By Adam Risman

Photographs by Bridget Barrett

Mission Net-Zero

Meet the all-electric family

When you drive toward the Victorian home of Matt and Kelly Grocoff from the north, the 110-year-old residence looks idyllic and quaint. You could say it’s a living specimen of early-20th-century America, preserved under a fresh coat of pale-green paint. Approach it from the south, however, and the serenity suddenly slips away. A reflective metallic glow bounces off the roof; the source is a series of solar panels designed to power the family’s life inside—and soon even outside—the home.

“Today that powers the entire house, including our heating and air conditioning,” says Matt. “As soon as we get an electric vehicle, that will represent fuel for our car.”

The Grocoffs’ solar panels provided the finishing touch to a five-year project—converting their house to a net-zero-energy home. What does that mean? The best definition can be found on the couple’s electric bill, which read –$89.06 for the month of July. “We would have spent at least $83,000 over 20 years on energy costs,” Matt explains. “So for an investment of under $50,000, we installed geothermal heating and cooling, solar panels, insulation and much more. For the rest of our lives, our energy is free.”

Of course, all that savings doesn’t yet include the money that a 2012 Focus Electric could put back into their pockets. With zero need for oil or gasoline and the ability to fully charge in three to four hours with an optional 240-volt charging station, Matt sees the Focus as the family’s next practical step toward absolute energy efficiency. “Knowing how much you’re going to be paying for that electricity versus powering the car at a gas station is pretty cool,” he says. “I own that. I control this power.”

A Healthy Connection

The mobile solution for critical medical needs

“If you’re on the cutting edge of technology, a smartphone application is necessary.” This is the business credo of JEMS Technology CEO Kevin Lasser, a tech veteran whose innovative “telemedicine app” could revolutionize doctor-patient interactions.

Here’s how it works: Imagine a 50-year-old man lying across his sofa with severe chest pains. The nearest hospital is 20 miles away, and time is obviously of the essence. If the hospital has employed JEMS services, the potential patient needs no more than a smartphone with 3G, 4G or a Wi-Fi connection to receive remote diagnosis, medical information and instructions through live video. “You’re getting immediate help over a secure connection,” Lasser says. “No one else can provide that.”

Lasser believes in the critical need for mobile apps across multiple platforms—including electric cars. That’s where MyFord^® Mobile, the smartphone app created for Focus Electric owners, comes into the conversation.

“You go with your smartphone because it’s familiar,” explains Lasser. “Instead of going in your car and pulling into the gas station, you’re at home and say, ‘How’s my car doing?’ You would go right to it.”

In addition to charge monitoring and estimating CO₂ savings after each drive, MyFord Mobile works with MapQuest^® to find the most economical routes and nearest charge stations. “The custom routes are smart,” Lasser notes. “There’s a gas station everywhere, so I have to know where to charge.”

Digestible Knowledge

An educated eater is his best customer

Try strolling up to Zingerman’s Delicatessen in Ann Arbor, Mich. for lunch on any afternoon and you’re bound to find a long corralled line of patrons whipping around the corner.

“We opened a store that gathered the finest artisan-made food products and wowed you with quality and customer service,” explains co-founder Paul Saginaw. Zingerman’s opened in 1982 as a sandwich shop. Over three decades it evolved into a diverse community of businesses with an artisan bakery, mail-order foods, wholesale coffee—and even customer-service books.

“Consumer education is critical,” he says. “If our customers don’t know the attributes of a product, it’s hard to persuade them to make a change.”

Saginaw’s mind-set mirrors the Ford approach to electric vehicles. It is installing intuitive technology within the Focus Electric to make drivers aware of the vehicle’s capabilities. Take regenerative braking. It recaptures more than 90% of the energy that’s lost as the car stops and transfers it back into the battery. Drivers will also find a brake coach on the instrument display indicating how much energy was recaptured during the process—easing the learning curve and extending vehicle range. This coaching technology is exclusive to Ford electrified vehicles, a consumer feature that Saginaw loves. “People long for that unique experience,” he says. “Certainly with cars.”

The Freshest Option

Sustainable solutions set this salsa apart

Garden Fresh Salsa CEO Jack Aronson has a simple mission: Put out a product that’s smart, sustainable and sensible. It’s why he made a $10 million investment in a high-pressure processing (HPP) system that helps him sell the freshest salsa on the market—and why his fleet of sales reps will soon be spreading the word in Focus Electrics.

“It shows that we’re putting our money where our mouth is—that we’re taking our sustainability seriously,” says Aronson, who in 1997 began what is now the largest salsa business in the U.S. by personally preparing fresh salsa in the back of his own restaurant.

He pushed hard to make his business the first private company in North America to invest in HPP. By processing food at seven times the pressure at the ocean floor, the technology allows his company to forgo preservatives, kill any infectious germs and extend shelf life by four to five times.

At the root of the HPP switch lies “the butterfly effect,” or the notion that small changes can make a big difference, says Aronson. It’s the same thinking employed in the Focus Electric, which features an intuitive display that uses butterflies to represent the car’s energy level. “The more butterflies displayed, the more range,” he explains. “It’s going to connect with people not to lose the butterflies.”

Aronson has long salivated at the possibility of adding the Focus Electric to his fleet of company cars. “I’m glad Ford is at the forefront of this technology,” he says. “We’re proud to see it happen.”

Learn more about the techno-talented Focus Electric at ford.com/focuselectric.

*Coming spring 2012