That’s why the Obama Administration’s recent announcement that it wants to change the EV Tax Credit, technically called the Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicle Credit, to a tax rebate is good news.

As it’s being proposed by the Adminstration, an EV tax rebate would put money in consumers’ hands right away, on a dealer’s lot. This would mean that if, for example, the Focus Electric were priced at $34,000 — just a hypothetical at this point, that a buyer receiving a $7,500 tax rebate would pay $26,500 for that car.

This contrasts sharply with the current EV tax credit which will see some consumers wait more than a year before they see their “money”.

Here are a few other reasons why a “point-of-sale” tax rebate on a Focus Electric, or any other mainstream electric vehicle, is something most EV buyers seem likely prefer to the current EV tax credit:

You have to be in a pretty high income bracket to get the full $7,500 credit. According to a tax expert quoted in a Cars.Com story — one of the few we’ve found that addresses the EV tax credit issue in any depth — a married couple would have to make at least $74,300 after a standard deduction and have no other tax credits or dependents to earn the full $7,500 tax credit. A single tax filer would have to earn at least $54,600; a head of household would need to top $66,300.

You must take all of the credit in a single tax year. It’s an all or nothing deal. Either you are able to count the full $7,500 credit against your tax liability in a single year — and it must be for the year in which you purchased your EV — or you are not able to, and you lose the rest of the credit.

With a tax credit, you need to account for other tax credits and deductions you will be taking. In a way, other federal tax credits and deductions, such as those for children, education, mortgage interest, etc. hurt your ability to get the full $7,500 EV tax credit. As you check off these credits and deductions, they — like the federal EV tax credit — count against your total tax liability.

You need to set up your W-4 allowances properly. Once you establish what your anticipated total annual tax liability is for a given tax year, with a tax credit you need to figure out how many allowances to claim on your W-4 in order to ensure that you calibrate, as closely as possible, the amount of money you will owe the IRS at the end of the year in which you buy a Focus Electric to the anticipated total amount of tax credits you want to be able to claim.

Basically, tax credits are far more complicated and potentially more dicey for consumers than tax rebates.

We’re not sure what the chances are that the Obama push to change the EV tax credit to a tax rebate succeed, and it’s not clear what the timetable for change would be, if it does succeeds. However, we are pretty sure that for most EV buyers — whether they’re focusing on a Focus Electric, a Chevy Volt, or maybe both — a tax rebate is very definitely a better deal  than a tax credit.

Additional reading on EVs and tax credits

• Considering Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt? Leasing may make more sense
• The great electric car tax credit rip-off
• Federal EV tax credit must be changed

MotorTrend has published a useful comparative analysis of the Focus Electric and LEAF, and it gives the Focus Electric a slight edge over the LEAF. Of course, there are some big unknowns in terms of the Focus Electric, the biggest being, of course, price. Ford has not announced a specific price for the Focus Electric while the LEAF is selling for $32,780 with Federal and state tax incentives likely to bring the cost down for many, but not necessarily all, buyers.

We’ve done our own analysis of the Focus Electric features and predicted a pre-tax credit price of about $34,250, slightly higher than the LEAF. Of course, if Ford can offer a price equal to, or less, than the LEAF, it would up its potential advantage among buyers — and might earn an extra check mark from MotorTrend.

Here’s a brief overview of the MotorTrend review:

Power: Advantage, Nissan. What it lacks in horsepower, the Leaf makes up in torque and top speed, says MotorTrend.

Battery/Charge Time: Advantage, Ford. The holy grail of EVs is a charging time as short as filling a gas tank. Ford’s looks like it will be closer, says MotorTrend.

Weight: Advantage, Nissan. Weight is the enemy of range and the Focus Electric, which is 300 pounds heavier than the LEAF, is, says MotorTrend,  “a portly compact”.

Handling: Advantage, Ford. It’s a narrow margin, but MotorTrend says it  expects a better suspension and tires over the center of gravity to boost the Focus, although, the magazine notes, “We’ll have to drive it to know for sure.”

Range: Tie, or, really, unknown — although MotorTrend speculates that the Focus might have a shorter range due to its heavier weight and less sophisticated aerodynamics.

Price: Advantage, Nissan. MotorTrend speculates that the Focus Electric will cost more than the LEAF, primarily because it will offer a liquid thermal management for its battery pack, something the LEAF lacks.

Gadgets: Advantage, Ford. The Focus Electric’s got more of these, so it’s a pretty clear win for the FE, says MotorTrend.

Space: Unknown. Like “range”, it’s unclear which car has better space at this point, says MotorTrend, which is still waiting to test the Focus Electric.

Looks: Advantage, Ford. MotorTrend puts it pretty simply: “We just like the way it looks better.”

In the end, according to MotorTrend’s book of comparative categories, the Focus Electric beats the LEAF, 4-3.

