This is the new Ford Focus Electric, not a baby Aston Martin Rapide.This isn’t a Detroit reveal – no, the Ford Focus Electric was unveiled to the world at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. This isn’t Ford’s first electric vehicle of course, as those honors go to the Ford Transit Connect EV, but it will be its first passenger car EV. It will be launched for sale in late 2011.
In a market where there’s options such as the Nissan Leaf EV and the Chevrolet Volt range extended EV, naturally Ford has made comparisons with its competitors in its initial press release. For one, Ford says a full recharge will take just 3 to 4 hours at home with the 240V charge station, half the charge time of the Leaf, which takes 8 hours to charge at 240V.
I’m very curious though as to how Ford managed a 4 hour charge time – does the shorter charge time affect battery longevity? Is Ford using better technology? Some technical details would be nice, but these are typically only available from the experts at the launch event. But I can make an educated guess. A 240V 60A 6kW charger (Level 2) should technically be able to charge the Nissan Leaf’s 24kWh battery in 4 hours, but the Leaf’s internal battery management limits the charging to 3.3kW to limit the amount of heat generated during charging as the Leaf’s battery has no active cooling.
Ford’s battery pack however does have active cooling, so it could be using the full 6kW power. The lithium-ion battery system was engineered by Ford with LG Chem and it uses heated and cooled liquid to help maximize battery life. According to Ford, thermal management of lithium-ion battery systems is critical to the success of EVs. The active cooling and heating system heats or chills a coolant before pumping it through the battery cooling system.
Charging the battery pack is via an industry standard 5-point plug supplied by Yazaki. The charge port is located between the driver’s door and front wheel well. A light ring around the port is activated to acknowledge a proper charger connection. The light ring lluminates in quadrants as the vehicle charges. Flashing quadrants represent charge in progress and solid-lit quadrants show stages of charge completion. If something goes wrong, the entire ring flashes, and when the car is fully charged, the entire ring lights up solidly.
We don’t really have any information on the electric motor and we expect this to be unveiled only towards the end of the year closer to the launch date, but we do know the Focus Electric goes up to a top speed of 136km/h. Doesn’t sound like the Focus Electric is going to be a very brisk machine, but it’s certainly going to be very silent and economical!
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First~
price in US???
hi,
just wondering with all the fuss about new technology on vehicle
would be nice if you could show some wise economical data to those technologies
surely, petrol cars are being outwit by diesel, hybrid and now EV
really, some comparison between them are really appreciated
for instance, if an EV vehicle were to be charge from home outlet, how much will it suck our bills or might even be in Watt terms.
just a thought from your silent reader
for an EV, the duration it takes to recharge is just as important as how far is the travelling range. can it go 300km per full charge at cruising speeds? if its just a modest 120km, then the future of EV are still far away from us.
too bad. but something is always better than nothing, rite?
the grills resembles a bit like aston martin.
I can’t wait for the day when there is no smoke on the road, no smell of petrol and diesel, that would be heaven. Please accelerate the transition from petrol to electric vehicles as fast as possible.
Nothing changed except point of pollution transferred from road to power station.
Probably, but at least I can wind down my windows without smelling the foul petrol/smoke odour now can’t I?
True but not the whole picture. You’re ignoring the increasing use of cleaner power. Photovoltaic, distributed systems, wind… and then there are future technologies, such as tidal/wave. Every watt we generate with nonpolluting technologies is one less watt that we’re burning fossil fuels to produce.
A gasoline or diesel engine, by contrast, always pollutes at the same rate. You can’t offset that pollution with “cleaner” sources (with the notable exception of biodiesel, but you still get tailpipe emissions that harm local air quality).
The pertinent discussion revolves not just around the transfer of pollution, but comparing how much environmental impact we have per mile driven. Even if we are just transferring the emissions from the tailpipe to the smokestack, if the overall efficiency and carbon footprint of the EV approach is better we’re still moving in the right direction.
Well said but what about the complex/long process of making the hi-cap battery? Disposal of dead batteries? All these are equally polluting. Back to square one unless the car is running 100% on solar/wind energy.
Internal combustion engine efficiency is 20-40%, the rest become heat and sound. Coal plant efficiency is 30-50% while gas plant is 50% efficiency. Technically we still save the earth a little.
