Ford Starts Taking Orders For Focus Electric
By Danny King November 3, 2011
Ford Motor Co. began online order-taking Wednesday for the Ford Focus Electric sedan that it'll start selling later this year. Its price starts at $39,995. The automaker also launched a website dedicated to providing specifications and build-out options for its Focus Electric. Ford has said it Focus EV sales would begin with about 70 dealers in California and in the New York-New Jersey area by the end of the year. It will expand to 15 other markets, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Seattle and Washington, D.C., by the end of 2012.
Ford will be the first U.S. automaker to sell a mass-produced, freeway-legal electric vehicle. Nissan - the first major automaker to hit the market with a full-service battery-electric car - started selling its Leaf in December. Mitsubishi will start selling its i city car EV (sold as the i-MiEV overseas) later this year. Toyota is expected to launch a new all-electric RAV4 crossover in 2012. The Focus Electric will have an estimated 70-mile single-charge range that's similar to the EPA rating for the Leaf, though Ford said it will take about half the time to fully recharge a Focus EV from a 240-volt station as it takes to recharge the Leaf, thanks to the Focus Electric's higher-capacity on-board changer.
The Focus Electric is one of five electrified vehicles Ford will release over the next three years. Others will be the Ford Transit Connect Electric small commercial van, a plug-in hybrid version of the C-Max multi-purpose vehicle and two next-generation conventional hybrid electric vehicles. The Focus Electric will come standard with features such as the MyFord Touch telematics system, 17-inch aluminum wheels, rear camera and voice-activated navigation system, and will give buyers the option of two paint colors as well as leather seats.
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