MotorTrend also claims that the LEAF has a pretty big advantage over the Focus Electric because it’s already on the U.S. market and will have been available for about a year by the time Ford starts delivering its FE’s in 19 select U.S. markets. We’re not so sure. Seems to us the biggest issue in terms of Nissan’s alleged competitive advantage for being on the U.S. market longer than the Focus Electric will be geography. Yes, the LEAF will have been out in some U.S. markets long before the Focus Electric. However, in countless others, it will barely beat the Focus Electric to market. In fact, it’s certainly possible the Focus Electric will be available to consumers in some U.S. markets before the LEAF is.

For the full MotorTrend review, go to: http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/alternative/1101_2013_ford_focus_electric_2011_nissan_leaf_vs_comparison/index.html

“An electric vehicle is already considered a green vehicle, but Ford wanted to go a step further by looking at ways to make the materials inside the Focus Electric more eco-friendly as well,” said Carrie Majeske, product sustainability manager at Ford.

The Focus Electric is not only green in areas where customers expect it to be, but also in places they might not, like in the seat cushions. Soy-based foams, which are used on more than 20 Ford vehicles, will be used in Focus Electric, with seat cushions shaped from 8 percent soy-based content. A material called Lignotock also is used behind the cloth on the door. Derived from 85 percent wood fibers, this lighter application results in a weight reduction and provides better sound-deadening benefits compared to conventional glass-reinforced thermal plastics.

“One of the more impactful things we are doing is finding a way to increase the use of recycled materials in resins. We have a strategy that specifies the use of a large quantity of post-consumer recycled material in a range of plastic applications,” said Majeske. “Pop bottles and milk jugs eventually become part of components like underbody shields, wheel arch liners and air cleaner assemblies.”

By using more recycled content in resins, Ford can further reduce the amount of oil-based plastics in vehicles. This also cuts down on overall oil consumption. Applications of the post-consumer plastics also include carpets, roof lining and replacement bumpers.

Building green
Ford, Detroit Edison and Xtreme Power are teaming up to establish one of Michigan’s largest solar power generation systems and electric vehicle charging stations at Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich., where Focus Electric will be produced. Ford will work with Detroit Edison to install a 500-kilowatt solar photovoltaic panel system, which will be integrated with a 750-kilowatt energy storage facility that can store 2 million watt-hours of energy using batteries – enough to power 100 average homes for a year.

Several new and innovative production processes at the plant will help make the vehicle even greener. For example, a new three-wet paint process applies all three coats of finish in sequence before oven curing, ensuring high-quality paint finish and a significant reduction in energy use.

Eco-friendly charging
With charging playing a major role in Focus Electric ownership, Ford also looked to make the vehicle’s home charging stations greener. Jointly developed with Leviton, a leading North American producer of electrical devices, Ford is offering a charging unit that has an outer shell made from up to 60 percent post-consumer recycled material.

[Source: Ford]

No longer. Ford’s now very actively promoting the Focus Electric and even taking competitive shots at the Nissan LEAF and the Chevy Volt.

Ford’s also — finally, we say — recently created a dedicated web page for the Focus Electric. And the page is, in our opinion, nicely done.

It’s well laid-out and organized, and Ford makes it easy for interested consumers to find the information they’re looking for. Everything from regenerative braking, to the Focus Electric’s liquid thermal battery system, to the innovative illuminated charge port, which helps owners determine if their Focus Electric is fully charged, gets simple, but useful play on the Focus Electric page.

There’s also a video clip and a 360 degree view of the Focus Electric.

No, the info isn’t exactly what we’d call “deep”, but all of the basic specs on the Focus Electric are there. Check it out at — http://www.ford.com/electric/focuselectric/2012/

This is in keeping with a general orientation toward sustainability at Ford, which, among other things, will be building some of its Focus Electrics at a plant partially powered by solar energy. Ford is also using some recycled materials to build the Focus Electric.

Sue Cischke, Ford’s VP for sustainability, environment and safety engineering says that the company closely monitors its supply chain. And she says there are times when the company looks down its supply chain and finds something objectionable.

“As soon as we find it, then we’ll report it but we do have a process to manage that, and it’s true from a sustainability standpoint and, more importantly from the start, the code of working conditions,” she explains.

“We think that the next standpoint is to look where these conflict minerals are coming from,” adds Cischke. “Because the electronics are requiring that some things come from the Congo and other areas, and the supply base doesn’t even know a lot of the detail of where their stuff is coming from.”

In the Congo in particular, slave labor and miners’ conditions have been among many concerns.

The era of global sourcing, electronics, and many more levels of the supply chain demands an even higher level of corporate responsibility, Cischke suggests. “It’s a pretty wide net that we need to cast, but we stand up for that requirement and have processes, on the ground, in these other countries, to make sure that we’re sourcing correctly.”

[Source: FoxNews.Com]

Typically automakers wait until closer to launch to announce pricing, most of the time that is a roughly 60 to 90 day window prior to the first delivery. GM announced Volt pricing four months prior to laucnh though and Nissan announced LEAF pricing eight month before.

Since Ford probably will begin selling the Focus Electric in November/December, averaging the two we would predict a pricing announcement in the May/June 2011 timeframe.

With timing settled, how much will it be?

It is safe to assume a pure electric car will be less expensive than a PHEV because less complicated controls, transmission, and engine is required. These items are part of what make the Volt so expensive.

