Ford announced this week that the first 67 dealers are certified and ready to sell the 2012 Ford Focus Electric.

It’s time for a little healthy competition in the North American EV market, as the #2 US automaker joins the fray. Ford announced this week that the first 67 dealers are certified and ready to sell the 2012 Ford Focus Electric. The anointed 67 are in California, New York and New Jersey, and will begin showing the Focus Electric later this spring. The new EV will be available in 19 US markets by summer’s end, and nationwide by the end of the year.

To be certified, the dealerships have to install at least two onsite charging stations, one in the customer area and the other in the service area, and 80 percent of key personnel must have gone through Ford’s EV training process. “The amount of hard work and resources dealers put into becoming certified really is a testament to how excited they are, how excited customers are and how excited we are about electric vehicles, starting with Focus Electric,” said David Gutman, Ford's field operations manager.

Ford’s preliminary marketing makes it clear that it’s gunning for the Nissan LEAF. The Focus Electric sports a larger 6.6 kW on-board charger, which it says allows it to recharge in nearly half the time of the LEAF's 3.3 kW charger. Ford also claims the Focus has more power, standard features and passenger room. The EPA has given the Focus Electric a fuel-efficiency figure of 105 MPGe combined, which beats the LEAF by 6 points.

Images: Ford