The scene at Barber Motorsports Park and Museum in Birmingham, Ala., on Monday, wasn’t the sort of engine-revving, tire-smoking event one normally sees in NASCAR country. But it was arguably more “electrifying.”
The media turned out in force at the venue to test drive the Ford Escape plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), which Alabama Power and its parent Southern Company is road testing in partnership with Ford. Representatives from the Electric Power Research Institute and the Alabama Clean Fuels Coalition also participated in the event, which was followed on Tuesday by a “Green Fleet” event for Alabama Power and Southern Company employees.
Electric Companies Get Plugged in with Ford
Alabama Power is one of Ford’s several utility and research partners conducting real world road testing with the Escape PHEV. The other partners include:
- Southern California Edison
- New York Power Authority
- Consolidated Edison of New York
- American Electric Power of Columbus, Ohio
- Progress Energy of Raleigh, N.C.
- DTE Energy of Detroit
- National Grid of Waltham, Mass.
- New York State Energy and Research Development Authority, a state agency
Ford 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 research into PHEVs focuses on four primary areas: battery technology, vehicle systems, customer usage, and grid infrastructure. The utility companies also will explore the potential for stationary battery application and the value of energy storage.
The partnerships will help Ford 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 PHEV by 2012.
Charging up tomorrow’s technology today
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.
Comments Off
