Ford Says Slow, Steady Is Course on Plug-In Program
By John O'Dell June 11, 2008
Ford's Plug-in Escape hybrid is undergoing two-year Southern California trial.
While GM and Toyota have been capturing headlines with their plug-in hybrid plans, Ford Motor Co. has been quietly plugging along with its own development program.
The automaker said this week that it will soon begin delivering a test fleet of plug-in Escape hybrids to Southern California Edison Co., with nine of the vehicles due to be shipped this year and 10 more in 2009... The giant power company, which serves much of Southern California, has had one of the Escape plug-ins since late last year – Green Car Advisor reported in November on our exclusive test drive of the vehicle.
Ford also said this week that the plug-in Escape's lithium-ion battery pack is being supplied by Michigan-based JCI-Saft. The battery development company is a joint venture of Johnson Controls and France's Saft and is headed by former Ford Escape program head Mary Ann Wright, who we recently profiled.
The California test is expected to end in 2010, and Ford then plans to ship the Escape plug-ins to utilities in the New York-New Jersey area for further testing under different climate and traffic conditions.
That schedule means Ford is unlikely to have a consumer-read plug-in until after 2010 and will likely be following GM's Volt extended-range plug-in electric car and Toyota's much-anticipated plug-in Prius to market.
Gm has promised to begin building the Volt for the retail market by the end of 2010, and Toyota has said it will have a fleet of plug-in Priuses ready for commercial and government fleet users in 2010 with retail introduction to follow.
Why is Ford being slower on the uptake?
"Plug-in hybrid vehicles have great promise, but we are still working to fully address all of the technical and business challenges that stand in the way of commercialization," said Nancy Gioia, Ford's director of sustainable mobility.
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
LEAVE A COMMENT