Ford Focus Electric

Nice idea, but it's strictly a commuter's car. My friend lives 65 miles away, so I can't make it round trip without re-charging. I'd have to recharge at his house and it would be on his utility bill. At least the 6-12 hour recharge time gives us the chance to drink a lot of good beer.

Is this sort of car really governed by miles or some combination of miles and time? What if you commute is 40 miles each way, 80 miles total, under the 100 mile limit. But you encounter terrible traffic and it takes you an extra hour to get home. Shut off the radio? Hope it doesn't get dark and you don't need the lights?

Don't get me wrong. It's great to see this sort of car coming to the dealers. Too many EV's have been top end race cars and nothing for the family guy. I hope that this is a good step towards another EV's with greater range and quicker recharges.

Wow, Ford keeps cranking out hits... First Escape hybrid, then fusion hybrid, now focus EV. Ford will have the most complete line up of alternative energy vehicles! Good job, keep the hits coming.

Family Guy,

The hope that the range will improve is realistic.

A month ago i could only see driving a Toyota or Honda for the rest of my life. They were the only two companies with a vision for the future. It seems now there is a third company. Fix or repair daily has moved to be a respected again. Keep it up Ford.

I would still carry a little Honda 2kw genny in the trunk.

They should just develop a removable set of 4-5 extended range batteries that they sell as an option. When going on long trips, you could just put them in your trunk. They would/could be pretty heavy, but if designed properly, they could be about 30lbs each or so, and modular. Just an idea to extend range when needed without adding unnecessary weight.

Cost is the million dollar question. Anything above 28k would not work unless they add a small ICE to extend the range. Lets say they can sell this for 28k along with a 4-6K Federal rebate and I believe you have a hit. But some will say why not just get a Yaris or Cobalt for 12-14K instead of spending 22-24K for a EV commuter car. Excitement needs to be added w/ successful marketing to overcome some of these concerns. Again cost is extremely important here as battery costs, charge time, and mileage will need to improve for a majority of American's. Glad to see Ford move forward with this. The question in the short-term will be if consumers choice EV's or extended range hybrid plugins like the Volt. The cost to develop Volt types will be more than EV's but may reduce some concerns initially.

I wonder if it is possible for the car to tow an itty-bitty gasoline generator behind it for long drives. My commute to work is only 6 miles (all around). My coven is a 60-mile round trip. So the only time this car would not suit my needs would be when I need to visit family out of state. I suppose I could get a rental for those 2-3 times per year, but towing a little generator would be better.

How about one of those little trailers that motorcyclists pull behind their bikes with a generator head that would supply enough power to run the car and a switch to change on the fly from the vehicles batteries to the generator head in the towable trailer. the generator head in the trailer would be run off a V-Belt from one of the trailers wheels to the generator head thus supplying power without using any gasoline at all and extending trips indefinately............

hackers will juice this car up to a 200 - 300 mile range and it will be great,

its the same way the early pc was souped up. remember

This car is a start to try to convince people to move to all electric. I suspect, though, that it will not be very well received for families that have more than one driver; even if the drive to work is less than 30 miles. The problem with making it a family car is that if the wife wants to go to the store and then get her hair done and the teenager wants to use to go to the mall and then to a football game; by the time the husband leaves for his friend's house 60 miles away, he will not have a full charge. That senario does not have to play out too many times before the all electric "family car" is going to get a role change. If that battery pack drains before Dad can get back home, he will not be a happy camper. Which leads to another question, how will the different drivers in the family make the decision of who gets to go do their errands at the expense of the other.

Like I said, just a start. By the way, it may be difficult to get across to the layperson, but just because a full charge will take 6 or 12 hours (or whatever they said) doesn't mean that you drive your hundred miles and then are stranded somewhere for hours.

EG, after my hypothetical 80-mile round-trip commute, even if I can't charge at work, I almost always am at home for an hour or two before going out to do anything for the evening. While I'm not going to get a full charge in that amount of time, I will certainly be able to add another 30 or 35 miles to the remaining range.

It will be very interesting to see what Ford comes up with in the way of roadside assistance of the sort that you usually get with the first year of a new car. It's not like when you run out of gas, and they can drive up with a can of gasoline and give you enough to get to the gas station. I have no idea what they're planning or working on, but one option off the top of my head might be to have a small, replaceable auxiliary battery -- included with the car -- that could be easily swapped out for a fully charged unit and with enough juice to go 5 or 10 miles or so. Sort of like what Better Place is trying to do but since it would only be used in emergency situations, it would not have to be fully automated and all of that.

Ideal for my wife who drives 10 miles to work.

She's only put 90K on her 1999 Maxima GLE.

Hope she prefers this car, rather than a new $35K Maxima.

Also, early sketches of the 2012 Focus show a vastly improved exterior appearance.

