Green IT and Green Computing - eWeek

Green IT and Green Computing: Ford Previews Parade of New Electrical Vehicles


Electricity as a power plant for motor vehicles goes back much further than most people think. Back in 1914—the year World War I began—the president of the Minneapolis Buggy Company wrote a letter to two men, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, suggesting that they meet and talk about the possibility of using clean electrical power for automobiles, rather than gasoline combustion engines. Being heavily invested in gasoline engines since 1899, Ford thought about it but tabled the idea for mass production. Although electric vehicles are often used in specific sectors, (golf carts, public transit and others), they haven't yet become a staple of the world's personal transportation. Now all the major car companies are developing electric-powered vehicles. As for Ford, it's taken more than 95 years, but today the automaker has four categories of higher mileage and electrified vehicles either on the roads or in development: EcoBoost gasoline engines, Hybrid, Plug-In Hybrid and Battery Electric.

EcoBoost engines are designed to inject a precisely metered amount of fuel directly into the combustion chamber. When this is combined with turbo charging, customers get better performance and fewer trips to the gas pump. The EcoBoost design will deliver the power and torque of a V-8 engine with the fuel efficiency of a V-6. Ford plans to deliver EcoBoost across the full range of its product portfolio, from small cars to large trucks, by 2013.

The earliest Battery Electric models will be ready for sale in 2010, with the others rolling out by 2012. In a San Francisco demonstration on Oct. 22, the company rolled out an Escape Plug-In Hybrid and an all-electric Focus. This slide show will take a closer look at the technology inside those two models.
 
  • Ford Previews Parade of New Electrical Vehicles
    by Chris Preimesberger
  • It's going to take several years for this to gain enough momentum to become a national initiative, but connecting all the incoming electric vehicles to the existing power grid—and into renewable energy resources—in the United States is going to be a whale of a job. Refill stations and power meters will need to be set up in all areas, and homes and businesses will need to be retrofitted with standardized electrical connections to accommodate these vehicles. Thus far, there are few standards for this need, and Ford is among the companies working to establish them.
  • Ford has four categories of electrified vehicles either on the roads or in development: EcoBoost (available now), Hybrid (now), Battery Electric (available by 2010) and Plug-In Hybrid (by 2012). At the recent San Francisco demonstration, the company rolled out an Escape Plug-In Hybrid and an all-electric Focus.
  • The Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid is a sleek-looking, roomy vehicle that simply plugs into the wall when it needs battery power. Eventually, cars like these will be able to obtain power wirelessly through a smart grid network.
  • Here's a close look at what's under the hood in the Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid. The front battery takes up about half the room alongside the gasoline engine. Another battery is located under the trunk space.
  • The Escape trunk battery is out of sight in the rear of the vehicle.
  • Here is where the Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid gets its electrical power—right in front of the driver's side door.
  • A view from the rear passenger's side of the Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid.
  • The Focus is a standard-size sedan that is surprisingly roomy inside and is very economical to operate and maintain.
  • Ford's Magna battery pack dwarfs the other components under the Focus's hood.
  • The auxiliary battery pack in the back of the Focus unfortunately takes up quite a bit of trunk space; potential owners need to add this into the "pros and cons" list in making a buying decision.
  • The Ford Escape Plug-In comes standard with a dashboard computer screen that not only has a GPS but also connects directly to information sources for power supplies. It tells the driver how many miles it has left in reserve and how far to the nearest refill station, among other things.
  • Here is a more detailed look at how the power-supply information system works on the Escape Plug-In.
  • Ford's Nancy Gioia (right) has a very unusual title: director of global electrification. Her role is to lead strategy and planning for the next generation of Ford's global electric vehicle portfolio, touching all aspects of electrified transportation including product planning, supplier partnerships and collaboration with the energy industry and government.
  • Zero-emission buses like this one in downtown San Francisco have been in use for several years in major U.S. cities. Taxis are now following suit; corporate vehicle fleets are beginning to move over to low- and zero-emission models, and eventually more and more personal vehicles will do the same. Ford projects that 10 percent to 20 percent of the cars it sells by the year 2020 will be electrically powered. That may be a conservative number.
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