Ford Focus Electric Certified at 105 MPGe Combined

The EPA has bestowed upon the Ford Focus Electric a 105-MPGe combined economy rating, earning the car, in the words of Ford, the title of “most fuel-efficient five-passenger vehicle” sold in America. The Blue Oval, as champions are sometimes wont to do, has commenced trash-talking the Nissan Leaf. (More on MPGe here.)



Ford points out that the Focus’s combined figure beats that of Nissan’s EV by 6 MPGe, and that it also takes the highway-mileage crown by 7 MPGe, returning 99 MPGe. We’ll go ahead and add that the Ford also beats the Leaf in the city, 110 MPGe to 106. The Focus also received an official range rating of 76 miles on a single charge. The Leaf trails in that metric, too, with an EPA-approved range of 73 miles, although we averaged just 58 miles per charge during our long-term test of the Nissan. We’d expect Focus Electric range to similarly suffer in real-world conditions.

As for charge time, Ford says the Focus’s 23-kWh battery pack can be rejuvenated in about four hours on 240-volt juice, or three fewer than the seven hours required to charge the Leaf’s 24-kWh battery pack using the same hookup. The Focus Electric gets 123 hp and 181 lb-ft from its electric motor; the Leaf’s pumps out 107 hp and 207 lb-ft.

The Focus Electric will be available in California, New York, and New Jersey by this summer, and Ford will add 16 additional markets by the end of the year. One detail that Ford fails to mention is that, at $39,995 before tax credits, its hatchback EV starts $3000 dearer than the Leaf.