Finally somebody thought about it. This is pretty neat, I would love to have an electric car. I am just wondering how is it going to be the performance of the car. Lets try

My dad grew up before there were cars on the streets. My son may well see the day when gasoline cars are mostly a memory.
It is true that electric cars are not great in number. I will not see the day, but the real choice is not far away. The real choice will be between a 3 mph horse and buggy and electric cars. The Ford Escort is a prototype that makes sense.

But the transition will not be sudden and to enter into the world without petroleum unprepared could be catastrophic.

And yes, time will tell. It will tell a whole lot.

Good luck, Ford! But remember, talk is cheap. You don't get any points in my mind until you actually roll these things out at a decent price.

I was reading the last 4 post and they were great, a lot of useful information. I agree that this car would be great for a second car option. I already have a small SUV and I love it!

This is easily the way to go for that second car, or the kids car. Airport has an "airporter" here so driving to the airport is a non issue here. Long trips are the only problem(ie 5000miles). Try train, flying, bus, or rental car. My hybred Ford escape does 10 miles/gallon better than the regular escape! But, not paying for gas is better. Remember that electricity is much cheeper after 11:00 PM. So a charge-up isn't mutch. When people find themselves saving a $100 every week or 2 with this- they will be sold.

I love my existing (old, 2000, european) focus, and an electric variant would be great given I only usually travel 5-20 miles to work/town.

Hoping there will be some "fast charge topup" option too to get a boost in say 30mins

I already have an electric car, but it is only street legal and as I live in a small town, it is great. I drive it almost every day and my electric bill for the chaging is about $10 per month.
As soon as I can get a highway legal electric car, I will do so.
You will never se $1.00 per gallon for gas again, the big oil companies will see to that. In the two years that I have had mine, it has paid for itself, as I bought it what gas was at $4.00 per gallon .. Go FORD I want one !!

You could always get a Kill-a-Watt meter to plug the car into - that way you will know how much electricity your car consumed and can reimburse your friend. Even the maximum charge of 23kWh would only be around $2-$3, depending on power rates. That's a pretty cheap way to travel 100 miles.

Despite the low per mile cost of energy for an EV, any cost savings vs. Gasoline will likely be eaten up when you replace the battery pack every 6-10 years or so. The *real* savings in these vehicles will be maintenance. No tune-ups, rare - if ever - brake pad replacement, no oil changes. Even if you somehow wear out the motor, I imagine that could be replaced. King County Metro's electric trolley bus fleet is operating on 30+ year old electric motors that have been rebuilt and placed into new buses. Electric drivetrains last for a long, long, looooong time.

Of course, since the car will last a long time, maybe we'll spend more money on wax jobs, body work, and other cosmetic maintenance... Who knows?

I am on my 4 th escort now and all of them were driven way over 100k miles with no major problems. an electric focus will fill my needs very well. go ford..

The range is an estimate likely by using either a EPA type city loop or some known average driving activity for a typical driver. The former is well defined and the latter is typically various speeds from 25-75MPH with a 40MPH average. Lets take an example, say the range is 100 miles going a constant 60MPH. On most compact cars this works out to 160-200WH/mi which then means a 16-20KWH battery. The reason why the Focus EV pack has a larger capacity is that LiFePO4 batteries last longer if they are not fully discharged every use. 16/23KWH is about a 70% DOD (70% of the capacity is used). Now if you go just 30MPH, you will use somewhere between 80-100WH/mi. That same 16KWH allows you to drive 200 miles.

Now If fully discharged to 70%DOD every time, the battery will last 3,000 cycles (full capacity drops to 18KWH). But that is 300K miles or about 20 years at the typical 15K miles/yr. But most will discharge it well below that at 20-30% DOD where the battery will last 15K cycles or more (>30 years). BTW at current retail prices, a 23KWH LiFePO4 battery costs about $6K. Fuel cost is 8.7 cents per mile for a 30MPG combined compact car. At 300K miles, that is $26K. The 48,000KWH costs about $5.7K at residential prices. Even adding in the full cost of the battery (likely less as the cells can be remanufactured back to full capacity for a lot less than virgin stuff), the savings are $14K over the life of the battery. And that doesn't take into consideration consumables for gasoline engines which cost $200-300 a year in planned maintenance.

If Ford is Focusing on price they are on the right track. I would buy one of these tomorrow if the price was $25K or hopefully less. I almost never drive over 50 miles without an opportunity to recharge and I suspect most of the drivers in the country are not that different from me. The Volt will make an excellent primary car but who wants to spend $40K. If there is a tax incentive it should equally apply to all the electric cars. A Ford Focus EV at $25K with a $7500 tax incentive would outsell supply.

