Ford Focus Electric Won't Sell Well, Says Ford
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Some makers are investing in battery electric cars and doing their darnedest to make them market successes--think Nissan or Tesla, for example.
Ford does not appear to be one of those companies.
Since the second month that its plug-in hybrid C-Max Energi went on the market, its monthly sales have exceeded the total sales of the Ford Focus Electric for all of 2012.
Now, Ford has said that despite adding an additional 700 dealers certified to sell its range of plug-in vehicles, it expects Focus Electric sales to grow only slowly.
The company has long said it expects battery-electric vehicles will make up only 5 percent of its electrified-vehicle sales, including hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and battery electric vehicles.
Ford says it can build up to 100,000 such vehicles, depending on market demand.
That would mean it expects to sell no more than 5,000 Focus Electrics--and, indeed, it sold just 685 during all of 2012.
C.J. O'Donnell, the company's group marketing manager for electrification, told The Detroit News that those sales were "meeting our expectations in the marketplace."
And, he said, as more dealers are certified to sell the car, sales should rise accordingly.
Ford has often countered claims that its Focus Electric is no more than a compliance car put on sale solely to meet California's zero-emission vehicle requirements.
O'Donnell told the Detroit News that he encounters that idea a lot, "and I don't want to say I take offense to it, because that's kind of strong."
Instead, he says, Ford views its Focus Electric strategy as offering "choice" to its customers.
It offers the electric Focus in several regions outside those where ZEV sales count toward the mandate, but its sales resemble compliance-car volumes more than those of the Nissan Leaf or even the Tesla Model S.
And Ford's pessimistic view of the opportunities for battery-electric vehicles were underscored today by Mike Tamor, the company's executive technical leader for hybrid, electric, and fuel-cell vehicles.
In a presentation at the SAE Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Technologies Symposium held this morning in Anaheim, California, Tamor spent his first 10 minutes highlighting the many reasons Ford does not believe that battery-electric vehicles will be affordable or appeal to car buyers for quite some time.
An early slide in his presentation described the situation in the early 1900s, when electric cars were limited in range, speed, and recharge time, and asked, "Why should it be any different this time?"
In a presentation of vehicle usage and customer desires, Ford said the market studies on car usage must capture owners' need for occasional [long-distance] uses, rather than focus on typical or average uses. The presentation did not mention multi-vehicle households.
"If customers demand cost breakeven AND high functionality," said Tamor's presentation, then "battery cost must be impossibly low (less than $100/kWh)"--a level unlikely to be reached until well into the 2020s, if ever.
But Ford was hardly the only battery-electric car skeptic at the SAE symposium; Toyota spoke from a similar perspective.
Greg Bernas, a member of the team that developed the Toyota RAV4 EV with Tesla Motors, conveyed the company's viewpoint that battery-electric cars were expensive, limited by a lack of charging infrastructure, and only suitable for short-range urban travels.
For medium- and long-range transportation, Bernas argued, the zero-emission vehicle technology of choice will be the hydrogen fuel cell--and Toyota plans to launch a hydrogen-powered production vehicle within several years.
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People stop me all the time to ask about it. It is a great second car. I plug in at home via a 220V charger. It only takes 4 hours from zero charge to 100%. Current Leafs take approximately 8 hours. I can comfortably drive a 60-70 mile radius, charge at my destination and drive back. The Focus looks great and drives great.
I think DC fast-charging is an often overlooked yet important feature (sadly not available on the FFE): it makes regional trips inconvenient instead of effectively impossible.
E.g. for 110~120 miles: would you be ok having to stop for 2h to refuel? Now what about 15 minutes?
I think its time the world's population takes a stand and progress the outdated technology of a combustion engine and head towards a renewable energy source our future generations can be proud of.
To create the H2 that is stored at high pressures in armored cylinders and run through a fuel cell to produce electricity, you have to use large amounts of energy to crack it out of the molecules it's naturally bound in. Those could be water (H2O) or many different hydrocarbons, including natural gas.