No matter how promising it sounds like, electric motors will never fully replace combustion engine. Electric motors are not meant for long distances travel and requires a lot of power to move heavy loads. And not to mention the price for its battery cell, which can easily cost as much as an ordinary combustion engine itself. Maybe its great for a city car, a city bike, or mild recreational vehicle, but nothing more than that.
High speeds, Heavy loads?
Doesn’t virtually every train/locomotive in use today, use an electric motors
At least electric trains/LRT/MRT got power lines to transfer the electricity.
They don’t use solely on batteries like EV cars.
Nice Aston Mar.. I mean Ford Focus….
china electric cars are still the one to go…this is crap….even hyundai i10 is better than this…
Why so?
for china car 1 full charge can go 1800km….
wow… this is interesting….
China electric cars???
One example. Have we compared the Philips bulbs from China with those from Holland(in the older days)? Same brand but different qualities. Somehow China Philips just can pass the quality test of Philips company (but 51% is also pass and 99% is also pass)
I guess China batteries can last longer than European or American makes?????
If China Focus costs RM120k and American one costs RM180k, I will definitely choose the latter.
Man when I first looked at this babe I thought it was an Aston! Fantastic designs from Ford lately!!
See how different is our treatment.
When Ford is mistaken for Aston we said nice and fantastic but when a Proton concept car slightly resemble other makes we say copycat …
u know malaysian
copy here copy there… and the rear lamp looks gan nah saily like peugeut… charging time of hours still way too long compare to pumping petrol at few minutes
Down to its most sincere form of admiration…. imitation.
I always tot hybrid is crap. It’s either u go petrolhead or electric or nuke.
Good try Henry Ford on the Ironman’s emblem that glows when charged. Cool…
I think all car logo should light up!
that aston grille makes it fuglier than before…. pls drop it!
anyway its still a concept right now…
hope is come with solar panel at top that helps to charge….
some sort of “windtrap” to turn turbine and generate some electricity while moving… and this might also help to lower its COd somemore…
Turning turbines will add to wind resistance. Don’t think it’s such a wise move. Furthermore wind generators aren’t that efficient.
so this mean in future,,,we dont see anybody cross battery between car anymore?
Then this Ford will beat Prius KO (in term of look I am sure)..
I never thought the Prius hybrid was good looking in the first place so yes, the Focus already beat it. :-P
Of all the regular passenger EVs, I think this is the best looking one. Ok, some might like Leaf but I don’t.
As for EV tech, I don’t think it’s up for mass adoption just yet. But great for large cities like Tokyo, Shanghai, NY, Bangkok etc.
For us, it’ll be great to get EVs for KL drives but only if there’s a comprehensive public transport infrastructure for outstation travel.
I think you miss the point. All too often we think of these things in an “all or nothing” scenario. There is no such thing as an ideal “magic bullet” solution that will work for all people, all the time. Rather, the way forward lies in a mosaic of smaller solutions, each less than ideal in itself, that combine to produce a larger effect. Example: I must occasionally carry cargo 150 miles or so, which means an EV would not meet my needs. But most of the time I commute, driving about 50-75 miles a day… and our house has two cars. The answer for us isn’t to go all-electric… it’s to trade one car for an EV, and use the right tool for the job at hand. We are still creating a positive impact without sacrificing utility.
Ford going green after Nissan and Chevrolet? Good move and welcome to the electric family :].
Ooo~~ An Aston Martin Focus.. hahaha!!
Ring light? Quadrants? Omg, this sounds like an XBox 360. See see later the car got RROD.
Never thought this day would come, …….EVs.
If it can go as far as 300km, makes it a City car. Wonder how it works during those packed jams n air-cond blasting away in out hot weather or during heavy rain when it is impossible to wind down the windows.
I wonder how those who lives in condos and high rise apartments will charge their cars, should this car be sold here in Malaysia?
nice looking front…hope ford my will bring in one ^^
when will they bring in the new 2012 petrol/diesel version? 2013?
front like astro martin especially the grille area
“Doesn’t sound like the Focus Electric is going to be a very brisk machine, but it’s certainly going to be very silent and economical!”
136km/h is plenty fast for city roads!!
also.. the word “brisk” means: Lively, Invigorating, Energetic, Quick…
The article did not state 0-60 times, but most electric cars can do very well 0-60… i’m guessing it will be more “brisk” than the petrol versions.
What distance does it cover in a single charge?