2012 Ford Focus Electric Enters Production
Ford has announced that it will start building an all-electric version of the Focus hatchback from this month.
Dubbed the Focus Electric, the battery-powered Focus will supposedly travel up to 150km on a single charge, and can fully recharge its ba
Ford has announced that it will start building an all-electric version of the Focus hatchback from this month.
Dubbed the Focus Electric, the battery-powered Focus will supposedly travel up to 150km on a single charge, and can fully recharge its batteries in three hours when plugged into a 240-volt power source.
That compares favourably with cars like the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi iMiEV, which both require up to eight hours on a conventional 240-volt charger to reach full battery capacity.
The Focus Electric is powered by an electric motor that produces 91kW and 245Nm of torque - 43Nm more torque than the current Focus 2.0 litre petrol engine.
A 23kWh lithium-ion battery supplies power, allowing Focus Electric to run silently up to a maximum speed of 136km/h.
The catch? Production is confined to North America for now, with the first batch of Focus Electrics earmarked for California and New York/New Jersey. Ford will roll out the Focus Electric to other states in the USA later in 2012.
Some European markets will eventually get their hands on the all-electric Focus, with sales expected to begin in late 2012.
As for Australia, with no RHD production confirmed it looks doubtful that we'll see the Focus Electric here anytime soon.