess that really shouldn't be a surprise though and I would imagine a poll of Energi owners would reveal we're hardly typical particularly with respect to our technical knowledge. 

 

Larry, thanks for the information which, like most things, seems obvious once you know them. Clearly the car does use the charging station for all power if it's plugged in given the feature that it will come to a set temperature at a set time after charging.

 

I'm very surprised, however, that the car would draw 60 watts to run some solid state circuitry that is doing nothing more than checking the time and is otherwise in "idle" mode -- seems like an awful lot.  I'm curious, how did you find that out?  Not disputing you in any way, just curious as to where that sort of information is available. 

 

Guess this does make me feel better about buying the Versicharge -- the delay feature was one of the reasons I chose it (along with the NEMA 4 enclosure -- since mine is pretty exposed to the weather; the 20 foot cord so that it could reach my wife's car should she ever decide to get with the program; and the way the cord wraps around the charging station keeping the overall size small).  From what I could see, they all cost pretty much the same anyway so why not go for the extra features?  Any comments on that?

Edited by markb
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I submitted a question at the MyFord Mobile web site asking why the car was drawing 60 watts of power waiting to charge when the charge settings were set to value charge.  I have a Kill A Watt electricity meter attached to the outlet I use for the 120 volt charger that came with the car.  They called me back a week later stating that the electricity is used to power the modules used to charge the HV battery and also to charge the 12 V battery while waiting to begin charging the HV battery.  I suppose the control modules require similar power to a PC to operate.

 

Most 30 amp chargers cost about the same, so pick the one with the features that you want.  There is a 20 and a 30 amp charger for about $600, but they don't have the features of the Versicharge.  I am considering the Versicharger charger for its delay feature.  I don't want the charger to consume any power during peak electric rates.  So Value Charge is not of much use to me.

Edited by larryh
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Here in Georgia the "putative" rate (20 cents) ends at 6PM (and is only in the summer, of course) so if I plug in my Energi after 6 at least I'm not paying a high rate for the 60 watts.

 

Another question for anyone out there.  When I got in the car this morning it said it had 22 miles of EV range.  By the time I got to the street (300 feet or so) that had dropped to 18 miles.  At the end of my short trip (less than a mile) it was 17.  Now, when I check MyFord Mobile it's back up to 20 (its been parked all the while at the subway station I use to get to work).  Anyone else seen this sort of behavior?  Does it go away in time as the car has time to "break in"?

 

So far, I'm happy with the Verichage, works as advertised.  I would buy it again if I started all over. Strange that so few chargers (the new Blink is the exception that comes to mind but I really don't like their cord storage solution - takes too much vertical space) don't offer delay charging.

Edited by markb
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TX NRB,  thanks for the link to the videos.  I actually found them myself (there was a tiny link on some other Ford web page I visited).  However, they only cover "the basics".  I couldn't find any on the options (like Self Parking and Collision Detection) which are really the features I was most interested in reviewing.  I did find the video on programming the left and right dashboard areas useful.  Am I the only person who wishes you could display gauges (e.g. engine temperature, RPM, etc.) in the right area?  Everything currently there, except the leaf display, is redundant with the MyFord Touch display.

Edited by markb
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