electric vehicles – Electric Vehicle Car Blog

Ford Motor Company’s Focus 2013 Electric is powered by a lithium-ion battery system which gives it a fuel efficiency rating of 110 MPGe city, 99 MPGe highway, 105 MPGe combined. Source: Ford Motor Company 2013 Focus product sheet.

What is MPGe?

It sounds odd, providing miles per gallon figures for a car that uses no gasoline so here’s the offical explanation: Miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe) is used to compare energy consumption of alternative-powered vehicles.

MPGe tells how much gasoline and how much electricity would be used to generate an equal amount of power. One gallon of gasoline equals 33 kilowatt-hours of electricity. Now you know.

Focus specs:

Powertrain: Permanent magnet all electric traction motor with single-speed automatic transmission
Power: 143 hp, 107 kW, Torque: 184 lb.-ft., 250 Nm
Seating: five
Ambient lighting with seven switchable colors
Standard Audio System by Sony® and HD Radio™ with iTunes Tagging
Where built: Wayne Assembly Plant, Wayne, Michigan

Fast Recharge

The all-electric Focus is capable of fully recharging in four hours at home using the available wall-mounted 240-volt charge station. This compares favorably with competitors like the Nissan Leaf.

According to Ford, the Focus Electric offers enough range (up to 76 miles) to meet the daily needs of most American drivers, and a top speed of up to 84 mph. Operative words in both cases being “up to.”

Battery Power

The Focus Electric’s lithium-ion battery system offers more power and less weight than comparable nickel metal-hydride systems. The battery’s power output is 23kWh, with advanced liquid heating/cooling to regulate battery temperature. This helps maximize battery life and miles from each charge. Regenerative braking boosts range by capturing up to 90 percent of energy lost through friction brakes.

What’s the Price? The Focus Electric is available at one of Ford’s certified electric vehicle (EV) dealers. MSRP is $39,200.00. Be sure to ask your tax advisor to see if you qualify for a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 – operative words being “up to.”

From the way the mainstream media hype electric cars, one would think that they were just around every corner. However, spotting on in Boston is like finding an open parking space on Newbury St. It can happen, but you have a better chance of seeing two baby pigeons playing together. Luckily, Nissan issued a press announcement August 24rth that cleared all this up. Apparently, the EVs are all hiding on the left coast.

Six of the top eight cities that Nissan sells Leafs are in west coast states. Seven out of eight are western if you count Honolulu. New York is Nissan’s 15th largest city for sales and Boston is not even on the list. The reason has a lot to do with the marketing focus of the vehicles by their makers, but also where the money is. Atlanta makes the list at a solid number three, being the only Eastern city to break into the top 10. How did that happen? Bribes. Georgian taxpayers give Nissan Leaf buyers, and other EV buyers $5,000 by way of a state tax credit. That is on top of federal incentives provided by US taxpayers that can add up to $12,500 for EVs. Atlanta also lets the EVs cruise the HOV lanes. High occupancy vehicle used to be the name for those special lanes paid for by gas taxes before there were any EVs. Now they are called “HOT” lanes. The Leaf and the “extended range EV” Chevy Volt vie to be the top selling EV each month. Other types of green-machines like Plug-in hybrids and conventional hybrids are making life tough for the pure EVs though. Lease prices have dropped like a rock and most EVs are seeing double digit reductions in MSRP each year. That makes jumping in now hard for some who would like an EV, but don’t want to be the one who overpaid.