With so much talk at the CES 2011 being around connected cars it is perhaps fitting that this year we are seeing the first ever new model launched here by one of the big car makers.
The maker in question is Ford and the model is the Focus Electric. The company CEO Alan Mulally states that Ford’s very first electric car with no harmful emissions will give a better mileage and a quicker charging time than the other electric cars on the market.
He stated that Ford are aware that “many customers are excited to drive an electric vehicle”.
The fully charged battery won’t get you as far as a full tank of petrol, so it is going to be important that drivers plan their trips more carefully, as it will give you around 80 miles when fully topped up. The MyFord Touch system will help you keep an eye on the battery life left and how best to squeeze the maximum use out of it through an 8 inch mounted touchscreen.
The battery is the Focus 23kWh lithium ion model and it will take 3 hours to get it fully charges at 240 volts and a whopping 20 hours if you use a 120 volt outlet.
A couple of interesting features are MyFord Mobile, which is a phone app they have developed with Microsoft to left you find charging stations, a voice activated communications system and MyKey, which is a safe driving aid aimed at younger drivers.
US drivers will be able to try out the Ford Focus Electric later this year, but Europeans look like they are going to have to wait another couple of years. Will this car still seem so cutting edge when we finally get our hands on it, or will it have already been superseded by more modern electric connected cars?
