2013 Ford Focus Electric

My initial reaction wasn't, "Hey! Electric Ford Focus." My initial reaction was, "Aston Martin wants its grille back." The 2013 Focus Electric looks like a larger, better-designed version of the Aston Martin Cygnet, the little Toyota-built dinghy for Aston owners who live in or regularly visit London.
Of course, Ford Motor Company still owned Aston Martin when Martin Smith's European studio began designing this car. In fact, the wide maw Aston-like grille first appeared on a Ford when the Verve concept foreshadowed the current Fiesta subcompact at the 2007 Frankfurt motor show.
It's the kind of design detail the ever more style-conscious Ford can more easily pull off when the grille doesn't need to suck in any air. The company is making some big claims about the first "fuel-free, rechargeable passenger car from Ford" (the electric Transit Connect is its first such truck), but isn't revealing much about the nature of the powerpack. It's an all-electric powertrain with a single-speed transmission. Battery system is an advanced lithium-ion unit Ford has developed with supplier LG Chem that uses heated and cooled liquid to maximize battery life and driving range. Ford handles thermal management with liquid heating in cold weather, liquid cooling when it's hot.
Ford claims a 100-mile range. It fully recharges in three to four hours at 240 volts, half the charging time of the Nissan Leaf and with twice the mpg equivalent of the Chevrolet Volt. Its dedicated charging system will cost consumers $500 to $700 less than Nissan's or Chevy's, Ford claims. Top speed is 84 mph.
The charge port, between the driver's door and front wheel well, activates a light ring that loops around the port two times to let the owner know the car is connected. There's the usual gee-whiz recharging and battery-draining bar graph drama going on in the instrument panel, as well.
In going with the theory that both the environmentally correct and the anti-import oil crowd also make up the exclusive group of Americans who like hatchbacks (Chevy Volt, Toyota Prius, Nissan Leaf), the Focus Electric will be available only in the four-door hatchback bodystyle, not the four-door sedan.

Bill Gates may want one. As an offshoot of Ford's Sync partnership with Microsoft, the software company will supply a "value charging" feature that helps find the lowest off-peak rates for recharging.
Sync and the related MyFord Mobile app accommodates a full range of connectivity, of course, including the now-requisite smartphone connection, which allows the Focus Electric owner to check the car's status, operate key functions remotely, check the car's charge level and driving range, remotely program charge settings and download data, and get alerts when the car needs a recharge or when it has finished charging.
There's also WiFi, Sirius and HD radio.
2013 Ford Focus Electric Rear Three Quarters Passenger
Click to view Gallery
It may be a Ford, but you don't need to order black paint. Ford promises an upscale C-segment car, much like the new, gas-powered '12 Focus that's about to hit showrooms. Standard safety includes six airbags, electronic traction control, hands-free Sync and MyKey keyless entry in North America. Also standard are MyFord Touch driver connectivity, 15-spoke 17-inch aluminum wheels, a 60/40-split rear bench seat, push-button start, AM/FM/HD/Sirius/CD/MP3 nine-speaker Sony Audio with Travel Link and voice-activated navigation. Don't be surprised to see a sticker price somewhere between the Leaf's $33,000 and the Volt's $41,000 (both before tax credits), with well-equipped versions tilting closer to Volt than to Leaf.
The Focus Electric is a pretty safe gamble for Ford, even if gasoline breaches $4 per gallon before the car's late-'11 launch. It's part of One Ford's huge effort to tackle the world's largest automotive segment, the C-car, with myriad bodystyles, drivetrains and fuel types off one basic platform. The Focus Electric will be sold in other markets, including western Europe. All North American-market electrics will be assembled in Ford's newly revitalized Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, just outside Dearborn, a former body-on-frame truck factory that will produce other versions of the Focus, the C-Max multipurpose vehicle, and probably the Escape replacement.
The scope and flexibility of the Wayne Assembly Plant lets Ford adjust production higher for more popular models, and lower for models that don't do as well as expected. Just in case, you know, Ford customers don't want a Focus with an Aston grille.