Hello! Welcome to the Drive Electric portion of our website! Our goal for this page is to provide a little bit of information for our customers that are considering diving into the world of Electric Vehicles! Leading the charge for this initiative is the all-new Mustang Mach E! As you read below you will find some video content as well as written information to help guide your decisions to go electric!

Drive Electric EPISODE 1 - 5 THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE BUYING AN ELECTRIC CAR

Here, Charlie sits down with Gary Heaton of Drive Electric Cincinnati! They discuss the Five Things You Need To Know Before Purchasing An Electric Vehicle.

1. Charging: How does it work? The most convenient way to do this is of course, at home! You can simply pull into the garage and plug your vehicle in before walking into your home. It will self-manage the charge and will get to work as soon as you plug it in! The limitation to this method is a slow charge rate. So, overnight charging you may add about 60 miles of range. This is more than enough to cover an average commute but will not fully charge the battery. The second option is to add a 240v outlet. This will charge the battery much faster and give a full charge, overnight. Traveling is a bit trickier with an EV than a traditional vehicle. You will have to map out your trips with charging stations in mind. The Mach E's onboard navigation system will create routes with charging in mind. Simply load your destination and follow the map! Your trip times and routes will both reflect charge locations and wait times. Throughout your trip, the Mach E will use DC fast chargers. This will power your vehicle at a much faster pace than at home charging. You can expect a full charge within 20-45 minutes. So, stop for lunch and charge while you eat! If you purchase an EV other than the Mach E (I know crazy, but apparently some people do that!) and your vehicle does not have that capability, both Apple Maps and Google Maps can find chargers for you. A third option you have for locating chargers would be through dedicated apps like Plug Share. These are specifically developed with EV owners in mind. These apps will rate chargers and charge locations just like you would see a business rated! That way, you can base your commute around top performing locations! Just like we have one gallon as a unit to measure fuel, electricity is measured by kilowatt hours (Kwh). As a rule of thumb, you can expect 3-4 miles of range on one kwh of electricity. An average price in our area (2021) is about $0.12 per kwH. If you calculate that out, you can expect your electricity cost to average one half to one third of what you'd expect from purchasing gasoline.


2. Fuel aside, what other benefits are there with EV? Most popular is a federal tax credit of $7,500. There are limitations to this credit. First, your federal liability must be $7,500 or greater to take advantage of the full credit. Meaning there are no refunds available. For example, if you owe the government $7,000 in federal tax at the end of the year, your tax credit would cover that $7,000 liability but you would not get the remaining $500 in the form of a refund. If your year-end federal tax liability was $10,000, your EV tax credit would cover $7,500. The second limitation to this incentive is of course the vehicle you purchase. The Mach E does qualify for the full $7,500 but not all vehicles do. Make sure to do your research! To learn more about this, visit http://www.fueleconomy.gov/


3. Performance: Are Electric Vehicles Slow? Absolutely not! In many ways, electric vehicles will perform better than a traditional vehicle. This is mostly due to how electric motors generate power when compared to an internal combustion engine. Where a traditional vehicle takes time to build power as your RPM increases, an electric motor has max output over a much broader spectrum! Chances are, if you're in a family EV, you'll outrun most sports cars in a 0-60 sprint!


4. Level 1,2, and 3 Charging: As we covered above, Level 1 is simply plugging your EV in to a standard outlet. This will give you a slower charge. Level 2 is adding a 240v outlet which will charge significantly faster than Level 1. Level 3 is a DC Fast Charge. Level 3 is what you will use on a highway road trip. This is the fastest charge method, giving you a significant charge in 20-40 minutes. There are two limitations to charge speed. First, the rate of output from the charger, and second, the rate at which the EV can accept power.


5. What does an EV sound like? The beauty of an EV is a wide range of benefits. One of those is peace and quiet! It's a very relaxing experience to drive an EV as the motor makes virtually no sound. However, if you're bothered by that or would prefer some drama with your performance, you can enable propulsion sound. This simulates a traditional sound of acceleration. Either way, you have the power to choose!

Drive Electric EPISODE 2 - ELECTRIC CAR CLUBS

 
Here, Charlie sits down with Gary Eaton of Drive Electric Cincinnati! They discuss some local resources that can help EV owners learn and develop relationships with other local EV owners!

Drive Electric Cincinnati

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Website Drive Electric Cincinnati | Clean Fuels Ohio

Cincinnati Electric Car Club

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We have to start with the discussion that has caused a lot of controversy since the launch of this platform. Is this a Mustang? We say absolutely yes! A lot of people say that a Mustang has to be a rear-wheel drive, with a big V8. That this is an insult to Mustang heritage. To those people, we would ask them to take another look into the true history of Mustang. Ford didn’t talk about speed or performance at all, but style and the ability to choose from more options than your standard car.

 
In fact, the very first slogan ever released by Ford for this American Icon is: Mustang is the one car that is designed to be designed by you. They didn’t talk about horsepower or performance, they showed scenery of adventure and customization! The GT Performance Edition makes 480 hp and 634 lb-ft of tq. Power is delivered through intelligent AWD, so 0-60 MPH comes in 3.5 seconds, with 1 foot of rollout. This Mach E GT also has Magnaride dampers which is similar technology to what’s used in Ford’s most high-performance Mustang variants, including the GT350 R and GT500. The GT Performance Edition is rated at 270 miles on a full charge.

First, every vehicle comes with a Ford mobile charger, so you'll never be too far from a charge if needed. You can find it stored under the carpeted panel in the rear cargo area. It includes two connectors, one that plugs into a 120v outlet and the other for a 240v outlet. When you're plugged into a 120v outlet, you can expect a charge speed of 3 miles of range per hour charged. With a 240v outlet, you'll gain 20 miles of range per charging hour.

When the charge port door is opened, a light will illuminate to assist in plugging in your charger at night. The charge status indicator light to the right of the charge port helps track the charging status of your vehicle. You know you have a good connection when that indicator light iluminates. As your vehicle charges, the indicator will show progress to let you know what percentage you're currently charged to. Each zone represents a 20% charge status. When all 5 zones are illuminated, the charge is at 100%. You can also check the status of your charge in the Ford pass app. It will display your range as a mileage and as a percentage of battery.

The Ford Connected Charge station is the fastest option available to charge from home. It can be installed in your garage or on an exterior wall by a certified electrician. Best of all, with this method, you'll gain an estimated 28 miles of range per charging hour.

When you activate your Ford pass charging connected services, you'll receive two years of complimentary access to pay-as-you-go charging on the FordPass charging network. This is the largest public charging network in North America offered by automotive manufacturers! That will give you easy access to over 19,500 charging stations, across North America.

 

Lightning is striking at Beechmont Ford! On episode 6 of Drive Electric we take a look at the Ford F-150 Lightning. Let us know your thoughts...

This 2022 F-50 lightning has the platinum trim. The favorite outside features include the tail lights, the LED across the front, and the wheels. The frunk offers extra storage, 120 volts and standard USB ports. The interior includes here includes, incredibly comfortable seats, attention to detail, and the awesome sound system. The lightning keeps everything that we love about the F-150.

How can you actually power your home with the Ford Lightning? When you buy an extended range lighting ford will send you the Ford Charge station pro. That is what you will use to charge your truck. In the event of a power outage the ford intelligent backup will automatically switch from your home's energy source to start drawing electricity directly from the lightning's battery. When power is restored to your home the battery will recognize that and switch back. Ford estimates the lightning could power the average home for 3 days, that's using a moderate amount of electricity. The frunk also has 4 110 volt outlets and 2 USB ports. In the bed you will find another 4 110 volt outlets and a 240 volt outlet.