Whatever feedstock you choose, however, you have to invest a lot of energy into making hydrogen as a vehicle fuel. And if that energy is electricity, it is FAR more efficient to use it to charge a battery that powers a motor to drive the wheels. You'll get far more miles per kWh.
Since with current technology natural gas is likely to be the main source of hydrogen Chris Hewitt's drilling remark isn't that far besides the truth.
Don't tell me its a lie?
Couldn't be a lie from a journalist!
All we need to do apparently is dig a really deep hole, stop a bit short of hitting China and gather those miraculous hydrogen filled rocks. Who knew...
Not to mention driving around with a high pressure fuel cell in your car doesn't give me warm fuzzy feelings of being safe.
Your correct, there are currently no hydrogen mines at the moment but that does not mean its impossible.
That's where we are now with battery electric vehicles. Charging stations will be everywhere in time. Batteries will get better in time (250 mile radius battery will convince a large sector of the public). Battery costs will come down.
All you have to do is look back in time to see comparisons to electric cars today. The early model tvs were luxury items for the rich. Content came along as did mass production. Prices dropped.
BTW people complain about payback on electric vehicles. No one says that about BMW 750s
Unless you have a long commute or plan taking a long trip, an electric vehicle makes sense for many maney people. Taking kids to school, going to the gym, shopping, work, etc. are key activities of daily living that the Focus does with great (and silent) style. Ford should be marketing the Focus more aggressively. They're poisoning there own success by failing to bring out the large niche of buyers who are sick of paying for gasoline.
Neither believes in electric and their hybrids will be the biggest road blocks for BEVs b/c they cost so little to run on $/miles...
Then again, feel free to add Honda to that list too. Honda is NOT serious about anything Electric either... Try to find a local Honda dealer for a test drive on the E-Fit is more than a pain for me...
Btw, its really great to see all the Focus BEV owners like the car as much as me. It really is a fun little car. The only issue I have is trying to creep forward in tight spaces like coming out of a parking spot. It almost calls for left foot or hand braking to make sure the thing doesn't jump.
The downside of the Focus EV is its looks. NOT b/c it doesn't look good. It actually looks great among all the BEVs out there. But it might NOT look "different" enough to stand out. Many of the "green" buyers want to make "statement" with their purchase. Prius "scream" hybrid and Leaf "scream" BEV. You can pick those cars out of a crowd from miles away. Focus EV don't stand out. Many buyers like that for that exact reason but it also turns off many other "green" buyers.
My point to breaking my lurker silence is that this article highlights what i see as the major drawback to EV acceptance.. "marketing research" and possibly purposeful miscommunication by car companies. I am no sales genius but i see a market for the EV as a second/commuter car. But the concentration of thought seams to be trying to get the current EV technology to replace the full use, long range gas vehicle. The currently pushed media message is that if an EV cannot drive from DC to Connecticut, then its not ready. I disagree.
Like me, maybe you get discouraged as I do to hear Ford and Toyota's anti EV rhetoric. Why do all cars need to be long distance cars? Pure electric cars are viable now for such a large percentage of households. I cannot imagine running all of the stupid little errands I run with our Leaf in an ICE car instead. Two miles here, three there, all of these trips would be cold starts with a gas car which is the worst, dirtiest possible kind of driving. Hybrids are not much better. Cold starts several times a day are not good.
I spent less than $200 in electricity to drive 7300 miles in my first year of ownership. EV's just make so much sense.
The Focus/C-Max platform is the number one selling passenger vehicle world wide and the billions Ford spent developing the car are all to the benefit of the BEV version owners. It's not a carbon fiber wonder car, but by being able to take advantage of much of the development for the ICE car, Ford gets to do an attractive "alternative" version of Focus.
Not sure the same could be said for the Tesla Model S. FocusBEV- Ari Vatanen would approve, Stig as well, and I hope Toivonen has one in Heaven.
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