Ford to Update Focus Electric for 2017, Give it 110-Mile Range

It’s an EV that often slips below the radar but is really not that bad

The Ford Focus Electric has not been a resounding sales success for the Blue Oval, but even so, they’re not pulling the plug on the model. In fact, it’s going to be refreshed and improved for the 2017 model year, with the most important update being the introduction of a larger battery.

Whereas the old Focus EV had a 23 kWh pack to store its juice, the new one will boost that by nearly 50 percent to 33.5 kWh. This information comes courtesy of Inside EVs, which acquired a spec sheet for the 2017 MY electric Focus, so it’s not yet been made official, but it will before the year ends.

The extra battery capacity will obviously signify an improvement in the car’s range which in its current form is officially good for 76 miles. With the new pack, it could be boosted to 110-ish miles, or around 180 km; that would put it on par with some of the newer all-electric offerings, like the Hyundai Ioniq (110 miles) or Nissan Leaf (107 miles).

Ford may also tweak the car’s exterior styling to reflect the look of the facelifted Focus (it still looks like the first incarnation of this model) and also update the interior and tech as well.