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Ford has chosen Portland as its first stop on a 14-city electric car tour, and according to reports on August 24, 2010, Ford says a big reason for the choice is that Oregon leads the nation in preparing for plug-in vehicles. So, is the company that introduced the Model-T getting ready to unleash electric vehicles that could kill the gasoline car?
That is a definite maybe. While the sticker price has yet to be announced for the Ford Focus Electric, operating costs are around 2 cents per mile, blowing away the competition from similar gasoline vehicles that cost around 15 cents per mile, assuming gas prices of about $3 per gallon. The car is comparable in many respects to the Nissan LEAF, but is expected to cost less than Nissan’s $32,780 price tag. Both vehicles will also be eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit and $1,500 from the state of Oregon.
Charging time can be an issue, with the vehicle taking 6 to 12 hours to charge up to its full 100 mile range, depending on if a 110 or 220 volt residential outlet used. However, it can be charged in as little as 15 minutes on a public quick charge station. There are not a lot of charging stations yet, but Portland General Electric has ambitious plans for up to 1,000 charging stations stretching between the Portland and Eugene area by June of next year.
Long road trips will have to wait until more quick charge stations are available, battery technology improves, or both. However, if the build out of electrical charging infrastructure is as fast as some anticipate, electric cars could soon be both affordable cars for commuting around town, as well as clean, efficient overland vehicles, with carbon footprints of only about 2 tons per year, versus 7 for gasoline vehicles.
A Ford Focus plug-in hybrid is also expected, but not until 2012.
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