Ford Focus Electric officially EPA rated 105mpge and 76 miles range

[kaisen]

Ford Focus Electric officially rated at 105 MPGe with a 76-mile range

Coming soon to select Ford dealers, at least those on the coasts, is the most efficient five-passenger car in America, the 2012 Ford Focus Electric, which the EPA has certified gets 105 miles per gallon equivalent, combined. This is better than what the Blue Oval was estimating publicly in December, when it said the all-electric Focus should get 100 MPGe. The Focus EV is also rated for 110 MPGe in the city and 99 MPGe on the highway. As you can read in the press release below, Ford is using the official numbers to go after the Nissan Leaf for the all-electric passenger car market. Ford says its new electric car:

... achieves a combined rating of 105 MPGe, topping Nissan Leaf by 6 MPGe while also offering more motor power, passenger room and standard features. Customers can make more use of this efficiency with Ford's faster charging technology that can recharge Focus Electric in about half the time of Nissan Leaf.

To compare with some other combined MPGe ratings for plug-in vehicles on the market or coming soon: the 2012 Chevrolet Volt gets 94 MPGe (one better than the 2011 model), the Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid gets 95 MPGe, the Nissan Leaf gets 99 MPGe, the Mitsubishi i is rated at 112 MPGe, and the current champion, the Tesla Roadster 2.0, officially gets 119 MPGe.

The EPA also says the Focus EV will have a range of 76 miles. As Ford is quick to point out, again, that's three miles more than the Leaf. Given the variances of EV ranges based on driving style and outside influences, those three miles won't make all that much real-world difference to most people, but it does give the engineering team one more thing to brag about.

For all the comparisons that Ford makes in today's announcement, it does leave one thing out: the Leaf's one big numerical advantage. The 2012 Leaf starts at just $35,200, while the Focus EV starts at $39,200

[kaisen]

$39,995 base price with destination. Qualifies for $7,500 EV tax credit.

Same exact price as the Chevrolet VOLT

I wonder how all of this will play out in the marketplace. Esp if rising gas prices consistently make the news.

[Sarc]

Originally Posted by kaisen

Same exact price as the Chevrolet VOLT

...and 1000% better looking.

[kaisen]

Originally Posted by Sarc

...and 1000% better looking.

I really like the looks of the new Focus, electric or not

[Scott R]

Very nice looking car.

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by kaisen

I really like the looks of the new Focus, electric or not

I think the new Focus looks good. Certainly better than the Leaf.

[Sarc]

Originally Posted by kaisen

I really like the looks of the new Focus, electric or not

Same here. Great looking car.

The Volt...not so much. It looks like it went into production with its camouflage body cladding left on from the development phase.

[VincentVega]

Looks nice. Not sure I see a market for a 40k people mover, but the tech is impressive.

[RWebb]

nice braggin' rights

I agree about the looks -- hope it has stronger tires than the Leaf

[CurtEgerer]

I saw these testing around Detroit last summer. But with the Volt factory shut down and 1300 workers laid off, why does Ford think this will sell any better?

[304065]

It has the leftover Aston Martin Grille! (Sorry Hugh)

[kaisen]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

But with the Volt factory shut down and 1300 workers laid off, why does Ford think this will sell any better?

Agreed. Two fold.

One, the Volt (love it or hate it) is a stand-alone model, like Toyota's Prius. The Focus Electric is one of several Focus trim levels. It's easy to see exactly the premium you are paying to choose EV and do the math. It's awfully hard to make the Focus Electric pencil well.

Two, the Volt is both electric AND gas which makes the range question mute. So you know someone, somewhere will ask why the Focus is just as expensive with just batteries as a Volt is with batteries and an engine.

So if the Volt is already in trouble at $40K, will the Focus follow?

But hey, at least Ford did it on their own, with no government intervention, right?

[teenerted1]

regular fucus half the price. same reason the cruz outsells the volt.
$7.5k credit doesnt make up the price difference.

same reason uber-green seattle only has 2% of the population driving hybrids/electrics of any kind.
PEMCO Poll: Are Hybrid Vehicles a Northwest Rarity?

[J P Stein]

The battery pack is still nearly half of the price of the car. Come trade in time in 3-4 years when new improved battery packs should be available in new cars ( you can have hope but there WILL be change).....well, what's an old computer worth?

[azasadny]

I believe that Mazda helped Ford out with the Focus, that is before Ford sold their interest in Mazda. The Focus is really an excellent car for the money.

[intakexhaust]

A Scalectric slot car but for that money? All novelty to burn up some stupid money. I do appreciate the attempt for this technology but these golf carts should be a $12k car and not $40,000 list. Also, the argument is long winded of what it cost to charge them and equation vs. $5.00 per gal. of petrol. Too bad we can't have those slick Euro diesels in the States.

[onewhippedpuppy]

When I can get a really nice Focus hatchback for $20k that gets about 40 MPG......no thanks. The ROI on these new electric cars is terrible, even worse than on a hybrid because they're more expensive. Other than being able to act pretentious and green, I don't get it.

An aside, the EPA really dropped the ball with trying to connect MPG and electric cars. They need a new rating system for electric cars that can be equated to a real operating cost, like kW per mile.

[Jim Richards]

IMO, electric only cars will never really be more than an urban-use niche market unless (1) the cars are designed with standardized battery packs, and (2) a nationwide infrastructure of battery pack "changing" stations is in place. Like the investment in gasoline "filling" stations in the early-to-middle part of the 20th century, some parties are going to have to throw money into changing stations and at the same time, convince the auto manufacturers to adopt a single or small number of standardized battery packs.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

IMO, electric only cars will never really be more than an urban-use niche market unless (1) the cars are designed with standardized battery packs, and (2) a nationwide infrastructure of battery pack "changing" stations is in place. Like the investment in gasoline "filling" stations in the early-to-middle part of the 20th century, some parties are going to have to throw money into changing stations and at the same time, convince the auto manufacturers to adopt a single or small number of standardized battery packs.

I don't ever see them really being adopted until battery technology allows range similar to a gas vehicle on a single charge, recharging in a few minutes, smaller batteries that don't compromise interior space, and a whole lotta infrastructure to support it all. So what I'm saying is, maybe never. Remember that if we all bought electric cars tomorrow that our aging electrical grid couldn't handle the load, so that means more powerplants spewing coal smoke into the atmosphere. Unless we are sensible and accept nuclear technology.

By the time this happens I suspect we will have some sort of hydrogen fuel cell technology. It's already progressed to being a usable solution, Honda has leased Hydrogen fuel cell cars in CA right now. The biggest hurdle is cost and infrastructure, but it's probably easier to add a hydrogen pump to a gas station than to install plugs everywhere.

[Jim Richards]

I disagree about the battery range / recharging comments, Matt. The range, could be less, if the car is ready to resume traveling quickly (and cheaply) enough. Having long range (large current capacity in the batteries) and fast recharging time may be just too much to achieve. A fast battery pack swap is, to me, a more viable approach.

CNG and fuel cells look interesting, but in the case of fuel cells, don't you need to expend energy to create the hydrogen fuel? Will that happen on site, at the refueling stations, or a locations analogous to refineries, and then distribute the hydrogen using some additional infrastructure.