Official Ford Focus Electric Thread

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KeiJidosha said:
Car mags usually won’t list data until they get to instrument the drive.

True, but I would expect some comments about handling feel and driving dynamics from the seat of the pants. Dennis Simanaitis is the chief engineering editor, and knows his EV stuff fairly well.
 
Boomer23 said:
KeiJidosha said:
Car mags usually won’t list data until they get to instrument the drive.

True, but I would expect some comments about handling feel and driving dynamics from the seat of the pants. Dennis Simanaitis is the chief engineering editor, and knows his EV stuff fairly well.
Automobile - "While the dynamic performance of Ford's first-ever electric car can best be described as adequate, Ford has done a superior job of integrating electric propulsion into a normal package. In other words, the Focus Electric doesn't look like a previously undiscovered larva scraped from beneath a thick mat of rainforest duff."

Praise?
 
KeiJidosha said:
Automobile - "While the dynamic performance of Ford's first-ever electric car can best be described as adequate, Ford has done a superior job of integrating electric propulsion into a normal package. In other words, the Focus Electric doesn't look like a previously undiscovered larva scraped from beneath a thick mat of rainforest duff."

Praise?
Apparently they didn't bother to look at the trunc.
 
evnow said:
KeiJidosha said:
Automobile - "While the dynamic performance of Ford's first-ever electric car can best be described as adequate, Ford has done a superior job of integrating electric propulsion into a normal package. In other words, the Focus Electric doesn't look like a previously undiscovered larva scraped from beneath a thick mat of rainforest duff."

Praise?
Apparently they didn't bother to look at the trunc.
Automobile didn't, but Autoblog green did "Even so, cargo space isn't too bad in the Electric – there's 14.5 cubic feet of available room behind the rear seats, and additional 1.5 cubic feet in the hidden compartment. By comparison, a Nissan Leaf also offers 14.5 cubic feet of space, while the smaller Mitsubishi i only registers 13.2.
"
 
why so much attention on the trunk size, it's a small car for daily commutes anyway, obviously you will not be taking it for camping. I've dealt with Leaf trunk for a year and it worked fine with a stroller or bunch of grocery bags and even Costco trips, so I think Focus trunk would be just fine. Personally, trunk isn't my priority, it's what I get for the price and for me it's hard to swallow $7k+ price difference over what I paid for my Leaf.
 
KeiJidosha said:
Automobile didn't, but Autoblog green did "Even so, cargo space isn't too bad in the Electric – there's 14.5 cubic feet of available room behind the rear seats, and additional 1.5 cubic feet in the hidden compartment. By comparison, a Nissan Leaf also offers 14.5 cubic feet of space, while the smaller Mitsubishi i only registers 13.2.
"

I do not believe that the Focus (without a battery pack) has even close to the same trunk volume.
 
IBELEAF said:
why so much attention on the trunk size, it's a small car for daily commutes anyway, obviously you will not be taking it for camping. I've dealt with Leaf trunk for a year and it worked fine with a stroller or bunch of grocery bags and even Costco trips, so I think Focus trunk would be just fine. Personally, trunk isn't my priority, it's what I get for the price and for me it's hard to swallow $7k+ price difference over what I paid for my Leaf.
Original pictures of FFE mule showed significant cargo are intrusion from batteries. Production FFE seems less so.
 
KeiJidosha said:
evnow said:
Apparently they didn't bother to look at the trunc.
Automobile didn't, but ...
Sure they did, they just neglected to write about it in English:
Of disadvantage to the owner is the Focus Electric's battery pack. Alas, it impinges upon the cargo area, where inserting two golf bags would seriously discompose the mashies and niblicks.
 
The trunk looks like what was posted here a few months back.

lead11-2012-ford-focus-electric-fd.jpg


Space above that cover is the trunk space. And below that cover is the "hidden" trunc.

lead10-2012-ford-focus-electric-fd.jpg


Battery perhaps takes up 1/4 of the trunk. But, because of its shape, usable trunk space is rather reduced. If the battery was flat on the bottom of the trunk, it would have looked much better.
 