One item he would confirm was that there would be none of the whole leasing and taking back of the electric cars that other companies are still infamous for."The Focus EV had enough torque to spin it's inside front wheel when accelerating through turns and provide ample power for brisk acceleration. The braking system switched between regenerative and regular braking smoothly with no noticeable hiccups throughout the process. The new Ford Focus electric car promises to travel 100 miles per charge from its lithium-ion battery pack, whose technology is several thousand dollars more expensive than its traditional gas propulsion system.
==>http://www.macktruck.org

my last vehicle was dodge, now I drive 2010 prius....I will strongly consider nissan leaf and ford focus EV for my next vehicle....hint: you can contact car companies directly and tell them you want EVs and hybrids, espec. ones that don't currently have them; for instance, I contacted subaru which had a vehicle I was considering if it was a hybrid, and somebody responded the next day and they said they have two hybrids in the works.....I think GM is a crock and liars, I wouldn't believe anything they say...yes they employ Americans, but they sell more cars in China...and Prius has a new plant in Tupelo MS....

I wouldn't worry too much about your friends' electric bills.

Get yourself a 'Kill-A-Watt' (or equivalent) device to plug in with, assuming the car's charge controller doesn't have some sort of power meter (though it won't measure loss in the extension cord).

When leaving, look at how many 'Kilowatt-hours' your charge consumed on your friends' outlet.

Multiply that by the 'high' rate of their power bill. They can find out what that is on their statement, or online with their power company's web site. Usually around $0.14~$0.24 per KW/H.

Multiply the electrical rate by number of kilowatts that you consumed while plugged in, during your visit. Round it up to the nearest $5.

You could make a similar arrangement at work to let you 'top up' while there. They'd likely just comp it. Especially if your boss falls in love with electric car, too.

Of course this vehicle won't be for everybody but it would be a dream come true for me. I'm disabled and rarely leave my immediate community. I have everything I need right on my side of the city including a hospital, eating place, super centers, movies etc. The only time I leave my general area is to visit friends or a doctor's appt. As long as I remain in my city and carefully plan, I could not exceed the 100 mile round trip. I could if I don't take the short cuts but I know all of the quick routes in my city so this car would be perfect for me. And if I needed to go on a longer trip, just rent a car, no problem!

Ford Rocks!! Not only Ford, but u also rocks as the presentation of the article is quite interesting. Well, the electric cars are always welcomed by the car lovers as they are the money saving and energy saving cars. The passion of reading of Ford Focus EV is so thrilling and smashing that I am quite desperate to drive it crazily!! Once again I must say, the writer drove the car with great intensities. Good job, just like Ford!!
http://www.macktruck.org

EXCELLENT IDEA!!! I am soooo ready for an EV!! And, I plan to keep my second car for hauling, etc. But, this would be my commuter and I would use it for long trips if they had the battery option!!! LOVE THIS IDEA!!!!!

My husband has a Focus, and it's a great car (apart from a little too much road noise). I grab it instead of my own for trips to the rink. I've been trying to decide between a focus and an electric vehicle for my next car. Nice to know I don't need to choose 8^). An all-electric vehicle with a 100+ mile range would be perfect for the type of driving I do. Back and forth 15 miles to work, with some shopping on the side. The big question is: will they offer both the sedan and the station wagon versions? Much easier to fit a hockey bag, two sticks and goalie pads into the station wagon.

How about a small Solar panel under the roof or hood for extra mileage? I may look a little cheezy but you can make it look like a racing stripe this would give you perhaps a few extra miles especially stuck in traffic, They probably have thought about it.

very interested in focus ev. would like more info. does it have a hatchback,etc.

so... a 20k car gets it's internal combustion engine replaced with a bank of batteries and a straight drive electric motor and now it's 40k, This deal is too good to pass!
hmmm... your right Ford...it must be raining.

This was an excellent and fun article to read. I really do appreciate everything so much. This was really great to read. miss sold ppi

The best thing is how little it has to go spending 100 milles, without a doubt will make the competition to the normal focus

The reason they won't Brent is because the price of electricity varies quite a bit across the country from less than 6 cents to more than 20 cents per KWH. Also, several electric companies have plans that cost you less to charge at night. It also depends on how much you drive. The pack on the Focus BEV is 23 KWH so if you pay 10 cents per KWH you should pay roughly $2.50 for a 100 mile "fill up". The rough comparison to a gas Focus is that if the regular car gets 450 miles per tank of gas at $4 per gallon for 12 gallons or $48 the electric would take 4.5 electric fill ups at $2.50 or $11.25. In order to maximize the value for the $32,000 car (after fed rebate) You would drive nearly the full distance of the battery pack in the city most days. Having a 105 mile commute would not be good unless you had some way to recharge. The very best would be if you could charge it at work for free!!

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Concept that we were shown at this year’s Geneva Motor Show. So there should be no problem as far as looks go. acai berry

We'll still take the family on weekend outings in the minivan but by only using for back and forth to work during the week it will last me about 1.5 weeks.Webs

hey moron, just because your friend lives 65 miles away, doesn't make it a commuter car!