Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

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.

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/03/02/f...ith-a-76-mile/

spwolf

problem with Focus Electric:
1. It is not unique car.
2. It has no trunk but huge battery box, literally there is an box in the trunk that takes up 90% of the space
3. For 3 miles more of range, you pay $4k more than Leaf.

So to me, it is obviously going to sell a lot less than Leaf (maybe not at all), despite the typical PR.

spwolf

greg0126

iTrader: (2)

That sucks. Particularly about the poorly planned location of the battery box. I saw a photo with all the seats folded down and the battery box is just sitting there in the way because it's so huge. Though I do think the Ford is unique in that it actually looks like a normal car, as opposed to being all bubbly and futuristic looking like the Leaf or even the Volt.

Just my 2 cents.

MX5NES350

Never thought I would see the day of a $40K Focus. Electric or not. The starting MSRP for the gas powered is only $18K and gets close to 40mpg. I don't think I could swallow the additional $40K for the e-car.

-J-P-L-

Sorry to bump this, but I just became aware of the starting price. OUCH!

The same price of the Volt with far less investment and technology? Seriously? The Volt is widely criticized for being too expensive, yet it has a gasoline backup generator. A pure electric like this will likely leave you stranded at some point. Ford should have been able to price this reasonably since it's simply a modified existing, high volume car. The Volt and Leaf are unique cars (although the Volt is loosely based on the Cruze). How do you take an $18K car, take the internal combustion engine out (thousands of dollars), replace it with an electric drivetrain/battery, then more than double the price?

This will be the latest electric to fall flat on its face. The death of electric cars is quickly approaching - again.

Oh, and LOL at that battery hump. Why did Ford retrofit the hatch version of the Focus when the hatch is useless??? Should've just used the sedan.