The key cost element is the battery. A basic gas-powered focus costs $16,640. Since the electric will be based on that we could probably just add the cost of the battery and get a good starting point. Though the gas engine/transmission is being removed the EV will still have complex controls, newly designed components, and a thermal battery management system. These items offset any reduction that would have come from removing the engine, perhaps 10% more so.

The Ford Focus Electric has a 23 kwh lithium-ion battery sold by LG Chem. It is widely believed LG Chem is pricing the cells at roughly $650 per kwh. Doing the math, thats $14,950.

Adding the gas car + 10% and the battery results in a final suspected cost of $33,254. This is slightly more than the Nissan LEAFs price of 32,780. Since Nissan is heavily discounting its car to achieve high volume and Ford is keeping volumes low, it may act a little more conservatively, but still try to get the final price significantly below $30,000 after the $7500 tax credit.

Thus we will speculate the Ford Focus Electric MSRP will be $34,250.

In fact, while the Volt might jolt the LEAF to some degree, in the U.S., the first real jolt for Nissan’s first mass-produced all-electric car might well come in the form of another electric bolt: The Ford Focus Electric.

Certainly, Ford is beginning to juice up marketing rhetoric aimed at the LEAF. Higher ups at Ford as well as the Ford media relations machine have begun to fire away at the LEAF, directly attacking it in recent press releases and in statements to the media.

Among other things, Ford’s playing up the fact that the Focus Electric 2012, which Ford says will be available in 19 U.S. markets by the end of this year, has a 6.6 kW onboard charger, as opposed to the 2011 LEAF’s 3.3 kW onboard charger.

This means charge times for the 2012 Focus Electric via a 240-volt charging unit will be about three to four hours as opposed to six to eight hours for the 2011 LEAF. Of course, word is that the 2012 LEAF will come equipped with a 6.6 kW onboard charger, though it’s unclear whether early LEAF jumpers who’ve reserved a LEAF and, say, get one in the fall of 2011 will be getting a 2011 or 2012 version.

Initial marketing war advantage, Ford.

The Focus Electric also has a liquid thermal management system for its battery pack, something the LEAF lacks, a fact that Ford has been playing up as well.

Of course, the Nissan’s got a leg up on delivery of pure electric cars, having already delivered a small number of LEAFs in a half dozen U.S. states, and it’s sure to get hundreds, if not thousands, of LEAFs into the hands of buyers well before the first Focus Electric gets parked in the first American consumer’s driveway.

Then there’s the question of price. Ford still hasn’t told the world how much the Focus Electric will cost. That announcement could play the biggest role in what is shaping up to be an interesting electric car race between Ford and Nissan.

And, of course, more big automaker players — Mitsubishi, Honda, and Toyota among them — plan to jump into the race in 2012 as well.

We can see the car being driven on public roads and being pulled over for a quick charge.

Video allows one a better appreciation fo the technical sleekness of the vehicle that is superior to what can be learned from images alone.

Over 2 minutes of Ford Focus Electric glory after the jump:

The Ford Focus Electric is finally out in the open, and it is a beauty. One of the better features of the car is that its 23 kwh lithium-ion battery can be recharged in 3 to 4 hours, half the time is takes to recharge the LEAF.

The speed at which an electric car can be recharged is really just a function of two things, the voltage and the amperage of the charger. The greater both of these values, the faster the recharge times.

Electric car makers are cautious about how quickly they let their EVs recharge. Though lithium-ion batteries can handle quick charges, it may shorten their lifetime.

The Nissan LEAF has a 3.3 kw 240-v charger which takes about 8 hours to recharge the battery, The Ford Focus Electric will use a 6.6 kw, 32-amp 240-v charger allowing recharge in half the time.

Now the really cool part if Ford is going to sell those chargers right at your one of 1300 neighborhood big box Best Buys.

You can pick out your charger there and arrange for Geek Squad technicians to come out and install it in your garage. They will first check out your home wiring to make sure it can support the system.

The charger will retail for $1499 not including installation.

“With fast charge times, low pricing and a user-friendly design, the 240-volt home charge station will be on the shopping list of most Focus Electric buyers,” said Mike Tinskey, manager of vehicle electrification and infrastructure, Ford Motor Company. “By working with Best Buy to offer the charging station installation service solution, Ford is providing electric vehicle customers in the U.S. with a familiar, trusted source to turn to for their installation needs.”

The car is a beautiful, electrified rendition of the gas-powered Focus with a specially designed aerodynamic front end and glowing charge port door. It is poetry in motion and will be agile, nimble and sporty with powerful all electric torque.

The vehicle is packed with high tech features to allow the driver continuous access to EV-specific information including remaining range, eco-feedback, and trip energy budgeting features.

It is a connected car that utilizes Ford’s MySync wireless network and can be communicated to with a smart phone app.

The battery is liquid-cooled and lithium-ion, and supplied by LG chem. It can be fully recharged in under 4 hours and will allow the car to travel from 70 to 100 miles electrically. Top speed is 84 MPH.

The car will roll out in the US at the end of this year. Feast your eyes on its beauty: