Denizens of Hollywood will be happy to know they can now have their home theater systems and electric car chargers installed with one phone call.
Ford used CES to pull the wraps off its first fuel-free consumer vehicle, the Focus Electric, and simultaneously announced that Best Buy and The Geek Squad will be the exclusive purveyors of the vehicle’s tiny charging unit. The charger operates on 240 volt household current, takes three- to four hours to recharge (twice as fast as some competitors), and is expected to exceed the 60-mpg equivalent touted by other electric vehicles.
The vehicle is also tightly integrated with new MyFord Mobile smartphone app that allows drivers to remotely keep tabs on their car – tracking everything from location to recharging progress and allowing users to plan longer trips with multiple re-charge stops in mind.
The Ford Focus electric will come with the MyFord Touch bringing five-way clickable buttons to the steering wheel to control the most commonly used functions, and will leverage an enhanced Ford Sync mobile communications control center that links the car to phones and music systems. Both were introduced at CES 2010. Ford president and CEO Alan Mulally said more than three million vehicles with Sync have been sold within the past year.