First Drive: Ford Focus EV Prototype; Biggest Problems Aren't Ford's
Test Car Shows Ford's Done the Necessary Work; Cost, Infrastructure Still Need Tune Ups
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
Just got my first drive in one of Ford's prototype battery-electric Focus EVs, the culmination of a short electrification program Ford and the Electric Power Research Institute held for the media in San Francisco this morning.
It's great that Ford is pursuing the electric car path, with plans to have a retail Focus EV in the market in 2011, but a little depressing to hear - again - that we're talking about a $40,000 (guesstimate) Focus with 100 miles of range.
Understood - EVs are going to be expensive at first, until growing volume helps car makers and parts suppliers achieve the economies of scale that brings costs down.
But still worrisome to think that initial success - and first impressions by many in the media and on the street - are going to depend on the discount buyers will get with federal and in some areas regional tax credits and, probably more important, the ability of utilities and private providers to establish a usable public network of EV battery chargers.
With the former, the Focus EV is likely to cost about the same as the post-credit Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in hybrid, or $32,500 - give or take a few. That won't intimidate early adopters, but it's a lot for the average car buyer, even with the substantial fuel and maintenance savings that come with an EV.
Without the latter, the Focus and other EVs and PHEVS are likely to languish at any price - doing duty only as second or third cars, spending lots of weekends in the garage and coming out only to make trips to the store or to haul the kids to school or adults to work.
That would be a shame.
From the limited time behind the wheel allotted by Ford, it was easy to see the the company's done a lot of thinking and a lot of engineering to make its Focus EV a winner in handling, performance and usability.
The '09 Focus prototype we drove this afternoon isn't the Focus EV Ford will sell in less than two years - that will be based on the sprightly European Focus platform the company finally is bringing to the U.S. next year, and that will be a good thing.
But even retrofitted into the present U.S. Focus the system performs remarkably well.
Power is smooth and steady - and sufficient to provide a 0-60 time of less than 8 seconds - steering (as much as one can tell on a short drive on downtown San Francisco street) is crisp, and the regenerative braking system works - wonder of wonders - just like a regular brake system with none of the grabbing and judderng common to so many others.
Ford also has dialed-in just the right amount of creep so the car gently edges forward when you lift off the brake at idle - a refreshing return to normalcy after time spent in our creepily creepless long-term Mini-E.
Instrumentation in the prototype is simple - a speedo and a dial that shows energy use in relation to acceleration (think of it as a sort of tachometer for the batteries). We're told the the retail version will have full instrumentation adapted from the multi-information display used in the Ford Fusion hybrid.
All in all, an impressive early version with, seemingly, not much tweaking needed to be ready for the mean streets of the real world.
We asked about getting one of the handful of prototype Focus EVs for Edmunds' long-term fleet. They laughed.
Guess that means we'll have to wait til the production model is ready.
- Posted by
- John O'Dell October 22, 2009, 3:17 PM
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- Categories:
- Ford, Plug-ins and Electric
- Technorati Tags:
- EVs, Ford Focus EV
What is it with 'Senior editors'? You're somehow qualified to project 2 or 3 years into the future and predict the product will be a failure??? If you somehow know the number of public EV charging stations that will have been installed by 2011 then report on that!
The Ford Focus EV is basically the same spec as the EV1 but with a Li-ion batt, 4 seats and 25% more range. They're actually going to sell the things this time and don't sound like they're planning to confiscate them at some future date! That's + news!
inntiidate earlyadopters
its a lot
kikely
wil
pefrorms
judderng
dialed-inj ust
semingly
aobut
Emdumds'long-term fleet
!!!
I blush. It was hit the post button or miss my plane and I chose the former. I do apologize, however, for subjecting readers to such a mess of typos.
Didn't think I was projecting failure. Just worrying that if the infrastructure people don't get a move on, success is going to come a lot more slowly than it should.
I'm a middle class early adopter. I still have a first Gen Prius (140,000 miles and ticking).
More infrastructure would be great, but in no way necessary for success. I drive 20 miles to work everyday, most weekends I drive less than that as we use my wife's Mariner hybrid as the family car, but even that probably doesn't go 50 miles a day on average.
I estimate that an electric car with 100 mile range would satisfy 95% of my driving needs. I don't need 2 family cars, I need a family car and something to commute in, I would love to commute in an EV.
I think the problem with this model will be what you mentioned, comparable price point to the Volt which will have many of the same cost savings for the average commuter (ie me) but without the range disadvantage of a pure EV.