Ford to Provide Free Charging Stations to Some of its First

[Cacti]

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=269049

"Ford will partner with Coulomb Technologies to provide nearly 5,000 free in-home charging stations for some of the automaker’s first electric vehicle customers."

 

[mwalsh]

Good move, but I'm still not prepared to wait yet another year for a Focus EV.

 

[Gavin]

Looks like the chargers are for Ford Transit customers, not Focus EV customers.

Gavin

 

[MikeBoxwell]

A bit of history here: Ford are responsible for a lot of the public charging points that exist already, both in California and in Europe.

Going back a decade when they owned Th!nk, they spent a lot of time and money persuading councils to install charging points in public car parks - they even paid for a lot of them themselves.

In the UK, they also set up charging points at each of their dealerships and at another company they owned - Kwik-Fit - who do fast tire and exhaust replacements. As a consequence, there were around 800 charging points in the UK at one point.

Sadly, most of those closed down when Ford sold Th!nk, but a fair few survived.

 

[mwalsh]

Looks like the chargers are for Ford Transit customers, not Focus EV customers.

I like the Transit Connect, but think it's a bit of a brick when it comes to being a platform for EV conversion. So still a "no thanks" from me! :lol:

 

[MikeBoxwell]

We've had the Transit Connect here in Europe since 2006, so its not a new vehicle here.

It's a van - available in any colour so long as its white. It's got a wheel in each corner and fenders front and rear.

Ummm. That's it really...





Actually, that's a bit unfair. It's a very good van with lots of space and a decent payload. Compared to other manufacturers here in Europe, you pay more for a Transit Connect than any of its competitors, but you probably get a bit more for your money too. They can take any amount of abuse and drivers like them. There has been an electric version of the Connect in Europe as well since 2008. It was an official conversion by Smiths Electric Vehicles (who have been building electric commercial vehicles in England since the early 1920s). Not many were sold because they were very expensive, but by all accounts it was a good EV. I spoke to the Technical Director of Smiths a couple of years ago and he said the Connect was an ideal vehicle to convert. The batteries fitted under the floor and it was a very good vehicle basis to start from.

 

[mwalsh]

We've had the Transit Connect here in Europe since 2006, so its not a new vehicle here.

It's a van - available in any colour so long as its white. It's got a wheel in each corner and fenders front and rear.

Ummm. That's it really...

They can actually be made to look pretty cool, especially one in MPV(ish) trim (with side windows).

Edit: This is how we're being presented with the Connect for taxi duty:

Slammed, with phat rimz (though I can't imagine they would do anything for EV range) and graphix: