I hate to admit it -- New Ford Hybrid

[Timber Loftis]

Here's an interesting factoid from the article -- the hybrid gets BETTER fuel mileage in town than on the highway. Why? Don't know, but I bet it's because the hybrid battery is powered by BRAKING.
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Today's BNA Reporter.
Air Pollution
Ford Escape Certified as First SUV Hybrid;
Vehicle Meets New EPA, California Standards

The Environmental Protection Agency said Aug. 5 it had certified the Ford Motor Co.'s 2005 Escape as the first hybrid sport utility vehicle for sale in the United States.
According to EPA, Ford's new gasoline-electric hybrid SUV received a Green Vehicle Guide score of 9 out of a possible 10 for federally certified vehicles. The consumer guide assigns air pollution scores to vehicles on a 1 to 10 scale, with 10 being the least polluting.

"With this score, the Ford Escape Hybrid achieves significantly higher fuel economy than traditional SUVs, and it is among the cleanest SUVs available in 2005," EPA said.

Hybrid vehicles include an electric motor that supplements, or at times takes over as, the power source for the vehicle. When the demand for power is low, the electric motor takes over to augment or replace the gasoline motor; thus, the vehicle burns less fuel and emitting less pollution overall.

The Ford hybrid SUV will achieve the California Advanced Technology Partially Zero Emission Vehicle (AT-PZEV) standard, EPA said, a feat miles from being reached by any other SUV on the market. Also, the Ford Escape Hybrid complies with EPA's stringent new emission standards for light-duty vehicles and trucks.

EPA said it would list this vehicle in its Green Vehicle Guide along with all other 2005 models sometime in October.

Unlike conventional gasoline-powered automobiles, the Escape Hybrid captures the energy that would otherwise be lost during braking and stores it in a battery used to power the electric motor, Ford and EPA said.

Ford said it plans to manufacture 20,000 hybrid Escapes in model year 2005. The full production line is expected to be under way sometime in September, Ford spokeswoman Jennifer Biggs told BNA.


Better Fuel Economy

The new Ford hybrid has a city fuel efficiency rating far higher than earlier versions of the Escape.
Biggs said the new SUV hybrid has a fuel economy rating of 31 miles per gallon to 33 mpg for stop-and-go city driving and 28 mpg to 30 mpg on the highway. City driving more often will use the electric motor when the demand for power is low, thereby obtaining better fuel mileage.

According to EPA estimates, the two-wheel-drive version gets 36 mpg in the city and 31 mpg on the highway. Fuel economy on the four-wheel-drive vehicle is estimated at 33 mpg in the city and 29 mpg on the highway.

The fuel economy for the new Ford Escape Hybrid compares to a fuel economy range of 24 mpg city/29 mpg highway for the standard Ford Escape XLS manual transmission SUV with an internal combustion engine. However, EPA estimates that model-year 2004 SUVs averaged 17.9 mpg.

William Clay Ford Jr., chairman and CEO of Ford Motor Co., said, "Our customers are increasingly concerned about the price of gasoline, air quality, oil supply issues, and the effects of CO2 emissions on climate change. At the same time, they tell us how much they appreciate the versatility and capability of our SUVs. They don't want to give them up, and we don't think they should have to. That's why we built the Escape Hybrid."

According to EPA data, Ford has had the lowest average fleet fuel economy of any major U.S. automaker every year since 1999.

In other classes of vehicles, the 2000 Honda Insight was the first hybrid passenger car introduced to the U.S. market, and the 2004 Toyota Prius was the first mid-size hybrid sedan, EPA noted.


More Production Urged

Some environmental and labor organizations criticized Ford, saying its plan to manufacture only 20,000 of the new hybrid SUVs is too low, amounting to less than 0.5 percent of planned production for the 2005 model year. The company needs to do more than roll out one improved vehicle model.
"We're pleased to see that Ford is bringing a hybrid vehicle to market, but we're still waiting for its overall plan," said Jennifer Krill of Rainforest Action Network. "If Ford wants to position itself as an environmental leader, it needs to do more than produce one improved vehicle in limited quantities."

David Hamilton, director of the Sierra Club's Global Warming and Energy Program, noted that the EPA/Ford announcement shows that the technology exists for U.S. automakers to produce cleaner, better vehicles at home.

"Both the causes and solutions to global warming are intimately tied to our economy, our security, and the prosperity of American workers," Hamilton said in a statement. "The technology exists to make any vehicle, including an SUV, go farther on a gallon of gas."

By Pamela Najor

[John D Harris]

Glad to see it, about time the market forces some things to happen.