The US EPA has rated Ford’s electric car, Ford Focus Electric, as getting 105 miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe), which tops the Nissan Leaf by 6 MPGe.
But who’s going to nitpick between 99 and 105 mpg?! What’s important is that it costs pennies to charge an electric car compared to fueling up with oil at the gas station.
EPA’s new label will show potential buyers they can save $9,700 in fuel costs over the course of five years compared with the average new vehicle. That amount will rise with higher gas prices.
The Focus Electric goes on sale in California, New York and New Jersey in the first half of 2012 and in 19 markets by the end of the year. It’s starting price is $39,995 before the federal tax credit of $7,500 and state tax credits. The Leaf starts at $35,200.
EPA has also certified that the Focus Electric gets 76 miles on a charge, compared to 73 miles for the Leaf, but can get up to 100 miles depending on driving habits. The average person drives 29 miles a day, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
The Focus Electric can be charged in 4 hours, almost half the time of the Leaf, says the company, which also expects its Fusion Energi plug-in – a mid-size car – to exceed 100 MPGe.
For those who need to charge up while away from home, the number of charging stations continues to rise. In the last 10 months the number of charging stations in the US has risen from 750 to 5,507, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
To cut charging costs at home, a unique value charging feature powered by Microsoft is designed to help people charge their vehicles at the cheapest utility rates.
The car also sports seats made from 100% post-consumer and post-industrial waste from plastic water bottles – about 22, 16-ounce water bottles in each car.
25% of Ford’s global fleet will be electric by 2020.
GM’s electric car, Spark, goes on sale next year.
Toyota Seeks Record Prius Sales
An increased supply of Priuses will lead to record sales this year, says Toyota, which had supply shortages due to the Japanese tsunami/nuclear meltdown and historic floods in Thailand.
Thanks to rising gas prices, sales of the Prius – including its new Prius V wagon – were up 52% in February to 20,589, the highest in almost two years.
Toyota’s shooting for 220,000 in Prius sales, and the Prius c subcompact and plug-in models go on sale this month. The company expects the Prius c, which starts at just $20,000 to have particularly strong sales.
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