Control your electric Ford car with the MyFord Mobile app

Ford is set to officially unveil its forthcoming electric-powered Focus, and it's teasing us mercilessly by showing off a smart phone app designed to get the most from your battery-driven Ford.

The MyFord Mobile application allows users to remotely monitor the level of remaining charge in a Ford electric vehicle (EV)'s battery pack, so you needn't walk all the way to the garage or driveway to check it in person. It can also specify when an EV that's connected to the mains should start charging, in order to take advantage of cheaper electricity rates during off-peak hours.

Unlike the system built into the Tesla Roadster, users can enter a specific time they'll need to use the car, how far they need to travel, and the app will recommend when to begin charging and the appropriate length of charge to ensure your arrival. It'll also show you charging stations in your area or along a specified route.

The MyFord Mobile app uses GPS to help you locate your car (handy -- we're always getting lost in huge car parks) and can unlock your its doors remotely if you've locked the keys inside (yeah, that too).

Other functionality includes the ability to activate the heating and air conditioning before you set off -- though this is only possible if the car is connected to the grid at the time. This should prove handy, as pre-heating or pre-cooling a car can reduce the need to run the climate-control system on battery power while you're away from the mains.

Ford will release versions of the MyFord Mobile app for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry, though without these apps, devices should still be able to access its functions via a Web-based interface -- as long as they support HTML5.

The app will be released to coincide with the launch of the electric Focus, which should be unveiled later today.