On Order!!!!

[dwf1]

I am 186 miles from my daughters home. I could get to New Haven, CT but then I have an 80 mile stretch with no known charging stations. It is $250 to ship to RI so why sweat the risk.... My wife is excited about the car, but I do not want her to have "charge anxiety" the first time out

I do appreciate hearing about the experience you gathered from the Volt. I am one of these guys who believe what people tell me. So, if you don't know, just be quite. I am quiet willing to wait. I just hate thinking something is going to happen and then be disappointed.

[Marc Lee]

Originally Posted by dwf1

I am 186 miles from my daughters home. I could get to New Haven, CT but then I have an 80 mile stretch with no known charging stations. It is $250 to ship to RI so why sweat the risk.... My wife is excited about the car, but I do not want her to have "charge anxiety" the first time out

I do appreciate hearing about the experience you gathered from the Volt. I am one of these guys who believe what people tell me. So, if you don't know, just be quite. I am quiet willing to wait. I just hate thinking something is going to happen and then be disappointed.

Totally agree that they should not give out a "firm" date and then blow it off when it comes and goes.

80 mile stretch eh. Is it highway or is it possible to do that stretch via secondary roads? I guess my thinking is I trust you to handle your car more than I do someone else, but I am probably tainted by some nightmare videos I have seen that were shot of shippers handling some of the Volts.

And also a guy posted a story recently of a shipper who drove his Volt around for a couple days. With the telematics he could track it. It was kind of funny, the shipper was like deny, deny, deny until confronted with the data from the car.

[jmueller065]

Rent a trailer and a generator and snake the power wire to the connector on the driver front, a little duct tape and you'll have your own Ford Volt

[JeffAnd]

Having the vehicle plugged in the and driving will not work.
On the J1772 plug thier is a pin called Proximity Detection. This is used to detect if the plug is in the vehicle. The vehicle will not allow you to drive away with it still plugged in.

The three large pins are for power and ground connections. The two smaller pins are for serial communications and Proximity Detection.

But your idea of extending the range via generator is a good idea.
Some changes to the car would need to be done. A special charging port would have to be added to the rear of the vehicle. A trailer hitch would also need to be added. Car would be able to signal the generator to remotely start and stop. The on board charger is only rated for 6.6 KW or about 8.8 hp. This in not enoph power to drive the car at 65 MPH, but can easily more than double the cars driving range at 65 MPH. If the FFE was driven at a slower speeds this would extend out the range further.
So before going on a long trip you would simply stop by your local Ford dealership and pickup your range extending Generator. I could see that if it becomes popular that car rental companies could also rent them.

[Marc Lee]

Originally Posted by dwf1

I am 186 miles from my daughters home. I could get to New Haven, CT but then I have an 80 mile stretch with no known charging stations.

If you have a fair weather day, where you don't have to use the hvac, and you can keep the speeds 50 mph and below, I bet you will be able to 90-100 miles on a charge no problem.

The wife shouldn't have range anxiety, she will be in whatever gasser brings you to the dealership, while you drive Focuselectric back to the home base!

What color did you get? I forget. And hey I want pictures of this thing!

[Marc Lee]

DW...read this article about a guy who did 194 miles in his Volt in one day.

http://www.torquenews.com/1075/drivi...ile-range-myth

Of course that is recharging throughout the day. But he was able to get 50+ miles out of two charges by keeping his speed at 40 mph. Actually he hit 51.3 with 7 miles of range left. That was on level ground, with two people in the vehicle AC on. The FFE should be able to double that. Really that 80 mile stretch won't be a stretch at all if secondary roads are an option.

[JeffAnd]

The leaf can travel about 128 miles on a single charge at 38 MPH. This can be done on level roads, and no climat control.

[GKalkas]

dwf1,

I'm excited for you getting your car. It's a great time of year, in the north, to take delivery. Who am I kidding. Jan. would be great too. Would be a good idea to forward these dealer communications to your regional mgr. or higher.

Regarding the 80 mile leg of your trip. Does Ford provide AAA assistance for the FFE in your area? I believe it's available in some states. I saw a u tube video where a tester purposely ran down the FFE about 10 miles from his destination. Called AAA and was home with his car in about 3 hours from the call. Can't find that video now, but I know it's out there. I believe it was toed, not charged.

[jmueller065]

After reading some of the blog posts by Mens Health on that cross country tour they are doing with the FFE--just do like they are doing: Find a campground in between and use the 50A plugs there to charge it up.

[dwf1]

After reading some of the blog posts by Mens Health on that cross country tour they are doing with the FFE--just do like they are doing: Find a campground in between and use the 50A plugs there to charge it up

Now that is a great idea JM!! Never thought of that. I am going to check my maps and find some campgrounds.

Two weeks after dealer announced delivery date I am still without a car and they are giving me no information. I stopped being nasty about it and now I am just waiting it out. I call every Friday and ask for updates. They don't seems to know either. What are you gonna do????