Ford just made industry history by being the first major auto manufacturer to unveil a new model atCES, the Focus Electric. But we already knew it would. What we didn't know were the details of the thing, but now we have them. And a lot of pretty pictures. Ford is saying the car will manage a range of 100 miles and that it will offer an MPGe rating (a conceptual equivalency of miles per gallon for an electric or otherwise non-traditionally powered car) higher than the Volt and comparable to the Leaf, but crucially it's saying that it can be recharged on a 240 volt outlet in four hours or less. The Leaf can take up to seven hours with the same amount of current -- though of course CHAdeMO support there handily trumps that. More details below, along with details of some pretty blue butterflies.
As you can see in the pictures the car looks quite good, inheriting the generally taut lines (if bulkier exterior) of the 2012 focus, but doing so with a bit more bling thanks to that grille up front. Also new is the fender-mounted charging plug, with an illuminated ring that fills up as the batteries do.
The car will quite naturally feature the latest MyFord Touch, displayed on an 8-inch touchscreen in the center stack, and will be the first car to offer MyFord Mobile -- the sort of smartphone integration we've seen in the Leaf and the Volt, allowing users to monitor the car's charging status and climate settings from afar. The car also critiques your driving habits, using a rather novel approach: "the more butterflies there are, the greater the range" says Ford -- and the happier the bunnies frolicing through the fields
The car will quite naturally feature the latest MyFord Touch, displayed on an 8-inch touchscreen in the center stack, and will be the first car to offer MyFord Mobile -- the sort of smartphone integration we've seen in the Leaf and the Volt, allowing users to monitor the car's charging status and climate settings from afar. The car also critiques your driving habits, using a rather novel approach: "the more butterflies there are, the greater the range" says Ford -- and the happier the bunnies frolicing through the fields
Power is provided by a liquid-cooled (and heated) battery pack developed in conjunction with LG Chem and, while we don't have a curb weight yet, we're told to expect a car that handles just as nicely as standard Focus does -- which is rather nicely indeed, we might add. What we don't know, crucially, how much it will cost. That is an answer to be revealed sometime before its 2013 release. Or, at least, we hope it will.
Update: Ford's wording on the release date is a bit vague, but it's looking like 2013 in Europe and late 2011 in the US for a Focus Electric release.
Update: Ford's wording on the release date is a bit vague, but it's looking like 2013 in Europe and late 2011 in the US for a Focus Electric release.
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