Ford Adds 7 New Utility Partners, Battery Makers to Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle Program
Ford Motor Company is getting charged up about its electric vehicle strategy. It’s announced a new battery supplier and added seven utility partners and a New York research and development authority to a test program to speed the commercialization of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
Ford’s partnerships will help accelerate its electrification strategy, including bringing a full battery electric vehicle (BEV) van to market in 2010 for commercial use, a small BEV sedan developed jointly with Magna International by 2011 and a Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV) by 2012.
Road Testing Tomorrow’s Transportation Today
Ford’s electric utility partners in New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina and Alabama will conduct real-world tests on a fleet of Ford Escape PHEVs. The research focuses on four primary areas: battery technology, vehicle systems, customer usage, grid infrastructure, the potential for stationary battery application and the value of energy storage.
The utility partners include New York Power Authority, Consolidated Edison of N.Y., American Electric Power of Ohio, Alabama Power and its parent, Atlanta-based Southern Co., Progress Energy of N.C, DTE Energy of Mich., and National Grid of Mass., as well as New York State Energy and Research Development Authority, a state agency.
Ford formed its first utility partnership with Southern California Edison in 2007, and was the first automotive manufacturer to partner with the utility industry in a shared effort to understand all of the issues related to PHEV technology and its interconnectivity with the electric grid. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) formed the collaboration of utilities for the program.
Power-ful Partner
Battery producer Johnson Controls-Saft will develop an advanced lithium-ion battery system to power Ford’s first production PHEVs beginning in 2012.
The battery system that Johnson Controls-Saft is designing and manufacturing for Ford include cells, mechanical, electrical, electronic and thermal components. Initially the cells will be produced at the supplier’s production facility in France, but the system will be assembled in the United States.
The Promise of Plug-Ins
Drivers of the demonstration Ford Escape PHEV will make far fewer trips to the gas station. It uses common household current (120 volts) for charging, with a full charge of the battery completed within six to eight hours. When driven on surface streets for the first 30 miles following a full charge, the Ford Escape PHEV can achieve up to 120 mpg – roughly 4.5 times its traditional gas internal combustion engine-powered counterpart.
A fully charged Ford Escape PHEV operates in two modes, electric drive and blended electric/engine drive. It is not range-limited by the amount of charge available in the high-voltage lithium-ion battery. Once the charge in the battery has been depleted, the vehicle continues to operate as a fuel-efficient, standard Ford Escape Hybrid.
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