FORD FOCUS ELECTRIC REVIEW

The Focus Electric as its nominate implies is Ford’s to begin with plump production, all-electric vehicle. Up until recently, it was slim pickings on behalf of EV adopters, with the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i the single real option south of $50,000. That’s rejection longer the problem. Ford has been very intense to tout its EV chops with a sophisticated EV to facilitate eschews more eccentric styling found on the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i, and as an alternative dons the smooth suit of the third-generation Focus.

We recently dived into the Focus Electric to discovery vetoed whether this under another name EV is more variety than substance, or if it has the capability to electrocute the competition.

A friendly compartment

The Focus Electric’s is impartial as sizable on inside as it is on the outside. Material quality is top-notch with an assertively sculpted dash. And the “Starship Enterprise” styled focus console will include drivers barking commands to passengers like a forward-looking era Picard.

Cloth container seats (partially made from recycled equipment like plastic bottles) draw closer standard, although leather interior can be had on behalf of $995.

A not many design choices cling the overall present, as solve the omission of a not many beast comforts. The interior is dramatic, but taller passengers will dislike the way the dash dips too close up, swallowing up more pause to facilitate it must. The touchscreen is elevated a little too much, making it unmanageable to extent while driving. Up front, at hand are rejection changeable power seat options on behalf of passenger and driver – although both are heated which is a acceptable addition.

Wearing the back, the Focus Electric is moderately drudgery, and despite the detail to facilitate Ford says it will fit three group in the rear seat, two is much more realistic.

While head and shoulder extent is decent, crutch extent is a little a reduced amount of generous. Due to the Focus’ big stimulating powertrain components located next to the rear of the vehicle, freight extent suffers, with single 14.5 cubic feet on offer – a far cry from the 23.8 cubes offered in the standard Focus give forth. A hidden compartment underneath adds 1.5 cb.Ft of pause.

MyFord Touch

Much of the attention surrounding the Focus Electric will focus on its battery-based powertrain. However, Ford’s EV-in-disguise is packing quite the tech suite on the inside, too. At the nucleus of it all is the up-to-the-minute version of MyFordTouch, which serves as the center on behalf of all the vehicles audio functions, climate controls, Bluetooth phone connectivity, and navigation skin tone.

The Focus Electric comes with Sony’s premium nine-speaker sound practice (one of the paramount we’ve listened to next to this rate point) HD Radio, SiriusXM, and a single-disc album player. Further contemporary audio options include two USB ports located in the focus console on behalf of iPod/smartphone hookup, and Bluetooth wireless audio streaming.

On paper it all sounds big, but Ford’s practice has been poorly normal on behalf of certain schedule immediately. And despite the Blue Oval’s attempts next to patching MyFord Touch with updates, it’s still as sluggish as increasingly. While the onboard electronics are wearing a veil behind pretty color-coded touchscreens, LED displays and certain smart design choices (gotta love persons two USB ports in the focus console), many of the onboard tech skin tone are sluggish and downright frustrating.

Let’s start with something as undemanding as Bluetooth coupling. Wearing for the most part vehicles, solitary be required to simply activate Bluetooth on their phone and discovery the corresponding menu option in the head company. The Focus EV is rejection poles apart in this regard and gladly lets you join up your device while the vehicle is affecting (a rarity). The glitch now is to facilitate you’re mandatory to enter a fixation twine of statistics when coupling a up-to-the-minute device. While we don’t (necessarily) mind inputting a undemanding twine, such as 0000, inputting a fixation combination such as 0746 is asinine, not to bring up distracting while driving.

But it doesn’t goal at hand: Streaming audio and using hands-free calling is a chore, and performed inadequately in our week-long evaluation. We suffered frequent dropped calls in areas of most reception. Streaming harmony from apps like Pandora/Spotifycaused the phone to lose its Bluetooth connection while changing tracks. And the harmony stored locally on our phone didn’t fare one better, trailing connection while changing tracks through voice, touchscreen, and on the device itself.

Physically cabling our strategy and streaming harmony locally seemed to opus better, but with MyFord Touch, the practice performing not including one hiccups was permanently the exception – not the norm.

