Ford F-150 Hybrid May Deliver 40 MPG
By Danny King February 25, 2011
A hydraulic hybrid powertrain similar to the one Chrysler is developing for its minivan with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Eaton Corp. may boost the highway fuel-economy of Ford's best-selling F-150 pickup by about 80 percent compared to the conventional gas-powered version. The Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power (CCEFP), along with Folsom Technologies, is developing a prototype powertrain for an F-150 that will deliver as much as 40 miles per gallon highway. The CCEFP is part of the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center and includes seven universities and 55 industrial companies.
The CCEFP is following up similar efforts by Chrysler and the EPA, which announced last month that they would adapt hydraulic hybrid technology for the light-duty auto market with the goal of designing a Chrysler minivan as a demonstration vehicle by 2013 using EPA's own patented technology. A joint engineering team will design and integrate the Chrysler-EPA hydraulic hybrid system into a minivan and test the demonstration vehicle in 2012. The minivan will feature a unique powertrain that replaces the automatic transmission.
The hydraulic hybrid system differs from conventional hybrids, which use batteries to store power and reduce the work done by the combustion engine, by capturing and reusing the energy lost in braking through a hydraulic pressure vessel. The system can also turn off the engine when it is not needed and only fully use the engine when it can operate at peak efficiently.
The F-150, which was donated by Ford, is the second such hydraulic hybrid powertrain product worked on by the CCEFP. The group's first stage involved a Polaris Ranger all-terrain vehicle that the CCEFP started working on about five years ago. Pickuptrucks.com originally reported on this project.
The Ford F-150, in its two-wheel-drive, 3.5-liter six-cylinder version, gets an EPA-rated 22 mpg highway and 19 mpg combined. By reaching the 40 mpg highway threshold, the F-150, using the new system, would vault past Ford's four-cylinder Ranger, which gets a class-leading 27 mpg highway with a five-speed manual transmission.
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Color me skeptical on this one. 40 mpg highway for an f-150 ? Highway mileage is dominated by fuel consumption at a steady state output and aerodynamics more than by acceleration performance.
The 2009 Prius only got 45 mpg on the highway. The F-150 is fairly large and fairly high off the ground.
I guess if the system can provide a lot of power at all speeds (which isn't so much the case w/ a prius) then it would allow fitting an even smaller engine since hybrid boost would be available even for passing maneuvers. Uphill grades would be an issue though...
more power to them. but not holding my breath that we'll see anything like this in production for the next 10 years.
I think that it may hit 40mpg hwy. One thing they aren't telling u is that Ford has reportedly been working on an all aluminum or nano-steel structure and frame for the f 150. This will lighten the load considerably. I also believe that you wont see this engine in the truck till around 2020 when Ford has totally redesigned the F 150. Dont forget their are plenty of large cars that get over 30 mpg with out hybrids at all. Aerodynamics does play a part but I think a redesign will take care of that. Like I said 2020 is the earliest I can see this happening. The EPA has been working on their model for a long while and its still not ready. Ford was working with them first but dropped out with no explanation. I guess they saw now that it might go somewhere and decided to go with another company that was developing similar tech.
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