[car fanatics]

Ford
Photo credit: Ford
July 13, 2012
By: CF staff

Ty Newell with his new Ford Focus Electric

Ty Newell of Illinois celebrated becoming one of the first retail customers for the Ford Focus Electric by recreating one of the country’s earliest automotive road trips. After taking delivery of the Focus from Hassett Ford in Wantagh, N.Y., Newell and his wife decided to drive it to the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich. where it was built.

The trip reversed the course of a trip completed by Roy Chapin between October 29 and November 5, 1901 when he became the first person to drive a car from Detroit to New York. William Chapin, president of the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn and grandson of Roy, met up with the Newells at the plant to congratulate them.

Focus Electric is America’s most fuel-efficient compact car that offers the equivalent of 110 miles per gallon (MPGe) city, 99 MPGe highway, and operates entirely on battery-generated power. Focus Electric also has been certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to offer 105 MPGe combined.

The Focus Electric is available in California, New York and New Jersey. By fall 2012, Focus Electric becomes available in 19 markets across the United States followed by nationwide availability by the end of the year.

[McLovin]

u gotta love FoMoCo