Life with an Electric daily has been far different than I ever expected. I expected big changes that never happened, and things have happened I never expected. Let' start with what I expected that didn't happen.
1. I've never had a problem with this thing. Ever. Everything has always worked. I was worried I'd have software bugs, or other issues computers usually have, but so far none. It's been a pleasure to drive.
2. It's been easy to get serviced. I was worried when I had problems with the purchase dealer, that I would have trouble finding another dealer to service it. No such problem. Damerow Ford has been everything a dealer should be. Had I known, I'd have leased the car with them.
3. The battery has run out once. We forgot to charge it, drove off to work, ran out on the way. Tow truck came, but it had to be towed to a charger, instead of just splashing in fuel. However, chargers are everywhere here. So it got towed to work, charged it there. Drove home with a full battery.
4. I still enjoy driving it. I expected to be bored with this thing by now. I still love it. In case you don't remember, it's 143hp 184 lb/ft. All the torque is great, but the eco-tires slow it down because they slip a lot, and the Traction Control can't be turned off. :/
5. I have never had to cancel a trip for lack of range. I expected that I'd have range issues but I really never have to go more than 50m in any one direction in a single day. Even if we do go somewhere, we can usually charge while we are there, and the middle 1/3 charges pretty fast.
But there are a lot more things I didn't expect. Not all of them are good. Some of them I don't know how to feel about.
6. I miss engine noises.
7. I like the quiet. So yeah. I don't know how to feel. I will admit to making engine noises more than once when I was bored. However, I only miss it accelerating. I like it when I'm cruising. No long unending drone. It's nice when you're trying to hold a conversation.
8. The winter is especially annoying. There are a few reasons here. First of all the heat. Using the heater cuts the range in half. There is no excess heat like an ICE. This has made things annoying. I have to charge the car daily instead of every 2 days, but that's not the worst of it.
9. The car has to be plugged in when it's under 35f. So far it has cost me an extra $200 a month to operate, between the excess power used for heat while driving, and the power required to warm the batteries at night. This drastically affects the value of electricity vs gas. In the winter, it's pretty much a wash, and it's not that cold here.
10. 184 lb/ft of torque at idle sounds amazing until you're trying to do a slow start on ice. This thing spins it's wheels. Thanks largely in part to the eco-tires. Next winter I will run snows and see if that helps.
11. Normal cars smell. I never noticed how much until I started driving this daily. I'm not complaining, but it's like riding in a diesel when you're used to a gas. You notice all the smells you'd otherwise be used to.
12. I kinda find transmissions annoying now, even my manual. When the argument was change gears myself vs let the machine do it, I wanted to do it. The Focus doesn't have one at all. Just never shift. I'll still never own an auto, but I'll take the non transmission option if I can.
13. I forget that I need to go somewhere to get fuel for my truck. I've gotten used to checking energy levels when I get home, I forget to look while I'm out on the truck, and that has almost caused problems.
14. I get free electricity all the time. Lifetime I've regenerated about 1/4 of my miles driven, and there are free chargers a lot of places.
15. Using a public pay charger is expensive. Almost twice what it costs me to charge at home.
All in all I like it. Batteries still need to catch up, but that doesn't help the winter power consumption issues. It would just help store enough power to make it easier to live with. I'm very happy with it, and we've talked about buying ti when the lease is up. Ford is promising to double the range of our batteries, but no idea what that upgrade would cost. The costs to operate aren't as low as I had originally planned, given winter. This is a problem as I was planning the lower operational costs to offset the purchase price. It's still in total cheaper than a gas car, but not by as much as I expected.
I still have another year and a half on the lease. I'm tempted to buy it because I can't imagine what we'd replace it with. The Focus is a well refined chassis. It's been developed over decades and millions of cars. It drives great. Ford did an excellent job making it electric. My only worry is the eventual replacement of the batteries, and the costs associated. Oh, and I still laugh at Leafs as a power past them, while have a larger range.
