A little advice: If you buy yourself an electric Ford Focus, buy one of those new smart phones, too. Then immediately download the solitaire app, because you’re going to have plenty of time to play the game while your car’s battery is recharging.
The Sydney Morning Herald has Ford’s shocking news:
The car maker released details of the car this week that shows it anticipates owners of an electric version of its Focus hatchback may have to recharge it up to a whopping 1500 times a year — or up to four times a day.
The car may need so many recharges that the car maker says it has developed a special ergonomic plug so US customers can use a standard household power point to recharge their car, rather than using a special wall-mounted unit that cuts the amount of time needed to fully charge.
However, the system using the normal powerpoint can take up to 12 hours to fully recharge the Focus, meaning many owners will need to plug the car in several times a day to ensure they have enough reserves of electricity in the car’s batteries to fit in a full day of driving, potentially putting a strain on relationships with friends and employers as they borrow power to keep moving…
Ford says it expects electric car owners to need to plug in at up to 30 times the frequency that petrol-engined Focus owners will need to visit the petrol station.
‘‘Between plugging in and unplugging at home, work or other places, Focus Electric owners are likely to recharge their vehicles two to four times each day (nearly 1500 times a year) compared to once a week for gassing up (52 times a year),’’ the car maker says.
Articles like this usually bring out the eco-wackos who say we’re just making stuff up. But in this case, they’ll have to accuse Ford of making stuff up.
Bring on the comments.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
This post was last modified on January 26, 2021
View Comments (15)
Can you feature the electric bill? And your friends and families will love you running up THEIR bills, not to mention how are businesses going to handle this? They will have to charge to recharge. I live in Texas. We can drive at 70mph all day and never leave the state. How am I going to recharge in the panhandle? Or in South Texas, where the highway cuts through the King ranch and you see nothing but cows and mequite trees for about 2 1/2 hours? All these great decisions about our transporation are being made by people who never drive! Many of them have never even had a license!
Hmmm.... calling it a green car is kinda funny. I mean, the thing needs perpetual (it seems) charging. So how is that electricity produced? Hmm??
We must not let governments and eco-groups take away our freedom and mobility! Regarding batteries, today we simply do not "have the technology." Limited range electric cars might be suitable for commercial use in large cities during the day, but they cannot replace our current vehicles. Car companies should be required to further develop the gasoline engine for greater efficiency and reduced emissions, instead of producing these flawed, expensive failures. ( Electricity does not grow on trees, you know!) I do not wish to go back to the days of stagecoach travel; I live in modern times and I am happy to be here!
Alas ... the Ford Interceptor will be now called the Ford Political Corrector .... (sigh)!
mv
I expect a person can pick one of these babies up for a mere $79,999.00, plus tax, plus extras, plus tip, plus used a battery and one re-cappable tire.
Is that with the government subsidy?
Straight up, electric cars are going nowhere fast!
My prediction is gas turbine/electric hybrids will be the future of individual land transport. Seriously, check this out!
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/shows/jaguar-c-x75-paris-motor-show
How does this make any sense? If it takes a long time to charge off the wall is it because of breaker limitations in a typical house? In that case, they probably need the fast charger wired to 220V or something. I'm picturing something like an old-school welder: The size of a fridge and the weight of a car.
Why don't they just make a hybrid with deep cycle batteries and a f*cking 120V ac adapter?
The way I read this, it only applies to those who are not willing to purchase the charging station. Ford is describing an alternate charging method they will offer, and then showing why that alternative isn't ideal. This is a sales job of why you should buy the charging station, even before you know how much that thing is going to add to the overall cost of ownership.
They can't carry the charging station around with them! It needs frequent recharging. Since they don't have charging stations just anywhere, a household type plug was devised so they could tap into electricity pretty much anywhere.
Another additional cost they don't mention is the basket that needs to be attached to the front so fat people can drive it up and down the aisles of the supermarket.
Hopefully the "Green Police" will be using these to chase light bulb users!
Nah!!! Get the names correct. We DON'T call them "light bulbs", (umm, what are they now??) "Spherical heating globes" (or something like that!)
Vote Often!! Democrats do!
Heat balls
Better yet, Police Departments throughout the world may end up using these things. Will make bicycle getaways much easier.