Ford Focus EV

[evnow]

If you book well in advance (and use coupons you can find on the web) the rentals can get quite cheap. I'd be surprised if your annual rentals come at more than your insurance (considering you are single - and possibly younger?).

 

[EVDRIVER]

Magna makes exceptional products and is a sleeper in the EV space, they have some new technologies in the works that are far more advanced than the drive in the Leaf. They also are developing some other systems for the auto industry that will bring a new way that people use the auto. Don't underestimate them, I would rather have their drive than one built by Ford.

 

[evnow]

Magna makes exceptional products and is a sleeper in the EV space, they have some new technologies in the works that are far more advanced than the drive in the Leaf. They also are developing some other systems for the auto industry that will bring a new way that people use the auto. Don't underestimate them, I would rather have their drive than one built by Ford.

Yes, magna is an auto major, even though they don't sell cars under their own name.

I'm not convinced though, that, auto majors will use their drive train. If they use outside drive train & batteries, there isn't a great deal left in the car. Companies getting seriously into ev space will keep the drive train inhouse in the long run.

 

[EVDRIVER]

Just heard on CNBC that the Focus charges in half the time as the Leaf, if true. I was waiting for that type of marketing ploy against the sill 3.3kw charger and general consumers will see that as a benefit even if they don't need it.

 

[IBELEAF]

I don't see mention of the battery range... so maybe it has a range of 50 miles hence half the charge time.

this doesn't say the whole story:

"The Focus Electric will launch in late 2011 and is designed to offer enough range to cover the majority of daily driving habits of Americans."

 

[evnow]

You can see the live coverage ...

http://www.facebook.com/FordElectricVehicles#!/FordElectricVehicles?v=app_190713164277971

Yes, they have 6.6 kw. Their "my ford" looks to be personalizable. That is also one better over Leaf.

 

[cdub]

I'd love a 6.6 charger.... but my heart is still for the LEAF.

They're the first massed produced it is a from the ground up new car, unlike the Ford.

I'm glad that Ford has the 6.6 - that will pressure Nissan into adding it as an option. Competition is good.

 

[DaveEV]

Competition is great. It won't be long before Nissan has to upgrade the charger to 6.6 kW.

 

[sjfotos]

I like the styling better, though that is never the most important thing for me. Most interesting will be the performance and price characteristics and those are not filled out yet. In addition, timing will be important...when will it be available in PA.

 

[cdub]

The press release says one of five:

• All-new Ford Focus Electric is the first fuel-free, rechargeable passenger car from Ford and one of five new electrified vehicles Ford will deliver by 2013 in North America and Europe

I know the Transit Connect - but what are the others? Are they counting the Escape?

 

[cdub]

The trunk space looks HORRIBLE:

from http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2012-ford-focus-electric/#3742505

This is why the LEAF is better... it's a from the ground up EV design and not a conversion.

 

[IBELEAF]

the trunk space looks similar to Leaf, not sure what the problem here.

 

[DaveEV]

the trunk space looks similar to Leaf, not sure what the problem here.

That hump is WAY higher than the LEAF where we get a very-close-to-flat trunk space (if you have the cargo organizer accessory).

More interesting to me is the "Value Charging" powered by Microsoft they just talked about at CES (watching their livestream off facebook). Basically, the concept is that the car will know when electricity is cheapest, so it will automatically adjust the charge profile to fit in as much juice as possible when rates are at their lowest.

They claim that with their 6.6kW charge rate they'll be able to take further advantage of lower utility rates during off peak hours - hinting that even within the typical super-offpeak time period of midnight-6am they would be able to take advantage of even lower electricity rates.

Of course - this leaves out a LOT of details - primarily the fact that no utility that I'm aware of offers any finer grained TOU rates than the typical summer/winter peak/off-peak/super-off-peak rates for your typical residential/commercial user.

This could change (and I hope it does) - but I don't see the utilities implementing this type of billing structure for at least a few years down the road.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

They're the first massed produced it is a from the ground up new car, unlike the Ford.

Note that the Leaf rolls off the same assembly lines as ICE cars. They even pointed out in one video they substitute batteries for the gas tank and an electric motor for the engine. Sure, the Leaf has specific stampings, but I wonder if it's really accurate to think of the Leaf as an EV from every nut and bolt out and the Focus as a hobbyist conversion.

 

[cdub]

the trunk space looks similar to Leaf, not sure what the problem here.

It's completely different than the LEAF. The Leaf has a small hump and a deep well in the trunk to put stuff.

The Focus on the other hand has completely zero trunk space. The hump IS the trunk while on the LEAF the hump is right behind the seat and you still have a nice "well" to put things in.

Check out these photos:

The Focus undercarriage:

And the LEAF undercarriage:

There is NO room for a trunk on the Focus CONVERSION while everything for the LEAF is built UNDER the seats. Everything for the Focus is in the boot.

 

[LEAFer]

They're the first massed produced it is a from the ground up new car, unlike the Ford.

Note that the Leaf rolls off the same assembly lines as ICE cars. They even pointed out in one video they substitute batteries for the gas tank and an electric motor for the engine. Sure, the Leaf has specific stampings, but I wonder if it's really accurate to think of the Leaf as an EV from every nut and bolt out and the Focus as a hobbyist conversion.

That's part of the Engineering Elegance ! Nissan didn't just design an EV from the ground up in a vacuum; they did it with existing (re-use/share) production line in mind ! (Rather than a special dedicated line.) Automation ... flexibility ... kanban ... etc.

 

[cdub]

But it's still a ground up design. Nissan thought out how to design the car so they can put the batteries in a place that wouldn't get rid of utility.

Ford just put the batteries and the charger in the boot.

I vastly prefer the placement of the charge port on the LEAF too. The only thing that makes me jealous is the 6.6 charging.

 

[evnow]

Note that the Leaf rolls off the same assembly lines as ICE cars. They even pointed out in one video they substitute batteries for the gas tank and an electric motor for the engine. Sure, the Leaf has specific stampings, but I wonder if it's really accurate to think of the Leaf as an EV from every nut and bolt out and the Focus as a hobbyist conversion.

Basically Leaf (and Volt) is a ground up design (obviously with shared parts when possible) - but Ford Focus EV is a Magna conversion of Focus ICE. They don't have any batteries under the driver seat, for eg. That is why the trunc space is sacrificed.

 

[Skywagon]

I will chime in and say that if this was available when I ordered my LEAF I would have thought about it. Not saying that I would have went with the Ford but I would have heavily considered it. After owning a 1998 Ranger electric for a couple years I will give a lot of credit to Ford. They were the only manufacturer at the time that you could walk into one of their fleet/EV dealers and purchase a Ranger EV as an individual consumer (from the fleet department). That was a welcome sign at that time. And the Ranger was a well thought out conversion with a very interesting rear end/motor arrangement.

 

[Train]

That Focus is really nice. It looks great, too. I'd say 80% of the time, there's no one in the back seat when driving so having less trunk space for items is a non issue for most people. Many people just throw stuff behind them, groceries, whatever.