Ford Focus EV

[Gavin]

other electric cars...

But the Ford Focus EV, which is suppose to be just a few months behind the LEAF...but seems much further since Ford does little to talk about or promote it...is going to have liquid cooling of the battery.

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/09/fo ... d-battery/

Gavin

[TLeaf]

I'm actually a bit disappointed in Ford, but not too terribly surprised... I've got to admit, if the Ford and the Nissan were selling side-by-side, I'd probably go for the Ford even if it cost a bit extra based purely on the looks. That said, Ford has been promising a light-duty diesel engine (in the US) for YEARS without anything actually seeing the light of day. At this point and with their stealth operation to date, I'm afraid this might be another case of Ford saying "Me too!" and then not actually putting anything out on the market.

Get a load of this line from the Ford lit on the 2010 Ford Focus:
"There are also many unproven and even more expensive methods to get better mileage, with plug-in hybrids and all-electric cars leading the list. But in our current economic situation, most folks prefer the proven (read: reliable) and inexpensive methods. And that's the Ford Focus."

[AndyH]

It'll be interesting to see what battery Ford's using.

Tesla must thermally manage their lithium cobalt pack lest it become a supersized flaming laptop.
GM's running a hybrid and hybrids generally have larger power pulses - so there's a need and a benefit to thermal management.
A BEV has a lower energy demand on the pack so thermal management can be much simpler.

[mwalsh]

I'm a huge Ford fan....I have two Focii right now, and they've been cracking little cars (though I did research carefully and both have the more resilient Duratec engines). If Ford had been less wishy-washy about their commitment to the Focus EV (or even the Transit Connect EV, which I very much doubt will have any deliveries this year either), they could well have gotten my money!

[Gavin]

Yeah, I'm really surprised they didn't push a bit more to compete with Nissan. But I think they are just not nearly as well prepared as Nissan.

Nissan has been working on this for some time, and has the batteries and parts all in house. Ford is farming out their EV work.

But the new Focus coming out is a nice looking car. (I would have liked Ford to make the new Fiesta into an EV first. A good commuter/city car).

Gavin

[cdub]

I really wanted the Focus EV... but then it appears to be vaporware.... for the longest time... no announcements... anything...

BUT the main reason I decided on getting the LEAF over anything else was that it was an EV built from the ground up - and not a conversion of a ICE car.

[LEAFfan]

I really wanted the Focus EV... but then it appears to be vaporware.... for the longest time... no announcements... anything...

BUT the main reason I decided on getting the LEAF over anything else was that it was an EV built from the ground up - and not a conversion of a ICE car.

Ford's Focus EV will be a conversion? I'm with you then! That's why I bought my cng Honda because it was built just for cng and gets much better mileage than any conversion. Now, I can't wait to sell it. I went to my 'ad' page and found someone clicked on 'marked as favorite'.

[cdub]

They're going out of house for it... from my understanding they send the Focus frame to another company to do it... just like they do with the Transit Connect.

[mwalsh]

Is this what the Focus BEV looks like under the skin? The front end doesn't look massively like the Magna motor I've come to expect:



http://www.fordvehicles.com/technology/ ... =BatteryEV

[c1987]

I saw the Focus EV on display at the Alt Car expo in Santa Monica. The body style is from the European Focus.
Only the one prototype was there. You could sit it in, but that was about all. I think the rep said they would be available
late next year or 2012. I would consider buying, if I get tired of my LEAF.