2012 Focus EV as my next car?
 

There is a local guy selling a Focus EV for a very reasonable price. It's a 2012 with 36k miles on it. I'm trying to find more info, but there just aren't many of these things out there. Do any of you guys have any tips or things to look for on these cars? Any personal experience with them to note? Professional reviews are not what I'm looking for and that seems to be most of what is available.

A coworker of mine has the same generation regular Focus. He has had numerous issues with the electrical wiring in the car. His car maybe has 100k miles? The 10-spd automatic transmission on the Focus and Fiesta is probably one of the worst in history along with Nissan's CVTs, but that isn't an issue for an EV.

Ford cars always make me leery from what I've heard of them, but I haven't owned one so I can't speak from that angle. Many manufacturers with sub-par cars make excellent EVs (Nissan Leaf vs other CVT Nissans, for example). I've heard good things about the Cmax, but haven't read much about the Focus EV. I'd surmise they're pretty similar aside from the Cmax still having a gasoline engine.

Are you dissatisfied with the Mirage already?

It's a Ford so I would say no.
Probably better off with a leaf.
Fully functional battery swaps for older leaf cars are happening now.
The Nissan leaf doesn't have a CVT, just a single fixed gear, a parking lock. No pumps, filters, lines, solenoids, valves, clutches, belts, bands, torque convert converter ect to fool with

What is a reasonable price?

Did the Ford have active thermal management?

Usually I participate in a model specific forum months before purchasing a vehicle just to have a sense of the strengths and weaknesses, as well as what to look for in a used vehicle and what people are paying for them.

$5900 is the price. Owned by a guy retiring and doesn't need the car anymore.

It does have active thermal management. It heats and cools the pack. It uses LG chem cells.

I honestly didn't even check if there was a forum for the car. They only sold about 1500 a year as it was just a compliance car so they could continue to sell in California.

Here is the ad:

https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/cto...974878233.html

I am not dissatisfied with the Mirage, but I have wanted an EV for a long time.

What do you know about it?
How does the heat work?
Looks like it has a 6.6kw j1772 and leaf like range, liquid cooled batt.

I would pass - with only 1500 a year sold there's no way there are qualified techs who know how to work on it

I have the same issue with my Volt, and they've sold 150,000 of them. It's been back in the shop for a week now and I get the feeling the Volt tech is training himself by watching youtube videos and reading the Volt owners forums

I don't know much. That's why I am asking here haha.

No idea on the heat. I would imagine resistance heating. Edit: yep, resistance heating

It does seem very similar to the Leaf. But I don't think I've even seen a Leaf this cheap by me.

The low sales numbers would be my main concern.



- Smaller/less useful owner community (assuming there is a dedicated group).


- Less info about common faults & failures to watch for, and how to recognize & deal with them.


It seems Leafs can be had for similar money. Though they may not come up frequently in your neck of the woods.

Maybe start the negotiations at $4,500? Or even lower?

Just point out the lack of trained mechanics and how the car is 7 years old. Stuff will break and if the local stealership does not have a trained mechanic, getting it fixed right would be an issue.

But for that old of a car, it does not look bad. If he just commuted it, then probably lots of life left on the powertrain... but maybe not in the other things...

I would definitely give it a test drive and check the standard stuff.

Another downside: with the EV drivetrain, you won't get to be part of the impending award from the class action lawsuit over the Focus PowerSh*# dual clutch automatic transmission.

Price sounds excellent. I'd probably buy it. Of course, I'd see about talking the price down even further.

I've been looking in my area for a deal like that, it's better than anything I see. My best price on something similar would be $2000 more AND I'd have to drive 500 miles with and empty trailer and tow it back home as it would take a week to get it home under it's own power.

As fast as working on it, I would think the vast majority of that car is standard Ford Focus and if anything goes wrong with the motor or battery it would be out of warranty and cost more to fix than the car is worth anyway.

Thats pretty much what I've found too. The cheapest Leaf I've seen was probably 7k and it had a few too many bars gone off of the life-o-meter. The Volts are all 10K+. The I-mievs are also 7K+. Other compliance cars I really haven't looked for.

I don't know how those MiEVs sell for so much, granted I have zero experience with them, but they are old, charge slow (if I recall correctly), have short range, and look like a (talented) 3rd grader designed it.

The Ford EV should probably last a long time and should have 8-10 years on the battery and motor warranty, which means it still should be under warranty.

Still think that's a great price considering what I've seen for those Fords, and considering it has active thermal management, and considering it looks like a normal car.

I don't know what L2 charger they had, but they could come with Chademo, which is better than the Focus.

Spark EV with DCFC would be my cheap EV of choice. I haven't seen anything bad about the Focus EV, I would just prefer having fast charging.

It's got ccs for DC fast charging.

I think I'll take a look at it. Of course I leave for a week of vacation tomorrow morning, so it'll have to wait until I get back. Hopefully it's still there. If not, the Mirage gets some more time in the stable.

If you care about such matters check the registration + insurance for the car in your area first

$85 + $30 + $164.80 + $100 + (can’t remember the extra cost on the title for an EV) + sales tax = ????

https://waow.com/news/top-stories/20...uble-on-oct-1/

There are very few Ford EVs in the market so no real feedback there,
https://www.google.com/amp/s/insidee...ic-review/amp/
they are quite heavy and lower efficiency than some other EVs, with a typical summer range of 75 miles (no hypermiling) and from the few reports I’ve seen mostly reliable save a 12v battery discharge issue


At this venture I too live in WisConSin and plan on getting back into my very old cars to avoid fees I morally object to.

If you want an EV it’s likely better financially to buy an NEV or an oldie/conversion then modify/modernize so you can avoid the extra costs

Well, I am back from vacation and the Focus is not listed anymore. The hunt continues...

Just as well, I think.

The selection of used EV's is rapidly increasing, while the prices are dropping.

Something good and cheap will come up soon enough.

Since retirement, I drive more than ever. I really explore my Northwest, now finding new love for & inspiration from regions, I was too young to adore & too busy to understand, while moving to....other "more interesting" areas.

From another forum, there's a discussion about an oversupply of EVs coming next year, and lasting several years.

https://insideevs.com/news/378337/hyundai-kia-evs-2025/

If new EVs are expected to get heavy discounting, that should put downward pressure on used EVs. That news might make me wait yet longer. Heck, I've been seriously considering EVs since 2013, so it's been a long wait. I suppose I can wait another year.

Perhaps Hoopie needs to start a business of putting new cheap EVs under old antique cars so folks can have an airbag and modern drivetrain while at the same point avoiding the extra title and registration costs

The funny part is EV sales have already dropped as early adopters have already grabbed theirs (look at the leaf)

My guess is with mounting taxes, cheap gas, and “no demand for cars” in general should make for a very interesting time.

Everyone knows my preference for Hyundai. However, Hyundai's inability to find good quantities of battery sources, has crippled their path into the EV market. This has colored their EV past & appears to be affecting their future EV outlook. The Ioniq was rated the most efficient EV & I was waiting for it to come out with a 64(+?) kW-hr battery pack.... which has NOT occurred. :confused:

Inability? If Hyundai "shows the money", they will suddenly be "able". It suggests EV isn't their top priority at the moment, probably because it isn't the most profitable thing for them to be doing.

What non-Chinese (always capitalized because the rules of English require nouns to be capitalized) has EVs accounting for a sizable portion of their sales except Tesla?

My point is that all EV manufacturers suffer the same problem; that batteries carry significant shortcomings compared to a gas tank.