Top Ford’s Focus Electric. Above Ford has cleverly included technology that make the Focus feel high-tech, and satisfying for drivers, including informative dashboard displays.
Above The MyFord mobile app provides information on charge and range. Below Charging the Focus Electric—executive chairman Bill Ford demonstrates at the Consumer Electronics’ Show.
Instead of launching at the Detroit Auto Show, Ford has shown its electric-powered Focus at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, almost a year after débuting the standard third-generation models. The EV is petrol- and carbon dioxide-emission-free and boasts a number of features to take the attention away from GM’s Chevrolet Volt and the Nissan Leaf.
A full recharge should take, Ford says, three to four hours at home on a 240 V charge station—half the time that a Nissan Leaf would take.
Top speed is 136 km/h (84 mph), and the steering, handling and braking are similar to those on a standard Focus C346.
Ford was mum about the actual range of the car in its press release, other than to say the LG Chem batteries would cover the needs of the majority of American drivers. The technical specifications’ sheets simply stated that Ford was ‘awaiting EPA estimates’.
Core to many of the Focus Electric’s features are the information tools available to users, notably the MyFord mobile app that can monitor the car’s state of charge and range, and pre-program the car to be fully charged and cooled to a certain temperature. The app can also allow remote starting of the vehicle, remote locking, and GPS location.
MyFord will also tell users where to charge up, working with the sat-nav.
The features cleverly connect the worlds of automobiles and consumer electronics, through interfaces people have become familiar with.
Bio-foam seat cushions and recycled fabrics are used in the interior.
Taking a leaf from the Renault Fluence EV and the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, the Focus Electric has a different grille to the rest of the range, distinguishing it for buyers who need to show others that they’re driving something different. Overall styling is not as polarizing as that of the Chevrolet Volt or the Nissan Leaf.
Ironically, the Focus Electric’s grille is closer to that of the Focus ST, the most powerful performance model in the Focus range.
Lucire tested the Fiesta Zetec in 2009 with the voice recognition system. A newer version of the system appears in the Focus.
The Focus Electric, built for the North American market in Wayne, Michigan, will launch later in 2011. European model manufacture is currently being finalized.
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