Ford will soon begin offering battery- and gasoline-powered versions of its Focus, the first time consumers can compare the two powertrains on the same car.
Car shoppers will soon find two Ford Focus sedans sitting side by side when they visit the dealership — one with a gas tank and another with batteries.
In a milestone for the auto industry, an automaker will give consumers an option to purchase the same model of a vehicle with either a traditional combustion engine or one powered only by electricity. It will mark the first time that buyers can compare the different powertrains on the same car.
An electric Focus, next to the gas version, provides, “more transparency to what it means to pay for an electric vehicle,” said Thilo Koslowski, an automotive analyst at research firm Gartner Inc.
Ford Motor Co.’s strategy of producing an electric car that shares the platform, body style and many components of the standard gasoline model is a departure from other automakers pioneering the electric car market. It will also make it easier for shoppers to figure out the economics of electric vehicle ownership.
The first electric entrants — the Nissan Leaf and the plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt — are stand-alone models designed from the ground up without gasoline-only siblings.
“It takes away the apples and oranges comparison,” said Rebecca Lindland, an analyst with IHS Automotive. “To some extent it will be the same as offering both V-6 and a V-8 in the same model or an automatic or manual transmission. It becomes just an option.”
Consumers will find that the electric version is considerably more expensive, at least initially.
The electric Focus has a sticker price of $39,995 with destination fees. That compares with about $25,000 for a similarly equipped gasoline model. But shoppers will also have to make adjustments for incentives, such as the $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles, and regional inducements such as California’s $2,500 rebate. Then they must add the cost of a home-charging station: about $2,000.
Depending on the trim level of the gasoline Focus, the payback from fuel savings at current gas prices for the electric version will take seven to 11 years. When Honda comes out with the electric version of its Fit subcompact this summer, consumers will get a second vehicle that directly compares with a gasoline model.
How to benchmark electric car prices against gasoline counterparts has been hotly debated by analysts, manufacturers and consumers.
Choose from a $16,500 gasoline driven Focus or a $39,200 electric Focus. WOW! hard choice,
From a review of events over the past sixty-six years (2012-1946 = 66 yr), it appears that the fear of “nuclear fires” consuming Hiroshima on 6 Aug 1945 compelled world leaders to immediately:
a.) Unite Nations, and in the future to
b.) Hide Information on energy that ignites “nuclear fire”
The UK’s Royal Society, the US National Academy of Sciences, the United Nations and the Noble Prize Committee seem to have worked together to discredit reliable new information on:
1. “Natural nuclear fires” on Earth in 1956
2. “Nuclear fire” in the Sun in 1975, . . 2005
3. “Slow nuclear fires” in cold fusion in 1989
4. “Natural nuclear fires” in planetary cores
The rest of the story, as I see it, is documented here:
http://omanuel.wordpress.com/about/#comment-31
Since 1946, almost every major field of science has been compromised: Astronomy, astrophysics, atomic physics cosmology, climatology, nuclear, particle, planetary, and solar physics.
I encourage you all to respond there so we can benefit from the diversity of opinions.
Thanks to real scientists, skeptics like you,
All is well today,
Oliver K. Manuel
http://www.omatumr.com/
http://omanuel.wordpress.com/about/
Why are we subsidizing automotive technology that requires rare earth elements which are currently controlled by the Chinese? I’m helping the Chinese by buying an electric car and your taxes are helping me help the Chinese. How stupid.