The Ford Focus Electric has been teased mercilessly at CES. From Ford’s come-hither teaser photos, to casual mentions of it in the literature of the Ford CES stand. But until now we haven’t seen it in its entirety.
We’ve had a sneak peek at it though, so while the rest of the motoring world is chowing down on Ford’s press conference and just getting their first glimpse, you can read on, gawp at our pictures, and see the Ford Focus Electric revealed in full!
The Ford Focus Electric is an all-electric car, rather than a hybrid. That means there’s no petrol engine, no hydrogen fuel cell, just pure battery power propelling it along at speeds up to 84mph. That might not sound very quick compared to the petrol version, but remember the Focus Electric is designed as an everyday runaround, rather than a motorway mile-muncher.
That said, the Focus isn’t a slouch. Acceleration coming from the instant torque of electric motors means it’ll feel punchier and more brutish from a standing start than most similarly specced petrol motors.
But, of course, this being an electric car there are as many gadgets and gizmos as there are petrolhead-style stats.
The dashboard of the Ford Focus Electric is, frankly, delicious. Two 4.2 inch screens sit either side of a centrally mounded speedometer. They show range, battery charge remaining, and graphics to encourage you to drive in a more efficient way.
One of the more surprising touches is Ford’s graphical representation of range beyond your next charging point. The Focus Electric uses blue butterflies on its dashboard screen to show the range it’s capable of, beyond the next plug socket.
Ford says “thee more there are, the greater the range” and explains its designers were inspired by the phenomenon known as “the butterfly effect,” in which a small change, like choosing to drive an electric car, can have an enormous environmental impact.
But the dashboard is just half the story. The central console of the Ford Focus Electric has also been given a blessing by Ford’s high tech designers. Packed with the latest Ford Sync technology, the car responds to voice commands and even hooks up to smartphone apps using Bluetooth.
Ford’s Bluetooth system lets app developers code support for Sync right into their products. Pandora is amongst the first, and lets Focus Electric drivers shout at their car to hook up to a smartphone, fire up Pandora and begin playing music. It’s a brave new world in in-car entertainment. Oh, and it’ll also handle hands-free calls.
And while we’re on the subject of calls and mobile phones, the Focus Electric has another trick up its sleeve. Ford’s new MyFord Mobile app for smartphones lets you monitor charging progress from afar, making sure your electric ride is fully juiced every time you jump in. Available for Android, BlackBerry and iOS, it’ll act as a reassuring measure for anyone with ‘range anxiety’. We understand there’s also a version in the works for Windows Phone 7.
Underneath all this wizardry however, are a ton of Electric batteries and motors. We’ve driven all-electric cars, such as the Nissan Leaf, before. But the Focus Electric promises one thing that has us very excited: ultra-fast charging.
Ford’s claiming the Focus Electric will be fully juiced from a household electric socket in a little over four hours, and while we don’t have a confirmation of the Focus Electric’s range after that charge, we’re told it’ll be “sufficient” for average daily use around town. That’s half the time quoted by Nissan, with roughly the same caveats, and shows Ford’s keen to keep us behind the wheel, not waiting for a re-charge.
