Ford is one of the latecomers to the electric car race. Its focus was to create an electric motor for one of its most successful designs, the Ford Focus. With many others giving the conventional Ford Focus thumbs ups, many would think that the Ford Focus Electric would take the market by storm.
According to Ford, the Focus Electric is the best car in its class in the electric car market. It provides a number of reasons but that is in reality tooting one’s own horn.
Since the Ford Focus Electric is now becoming a staple on the road, with more and more individuals buying one for their own use.
If you are an owner of a Ford Focus Electric or has driven one, enumerate the qualities why the claim of Ford is true or not.
I recently got the opportunity to drive the Focus, right before I bought my leaf. The Focus is certainly a very nice machine in my opinion and has more power than the leaf, but the Leaf is over all a better vehicle with less road and wind noise, a lot more room , and significantly lower price. Of course I’m admittedly biased.
[QUOTE=Jose Marc;14238]Since the Ford Focus Electric is now becoming a staple on the road, with more and more individuals buying one for their own use. [/QUOTE]
The Focus Electric is maybe becoming a staple on the road in Southern California or Seattle, but nowhere else. It’s a compliance car - only being sold in CARB areas - and not a nationally-available car. It’s not as severely limited as the RAV4 EV is, but it’s still limited.
That said, I drove one at a Ford-sponsored event in Colorado. They are great little cars and I’ve never had that much fun in a production electric before. If you’ve never burned the tires in a front wheel drive car without having to hold the hand brake… you can do that in a Focus EV.
The car is sportier, has about the same amount of fitting and noise level as the LEAF, and has about the same amount of interior space (the LEAF has better head room). It’s a very fun car. I think if/when Ford gets serious about selling these nationally, they’ll catch on and give the LEAF something to worry about.
Honestly, though, I don’t know how serious Ford is about marketing the Focus EV on a wide scale. They’re putting a lot more into the Fusion and are going to do the same sort of multiple-choice powertrain they’ve done there in the Fiesta as well. Plus, they have a new family van vesion of the Transit Connect, which has an EV option, coming out in 2014 (just saw the prototype EcoBoost version last week).
Sometimes it is these gimmicks and cars/vans created out of necessity which give the electric vehicle industry a bad name. You would have thought, after investing potentially millions of dollars, a company such as Ford would rather make new vehicles available to the wider public as opposed to specific areas for legislative reasons.
[QUOTE=Editor;15051]Sometimes it is these gimmicks and cars/vans created out of necessity which give the electric vehicle industry a bad name. You would have thought, after investing potentially millions of dollars, a company such as Ford would rather make new vehicles available to the wider public as opposed to specific areas for legislative reasons.[/QUOTE].
Honestly, the only production battery electrics on the market today that aren’t CARB compliance cars are the LEAF, the CODA and the Model S. This article is a little dated, but I went through the options that were on the market or coming soon at the time (July of last year) and outlined how I define “compliance car”: Most electrics are just Compliance Cars
[QUOTE=AaronTurpen;14702]Plus, they have a new family van vesion of the Transit Connect, which has an EV option, coming out in 2014 (just saw the prototype EcoBoost version last week).[/QUOTE]
I should point out that Ford reps couldn’t tell me WHEN this EV version of the new Transit Connect Wagon would be available. Current sales of the commercial van version in EV are next to nothing and Ford has a small backlog of them warehoused in Europe. Since the fall of Azure Dynamics (who supplied the EV powertrains), it’s unclear where Ford would get more EV drivetrains for the van. It’s possible that they’ve cut a deal or are negotiating one with Magna International, who supplies the Focus Electric’s innards.
The 2014 model is, yes. At the time I wrote that statement (April, 2013), the Focus Electric was still only available in about a dozen markets nationally.
I wish I could afford a Ford Focus Electric. They look better to me than the Nissan Leaf. I do not like the Nissan Leaf because of the anti-collision system that you cannot turn off in the car. I presently don’t believe in a computer taking over when to apply the brakes in my car. Maybe when I can no longer physically drive when I am about 82 years old I will change my mind.
I try to pay attention on the road and keep a good following distance.
I want to buy an electric car that can maintain speeds of at least 70 miles per hour and has a range of about 50 miles but I cannot afford to spend more than $12,500. I know I will have to wait.
I have put about 11000 miles on my focus since may,I paid 20000 with 9000 miles on it,although it should be insulated better,it’s a good car for city drives all day long if you have a little time inbetween trips,And despite the loss in range in extreme cold days,you can start and drive to the tore before a gas car is warmed up.
I have had a 2013 FORD FOCUS EV in the Phoenix Arizona area. It is very good and here are some good points and needs improvment points.
+The Battery has not lost any capacity in over 2 1/2 HOT Summers in our area. All other cars seems to lost 2 to 20% . The LEAF lost the most but their new 2015 Chemistry battery seems good. I get 100-120 mile range on the guess o meter.
The Air conditioner is an old compressor and takes 20-30 miles off my range when it’s on. A heat pump would be 2 to 4x better.
-The Navigation and charge maps are very poor and they want $150 for a new SD chip. I just use my smart phone.