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Ford Focus BEV at 2009 Frankfurt motor show

Tue, 15 Sep 2009

By Tim Pollard

First Official Pictures

15 September 2009 10:00

Not one to miss out on a party, Ford gatecrashed the French brands’ electric carfest at the 2009 Frankfurt motor show. The new Focus BEV (battery electric vechicle) is a working prototype and not bound for production – yet, although that is the longer term intention.

A demo programme starts with 15 cars hitting UK roads in 2010. The battery powered Focus boasts a range of 75 zero-emission miles, although not if you attempt its top speed of 85mph.

It’s the fruit of the UK’s Ultra-Low Carbon Vehicles programme, and will be pitched into a trail in the London borough of Hillingdon next year.

Although the car pictured here looks like a contemporary Ford Focus, the engineering is based on the next-gen US market Focus due in 2011.

Interestingly, it was developed with Magna, the Canadian parts supplier which this week snapped up Ford’s arch rival Opel and Vauxhall. It packs a lithium ion battery pack with a 23kWh capacity, taking six to eight hours to charge up on a domestic 230-volt grid.

Delve across the Blue Oval’s stand in Frankfurt and you’ll find a Tourneo Connect BEV concept – the one that was introduced at the 2009 Geneva motor show.

While Ford already sells full battery versions of its Transit and Transit Connect in Europe, they are third-party conversions. But the company is keen to bring this work inhouse and these concepts underline that intent.

It’s not just weirdy-beardy electric cars on the Ford stand. They’ve added stop-start to the Econetic, trimming CO2 emissions to 99g/km and fuel-gobbling to 74.2mpg. That’s down a slither from the regular Econetic version’s 104g/km.

It’s powered by the 108bhp 1.6 TDCi diesel and packs new tech including regenerative braking, clever alternator control and gearshift advice for the driver, nudging him or her into high gears as soon as possible. The new, upgraded Ford Focus Econetic goes on sale in spring 2010.


By Tim Pollard