TonyWilliams said:
KeiJidosha said:
Automobile didn't, but Autoblog green did "Even so, cargo space isn't too bad in the Electric – there's 14.5 cubic feet of available room behind the rear seats, and additional 1.5 cubic feet in the hidden compartment. By comparison, a Nissan Leaf also offers 14.5 cubic feet of space, while the smaller Mitsubishi i only registers 13.2.
"

I do not believe that the Focus (without a battery pack) has even close to the same trunk volume.
FFE is a compact, LEAF a midsize, so numbers surprised me too.
 
but over the course of my brief test drive the car lost less range than the distance it covered

That observation caught my attention.. It is not clear how much of the test driving by this author was done on the highway .vs. city streets, but if you get a range that is shown on the dash, that is a good thing.
 
mkjayakumar said:
but over the course of my brief test drive the car lost less range than the distance it covered

That observation caught my attention.. It is not clear how much of the test driving by this author was done on the highway .vs. city streets, but if you get a range that is shown on the dash, that is a good thing.
When people write this kind of a thing without telling what type of driving it was - it shows the inexperience of the driver. Basically a useless piece of info. We need experienced EV drivers to drive FFE and tell us about it (until we can all test drive).
 
adric22 said:
I love this line in the review: "Leather seats are a $1,000 option, the only one. Cattle are renewable, after all."
A lot of people seem to think so - since they ignore what it takes to convert that hide into leather (or for that matter how fossil fuel intensive the modern dairy is). I remember Lyle making the same argument on gm-volt ...
 
evnow said:
A lot of people seem to think so - since they ignore what it takes to convert that hide into leather (or for that matter how fossil fuel intensive the modern dairy is). I remember Lyle making the same argument on gm-volt ...

A few questions:

What is the incremental cost of making leather from cattle that are already being raised and slaughtered?

Does upholstery leather come from dairy cows or beef cattle, or both?

What is there about a dairy that is fossil fuel intensive that couldn't be electrified?

Is that 84mph limit accurate on the FFE?
 
evnow said:
adric22 said:
I love this line in the review: "Leather seats are a $1,000 option, the only one. Cattle are renewable, after all."
A lot of people seem to think so - since they ignore what it takes to convert that hide into leather (or for that matter how fossil fuel intensive the modern dairy is). I remember Lyle making the same argument on gm-volt ...
So is leather in a Focus different from leather in any other vehicle or handbag for that matter?
I never get why EVs seem to be held to an independent standard. But then FOX would otherwise not have much to say :roll:
 
If going a buy a "Guess-O-Meter" equivalent, it is meaningless.

If my Leaf has been driven aggressively for a bit, and then I take a short trip paying attention to economy, it often goes back with much more range showing than I started off with.

Meaningless. Of course that reviewer might have noted that range increases as you drive, so you probably never need to charge it!

mkjayakumar said:
but over the course of my brief test drive the car lost less range than the distance it covered

That observation caught my attention.. It is not clear how much of the test driving by this author was done on the highway .vs. city streets, but if you get a range that is shown on the dash, that is a good thing.
 
smkettner said:
evnow said:
adric22 said:
I love this line in the review: "Leather seats are a $1,000 option, the only one. Cattle are renewable, after all."
A lot of people seem to think so - since they ignore what it takes to convert that hide into leather (or for that matter how fossil fuel intensive the modern dairy is). I remember Lyle making the same argument on gm-volt ...
So is leather in a Focus different from leather in any other vehicle or handbag for that matter?
I never get why EVs seem to be held to an independent standard. But then FOX would otherwise not have much to say :roll:

i dont think so. leather is leather. i think leather trimmed seats are the best you can get in the EV

the plastic is post consumer, the cloth and foam from the seats are made with plant seed oil which is a bit novel i guess.
 
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