Electric cars aren’t new to Ford Motor Co.

Henry Ford is revered as the father of the American automotive industry, and for good reason.

He pioneered the automobile assembly line and introduced manufacturing technology that brought millions of gasoline-powered vehicles to the masses, empowering them to travel at faster speeds and further distances.

A lesser-known fact is that Henry Ford also attempted to develop an early electric car.

While working as a steam engineer at the Edison Illumination Co. in Michigan, he built his first "Quadricycle." Ford actually turned down a job offer to become an operations manager at the plant in order to start the Detroit Automobile Co. in 1899. Thomas Edison encouraged him in this endeavor and became a lifelong mentor.

Ford later partnered with Edison to design an electric version of the Quadricycle that used a nickel-iron battery. Ford was influenced by his wife, Clara, who preferred to drive an electric car. Unfortunately, the prototype of Edison's battery did not live up to expectations, and the duo's development effort ran into more problems when Edison's battery-manufacturing plant in New Jersey suffered a catastrophic fire.

Edison's nickel-iron batteries later became a mainstay for the Baker Motor Vehicle Co. and other electric-car manufacturers at the time, but by then, Ford was focused on growing his company around the Model T.

Today, more than 100 years later, Ford Motor Co. is once again revisiting battery-powered electric automobiles.

After successfully integrating electric-powered drivetrains into hybrid versions of the Ford Fusion and Ford Escape SUV platforms, the company is planning to roll out battery-powered electric versions of its successful Transit Connect compact van in 2011 and Ford Focus in 2012.

The Transit Connect is an impressive compact utility van powered by a 2.0 liter, I-4 engine with four-speed automatic overdrive transmission. It's a spacious, fuel-efficient alternative to larger vans, it is adaptable to the needs of many commercial businesses and is very useful for navigating city streets.

The van received the prestigious 2010 North American Truck of the Year award in January during the North American International Auto Show. The title was awarded by a jury of 49 automotive journalists who considered design innovation, safety, handling, price and customer satisfaction.

More than 600,000 Transit Connects have been sold to customers in 58 countries since the vehicle's introduction in 2003.

Ford Motor Co. has been working with Azure Dynamics, a hybrid-electric and electric vehicle producer, to develop an electric version of the Transit Connect that will have a range of about 75 miles per charge.

Azure Dynamics' Force Drive system employs a three-phase, air-cooled alternating-current induction motor that was designed to be compact and lightweight for EV applications. Electric AC motors are more efficient than direct-current (DC) motors and internal combustion engines because they have very low internal mechanical losses while rotating and minimal electrical resistance to the current flow from the battery pack. The electric motor is augmented by a mechanical gear box that provides a 10:1 overall vehicle drive ratio, creating lots of torque to carry heavy loads from a standing start.

An electric vehicle doesn't need to idle at a stop sign like an internal combustion engine, so it doesn't consume fuel or emit pollutants while the driver waits to start into traffic again.

In addition, the Force Drive system also includes a regenerative braking feature that allows the AC motor to become a generator. When the driver releases the accelerator pedal and the wheels of the van are spinning freely, motor "regen" produces its own electrical current from the kinetic energy of the free-spinning wheels and feeds this energy back to recharge the battery pack during operation.

Additional Ford SYNC telematic features on the dashboard will allow hands-free cell phone operation, optional onboard computer touch LCD screen connected to the Internet so that the driver can continue to operate his business remotely, and a special "Tool Link" application will wirelessly scan for any tools inside the van that have an electronic radio-frequency identification tag attached. In this way, the van can continuously take inventory of its onboard tools and alert a maintenance team if they are missing before the crew leaves a work site.

The Ford Transit Connect compact electric van will initially only be sold to fleet customers later this year.

Stan Hanel has worked in the electronics industry for more than 30 years and is a long-time member of the Electric Auto Association and the Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association. Hanel writes and edits for EAA's "Current Events" and LVEVA's "Watts Happening" newsletters. Contact him at stanhanel@aol.com.