 Celebrities will race the hot plug-in Ford Focus on Jay Leno's new show. Retrofitted in only two weeks, the car features a bevy of racing features 235 ft-lb of torque and 141 hp from a 105 kW electric motor. (Source: AutoBlog)
Jay Leno isn't just about comedy these days
Jay Leno's moved on from The Tonight
show to a new gig -- the Jay Leno Show. What does
this veteran joker have to do with technology? A major segment
of the new show is Jay's Green Car Challenge, a spot where Leno
puts celebrities behind the wheel of a plug-in electric vehicle.
Specs of the hot retrofitted plug-in
just
landed, and it's looking pretty sweet. The hatchback began
as a standard (non-hybrid) Ford Focus ST five-door hatchback, which
rolled off an assembly line in Germany. From there it
shipped to Dearborn, MI where some of Ford's best engineers
electrified it.
In only six weeks they were finished.
The resulting beast stands out with its vibrant orange paint
job and bold decals. It is a hefty vehicle, weighing in at
3,421 pounds. Much of this weight is from the air cooling
system for the batteries, and the batteries themselves -- 98 lithium
ion 60 Ah cells.
The vehicle also features a pretty sporty
electric motor, which puts out 141 hp (105 kW) and 235 lb-ft of
torque and has a 7,500 rpm redline. The vehicle also can stop
on a dime, thanks to 12.6 inch front rotors and 11 inch discs.
It also features an upgrade suspension, Recaro racing seats, a full
roll cage, and a five-point racing harness.
Celebrities will
take the car out for test drives on a race track, competing to get
the best lap time. So far only Drew Barrymore has announced her
participation, but more celebs are expected to join up soon.
Despite
lacking the custom Euro Focus EV's racing features, the 2011
Chevy Volt, from competitor GM, may steal some of the spotlight
from the Ford vehicle. The Volt features arguably a more
aggressive electric engine, which produces a reported 149 hp and runs
on 111 kw. Early estimates of the torque produced were 236
ft-lb, which would put it in a dead heat with the vehicle.
The
Ford Focus will be releasing the pure-electric
2012 Ford Focus EV in 2011. It will follow up with the
release of a plug-in Ford Escape Hybrid, which retains some
gas-driven features. Ford has been extensively researching how
to make its EV's the fastest
and most efficient charging models on the market.
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