Ford Electric Focus And Men’s Health Tackle The Ultimate American Road Trip For Earth Day

Nothing means more than setting a record for clean cars on Earth Day. Indeed, the Men's Health Magazine coast to coast drive in two Ford Focus Electric, will be ending the tour at the Santa Monica Pier today, coinciding with Earth Day.

2012 Electric Car Challenge. Ford and Men’s Health, will rap up their 2012 Electric Car Challenge, the cross-country adventure designed to help maximize the potential of electric vehicles, EV’s. The experience and data gathered will be used to create healthier, more satisfying, and exciting road trip experience over such a distance and further the greater reach of EVs across our nation. It will also raise money for an important cause, the Carry the Load foundation that supports the families of U.S. soldiers who’ve been killed in combat that will be there to greed the team at the arrival. The cross-country course that begun in New York City is ending in Los Angeles on Earth Day with the Men’s Health editor David Zinczenko, X-Games gold medalist Tanner Foust, co-host of Top Gear USA; IndyCar and American Le Mans racer Martin Plowman; and former Navy SEAL commander Coleman Ruiz, executive director of the Carry the Load, will be at the finish line, with yours truly here.

The team left the New York International Auto Show on April 11 and stopped around 50 times to recharge the battery of their 2012 Ford Focus Electric. This not only proves the point that not only current technology can allow us to travel coast to coast, but that it is possible with an urban EV, namely the new Focus Electric. This EV was recently recognized as achieving the 110 mile-per-gallon equivalent (MPGe) rating from the EPA for city driving. The Focus Electric is currently the most efficient 5-seater in the U.S.

Why? According to David Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of Men’s Health: “With gas prices expected to reach nearly $5 per gallon this summer, the Great American Road Trip is poised for a Great American Renaissance,”… “We created the Electric Car Challenge to demonstrate a more eco-friendly approach to the road trip that will have a positive effect on you, your wallet, and the environment.”

Technical Challenge. In order to drive cross-country, the team had to think outside the box and turn to the help of the public and commercial charging stations by crowd-sourced most of the trip. By inviting readers and supporters to help make the record possible, their offering their private 240v, 40-amp outlets allowed the Ford Focus Electric achieve the cross-country run.

The Route. The team’s route went through Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Albuquerque, Flagstaff, and Los Angeles, and all points in between in order to maximize driving efficiency. And as far as the actual “speed record,” obviously no speed limits were broken, since high speed taxes the battery pack and penalizes the range.

All in all, this is good news, good publicity and great timing to show that electric cars can be driven today across country with a little ingenuity, and that great changes in history have to start somewhere, why not a seemingly impossible one. In the meantime, we can only commend Men’s Health Magazine for taking on this incredible challenge to convince Ford of lending them two Focus Electric and driving from New York to Santa Monica on this Earth Day.