Other frustrations include an unresponsive touchscreen, small icons (particularly frustrating while using the nav system), and a difficult menu array to facilitate, despite being dispirited up into clearly apparent color sectors, requires a steep learning curve (and the patience of saint) to overcome.

It’s not all doom and gloom though; voice recognition is surprisingly proficient. Placing calls is undemanding as stating the contacts nominate, and the practice can even read incoming text messages aloud, which you can therefore dictate a response to or simply ignore. A handy “do not disturb” icon on the touchscreen furthermore lets you convert this characteristic sour entirely.

MyFord Touch furthermore makes it undemanding to discovery the nearby charging station, which must help alleviate range anxiety on behalf of persons driving around town.

Like other Ford vehicles, the Focus Electric offers AppLink, which gives you voice control more convinced compatible apps. This record is constantly growing with Pandora, USA nowadays, and The cage up Street Journal along with certain of the more notable ones.

Rounding vetoed the Focus Electric’s tech suite is a rearview camera with line appearance and multiple sensors placed next to the rear shock absorber. Approach an object and an audible word will beep more hurriedly the closer you persuade.

An EV in disguise

Not every person appreciates the eccentric (but aerodynamically necessary) variety of today’s EVs. The Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i are prime examples of “out there” electrics, however, Ford has taken a more restrained loom and based its car on the remarkably pleasant gasoline-powered Focus.

The Focus Electric isn’t on behalf of the showy EV adopter, and if you’re looking on behalf of a car to compel to a statement, this solitary isn’t on behalf of you. Apart from the Aston Martin-like front grille, stimulating badging on the doors/rear goal, lack of a tailpipe, and a charging seaport on the front not here fender, you’ll include strife informative a gasoline-powered Focus from its electron-guzzling counterpart.

Miles and math

Forgoing gasoline altogether, the Focus Electric is powered by a 23-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery collection. Power is sent to the front wheels via a 107-kilowatt (143-horsepower) stimulating motor and mated to a single-speed direct-drive transmission. For comparison, the Focus Electric’s foremost competitor, the Nissan Leaf, has an 80-kW motor and a 24kWh battery with alike front-wheel drive setup. However, since the Focus skin tone a liquid-cooled battery packed, opposite to the air-cooled variety found in the Leaf, drivers must discovery it more tough in extreme temperatures, which has plagued Leaf owners in states like Arizona.

EPA numbers place the Focus’ range next to 76 miles and 105 MPGe. While persons numbers don’t blow away the Leaf’s 73 mile range and 99 MPGe EPA rating, the Focus Electric is the tidy up winner now. Of pattern MPGe can be a tricky integer to understand, but it’s for all intents and purposes the distance an EV can travel based on the amount of energy in a single gallon of swap gossip. For more info, click now on behalf of our extensive write-up explaining MPGe.

We’d like to crux vetoed though to facilitate these numbers are based on the 2012 brand day Leaf, and Nissan expects these statistics to proliferate on behalf of 2013 with a integer of changes made to perfect aerodynamics, more efficient onboard electronics (climate control being solitary of them), regenerative braking, and a abridged drag coefficient. Official EPA numbers include yet to liberation on behalf of the 2013 Leaf but we’ll l modernize this while it does.

The Focus Electric can be a little daunting next to to begin with, especially if you’ve not at all been inside an EV. David Treharne, technical leader of electrification systems and controls, told us to facilitate the car in reality “learns” how you drive. It can arithmetic mean your preceding vehicle mileage and driving behavior, and therefore spits vetoed range in turn based on the data collected by its onboard computers.

Sadly, the way the range is displayed and the multitude of statistics (positives and negatives) thrown your way can compel to it feel like you’re front and focus in an old college calculus rank, moderately than you are behind the swing of an electron-powered vehicle – thankfully at hand was rejection pop-quiz next to the goal of our drives.

So it turns vetoed, though, the Focus Electric does a noble job of coaching you into being a more efficient driver. There is a obliging regenerative braking characteristic than can add a not many miles to your range, and the brake coach shows you a percentage similar to all complete stop up of how much energy you’ve recaptured.

Unlike gasoline engines, which bloom in open-road environments, EVs are next to their for the most part efficient in the city and around the suburbs. Driving on the freeway will drastically reduce range, especially while factoring in power-sapping skin tone like climate control (a massive drain) and other onboard electrics such as navigation, means of communication, Bluetooth streaming, and so forth.

And range is a trepidation, which is solitary of the reasons why many include been so lengthy to adopt EVs. With a gasoline-powered car you simply soar in and take off. But the Focus Electric, like all EVs, save on behalf of maybe the Tesla Model S, requires to facilitate you graph upfront; to know wherever you are disappearing and pardon? The context of to facilitate drive will be.

Many drivers will discovery this compromise too much to bear, especially in colder climates wherever something as banal as defrosting your windows can mean the difference among making your fall and running vetoed of juice.

We tried maximizing our range by forgoing such chat, but on certain mornings we simply had rejection pick. Of pattern, range anxiety is a reduced amount of of an back issue if you include access to a mare in your inland or place of opus. However, not every person will include these offered. To be moderately good, this isn’t impartial a glitch on behalf of the Focus Electric, but EVs as a total, which additional limits their bulk appeal and level-headedness. Fast charging speeds and a robust infrastructure impartial aren’t at hand yet.

Charging

Charging is solitary of the things the Focus EV does solve well. Drivers can become hard up charging schedules on behalf of off-peak hours. Using a 240-volt, Level 2 charging station will zap you back on the road in nearly four hours, while a more primitive 120-volt mare will take roughly 20 hours. The Focus Electric does not support a 30-minute DC quick charge, so rash types include been warned.

You’ve lay on power

Off the line the Focus Electric isn’t as pleasurable to pilot as it can be. Because at hand are rejection gear changes, the car delivers immediate torque fit sour the bat. The glitch now, however, is Ford engineers seem to include purposely planned take-off power to be a reduced amount of alert than pardon? The car is in reality able of. We imagine this was through to conserve battery power, but it’s disappointing to say the slightest to facilitate solitary of the valid joys of EV driving has been stripped down so noticeably.

The stimulating passion to facilitate remains is primarily felt next to low speeds, and some time ago in action – say on the freeway – the Focus loses a fate of its verve. Drivers need not discomfort though, as it’s more than able of quick lane changes and freeway merging.

The car’s onboard battery and components don’t solve it one string-pulling while it comes to management, and is solitary of the areas we think the Nissan Leaf bests its battery-powered vengeance. Because the Focus Electric is nearly identical to the standard Focus, Ford’s engineers had rejection pick but to stuff its batteries wherever they fit, worth much of the Focus’ added power (it weighs a add up of 3,624 lbs and is 700 lbs heavier than the gasoline version) is jutted vetoed to the corners, which in convert hinders the vehicle’s management chops. So while Focus Electric drivers may perhaps wing under the radar, the tradeoff is a car to facilitate is a little a reduced amount of efficient with stilted management.

Finish line

Overall, the Focus Electric is as polarizing as the powertrain to facilitate pushes it.

On the solitary give we include a very sizable and comfortable under another name EV to facilitate won’t remain standing vetoed next to a stoplight but still does its part in saving the setting. On the other we include a profound car to facilitate doesn’t do as well as we’d like and sports an painfully buggy infotainment experience courtesy of MyFord Touch. Top to facilitate sour with a $39,995 (buyers may perhaps furthermore be eligible on behalf of a $7,500 Federal income tax credit) sticky label rate on behalf of a car to facilitate can travel a reduced amount of than 100 miles on a single charge and inadequate availability, and impending customers include a fate to think nearly.

At this crux, it’s tidy up to facilitate driving an EV isn’t anywhere bordering on the level of convenience it needs to be on behalf of bulk adoption, nor is the skill next to the crux wherever it can substitute ICE cars. What will drive ahead of time adopters are the enviro/political factors more than something besides, and it is on behalf of persons two reasons we endorse the Focus Electric.

However, if you require a little more versatility from your vehicle but still would like a taste of EV skill, we endorse you take off the plug-in hybrid route as an alternative and take a look next to the Chevrolet Volt.