Bruce (or anyone else who knows), Do we have confirmation of the specific lithium chemistry it uses?
Peter Flipsen Jr On Jan 29, 2013 2:57 AM, "brucedp5" <[email protected]> wrote: > > http://www.gearlive.com/news/article/2012-ford-focus-electric-review-q113/ > [images] 2012 Ford Focus Electric review > By Andru Edwards Jan 24 2013 > > [images > http://assets.gearlive.com/blogimages/2012-ford-focus-electric.jpg > 2012 ford focus electric review > > > http://assets.gearlive.com/blogimages/2012-ford-focus-electric-dashboard.jpg > Ford Focus Electric 2012 dashboard > > > http://assets.gearlive.com/blogimages/2012-ford-focus-electric-charge-port.jpg > 2012 ford focus electric charge indicator > > > http://assets.gearlive.com/blogimages/2012-ford-focus-electric-myford-touch.jpg > 2012 ford focus electric myford touch review > > http://assets.gearlive.com/blogimages/2012-ford-focus-electric-battery.jpg > 2012 ford focus electric review battery > > http://assets.gearlive.com/blogimages/2012-ford-focus-electric-cabin.jpg > 2012 ford focus electric review > ] > > The 2012 Ford Focus Electric is the very first all-electric car released by > the company, and is marketed as America's most fuel-efficient > five-passenger > vehicle, what with it's 110 MPGe city rating (99 MPGe highway) and up to 76 > mile range on a single charge. We were able to spend a week with the 2012 > Ford Focus Electric, and we're here to report back with our thoughts. Is it > a worthy contender in the electric car movement? Read on. > > INITIAL IMPRESSIONS > > We've driven and tested quite a few electric vehicles, and it's always > interesting when you get in an EV that has been designed from the ground up > to run on a battery from conception, and a vehicle that already exists and > is outfitted with a battery in place of its gas engine. At least for now, > the latter vehicles seem to drive better, and the 2012 Ford Focus Electric > shines here as well. If you are familiar with driving a Ford Focus, then > you'll be right at home in the electric model. It acts and drives like a > Focus, and it looks like one as well. Same chassis, steering, and youthful > character all appear here. > > As noted in the open, Ford is billing this as the most fuel-efficient five > passenger vehicle, but it should be mentioned that some EVs (like the Chevy > Volt or Tesla Roadster) only have seats for four or two. > > One feature that we really appreciated was the light right that is around > the charge door. It is split into quadrants, and as the car charges, a > quadrant will light up, giving you at-a-glance details of the approximate > charge level. Other EVs typically have an indicator light that tells you > that it is either charging, or is full. > > DRIVING THE FORD FOCUS ELECTRIC > For the average car buyer, the Ford Focus Electric offers a ride akin to > any > other car as far as handling goes. You won't feel out of place in this > vehicle, and while there is no learning curve to driving it, you'll want to > master regenerative breaking so that you can get the absolute most out of > your battery--a fun challenge. You get three gauges in the dashboard which > monitor acceleration, cruising, and braking, moving up and down in concert > based on your driving efficiency. When you break and come to a full stop, > you'll also be told how much of your momentum was captured and put back > into > the battery. As you do this over time, you become a much more efficient > driver. > > The car is nice and quiet, especially when you are on a quiet street. When > you turn it on, you don't get any sort of loud engine sound. On the > highway, > any car noise you hear is likely the vehicles around you, which leads us to > wonder how things will sound as more and more EVs are assimilated into home > of car buyers across America. > > What's missing? We would have loved to have seen Ford's awesome Active Park > Assist feature here. > > INFOTAINMENT > > The 2012 Ford Focus Electric packs in MyFord Touch, giving you quick and > easy access to media, your smartphone, navigation, and climate control in > the vehicle. I recommend playing around with these and getting everything > set up when you've got a few minutes to spare, rather than when you are > getting ready to go somewhere. Get your phone connected to Bluetooth, and > get familiar with the different areas of MyFord Touch, and interacting with > the vehicle will be much easier, if not fairly intuitive. > > BATTERY & RANGE > > As far as battery range, we came away duly impressed by the trips we were > able to make with the 2012 Focus Electric and its 23kWh liquid-cooled > lithium-ion battery components. One trip in particular went from Bothell, > Washington down to Seattle and back again, with the first leg happening > right in the middle of rush hour, meaning lots of stop and go traffic, and > with the heat pumping to keep the windshield free of fog. It was close, but > we made the 50 mile round trip with about 8 miles left of battery power to > spare. > > We did encounter one issue that we were able to deal with only because > we've > experienced it with a Chevy Volt before as well. Basically, when waiting at > a stop light with a foot on the break, the Focus Electric would no longer > accelerate once the light turned green. At most it would go about 2-3 miles > per hour. We knew that this meant that something went wrong with the > electric system, and we slowly coasted to the side of the road, turned the > car off, opened the door (to turn it off completely,) closed the door, and > turned it back on and everything was back to normal. Definitely an anomaly, > but hey, if it happens to you while driving an EV, now you know how to > handle it. > > FINAL VERDICT > > The 2012 Ford Focus Electric is a nice car for those hoping to kick the > gasoline habit. You get room for five, but of course, the more weight in > the > vehicle that there is, the less range you'll get out of the battery. If you > don't have a long commute, or if you have access to a car charger where you > work, shop, and live, then it likely won't be an issue anyway. It's a nice > commuting and errand running vehicle, and we liked it. That said, it's a > bit > expensive in the grand scheme of things at $39,200 base. Granted, that > comes > with a fairly loaded configuration that includes navigation, MyFord Touch, > and Sony speaker system, but it's still about $23,000 more than the > non-electric Focus (although that vehicle isn't as well equipped at its > base > price as the EV model is.) > > All in all, if you are wanting to pick up an all electric vehicle, as > opposed to a plug-in hybrid, you can't go wrong with the 2012 Ford Focus > Electric. > [© Gear Live - Andru Edwards] > > > > > For all EVLN posts use: > > http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=evln&sort=date > > Here are today's archive-only EV posts: > > EVLN: Giant kite pulls EV across Australia > EVLN: Chicago seeks to lead nation on EVs with new battery hub > EVLN: Japan eased safety standards ahead of Boeing 787 rollout > EVLN: Thinking of an Indie Electric Car? You May Need to Move Fast > EVLN: Motion control keeps EV's four wheel motors—on the road > + > EVLN: 90 iMiev's sold in Russia > > > {brucedp.150m.com} > > > > -- > View this message in context: > http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-2012-Ford-Focus-Electric-review-tp4660931.html > Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at > Nabble.com. > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA ( > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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