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Ford announced that it would be investing some $4.5 billion over the next five years toward its goal of building better "electrified vehicle solutions" and bringing electrification to 40% of its vehicle lineup by 2020. Seeing as transportation is a key climate issue, it's only fitting to learn about Ford's sharpened focus on EVs as a solution. According to the company, it will be adding 13 new electrified vehicles to its portfolio by 2020, which could offer more options for the potential EV customers who aren't currently able to drive electric, either because of price or driving range or size.
The most significant news in the near future of Ford's electric vehicle lineup is the rollout of the new Focus Electric next year, which will feature a 100-mile range and a DC fast-charging system that is claimed to give the vehicle an 80% charge in 30 minutes, a full two hours faster than the current model. No announcement was made about the price of the new Focus Electric, but based on last year's model prices, it would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000. That's not exactly an entry-level car purchase, but it's a lot more affordable than a Tesla at the moment, and if a pure EV fits your driving habits, it could slash your fuel bills for years and be a cleaner transport option than a fuel-efficient gas car.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday December 15 2015, @12:25AM
Somebody better be investing a lot in electrical generation, or brown outs will be an everyday event.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 15 2015, @12:54AM
The grid will be mostly fine if the cars typically charge at night (when nobody else is drawing much power). In fact, initially, the grid may become more efficient as the power plants can run at a more consistent load.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 15 2015, @01:52AM
Furthermore parked cars can be a source of power to help smooth demand spikes. [greencarreports.com] It is called Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) and nissan is already experimenting with that concept. [ecowatch.com] Since most cars spend over 90% of their time parked it would only take a couple of percent of each car's capacity to create an enormous reservoir to buffer the grid.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 15 2015, @05:44AM
So if I want to drive off just after peak power, my car will have minimal power left. This sounds great, but I don't see it working unless there is some magical agreement as to exactly how and when everyone's car gives up its power.
Regardless of when cars charge or discharge, the grid will have to significantly increase its capacity. No amount of load levelling is going to avoid the fact that cars take an enormous amount of energy to operate. My back-of-the-envelope calculations for where I live show that converting all the cars to electric (and assuming a doubling of efficiency compared to internal combustion engines) the grid has to double. Twice the nukes, twice the hydroelectric dams, twice the gas generators, twice the wind power, twice the solar. IOW - it ain't gonna happen anytime soon, while the auto makers are not gonna wait. In the end, it will just be a blame game - it was the politicians who didn't act or the power companies protecting the status quo or the environmentalists blocking progress, or...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 15 2015, @09:12AM
No. In reality, increased demand for energy will push electricity price high, and then elevated prices will have double effect: one, more demand for efficiency of not only cars, but every house appliance and every manufacturing process which uses electric power, too, and the other effect - elevated profits in electric energy generation business - leading to boost in investment into power generation. So, in short, the inevitable time lag in building more energy supply to meet demand will build the pressure on energy efficiency first. And as necessity is unwilling kicking and screaming mother of invention, we are about to see another engineering renaissance. We are already sort-of working on efficiency, but this work lacks real feverish pressure and resulting revolutionary ideas.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday December 15 2015, @01:07PM
It's a data point of two, so take it with a grain of salt but the two guys I know who own and drive electrics to work have stopped recharging at night and charge at work to shift the cost of the electricity to their employers. With most Americans being pushed to the financial brink, great numbers of them may do the same thing and charge during the day at the workplace.
Washington DC delenda est.