Ford Gets $10 Million From Feds For Its Escape Plug-in Hybrid Project

Ford's plug-in hybrid project has gotten lost in all the publicity heaped on the upcoming 2010 Chevrolet Volt and tToyota's plug-in hybrid test fleet to be launched late next year.

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Information screen in Ford Escape PHEV (click on photo to enlarge) shows power flow to and from battery, electric motor and gas engines, with  fuel economy data on bottom right of screen.

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But the company is a player in that market and today said it has received a $10 million federal grant to help it keep working on its grid-rechargeable hybrids.

Ford Motor Co. got the money from the Department of Energy to help with continued development of a demonstration fleet of 20 plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) based on the Escape hybrid SUV.

The automaker is expected for pony up an additional $10 million - bringing cost of the program to $20 million, or a cool $1 million per vehicle.

 The grant is one of three, totaling $30 million, that the Energy Department had announced in June. General motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC get the other funds for their own plug-in projects. 

Ford is ahead of the others and already is placing plug-in models into service in several test fleets. The project began with delivery of the first Escape PHEV to Southern California Edison Co. late last year.

Ford delivered a flex-fuel version (gasoline or an E85 ethanol-gasoline blend) of the plug-in Escape to the federal Energy Department in June and also is testing the vehicles in Michigan.

Other partners in the project are the Electric Power Research Institute and battery-maker Johnson Controls/Saft.

The plug-in Escape is equipped with a 10 kilowatt lithium ion battery supplied by Johnson Controls/Saft. The company said the battery stores enough energy for up to 30 miles of all-electric drive at speeds of up to 40 mph. The battery works in tandem with a small four-cylinder engine.

Based on current estimates, Ford says, the Escape Plug-In Hybrid would emit 60 percent less CO2 than a conventional gasoline powered model - achieving fuel economy in the 30- to 50-mpg range, depending on how much all-electric travel it does.

And yes, if never driven faster than 40 miles an hour for more than 30 miles between charges it might never use gasoline and thus would get a gazillion miles per gallon, but we're trying to be realistic here.

Posted by

John O'Dell October 7, 2008, 4:09 PM

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Emissions, Ford, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Plug-ins and Electric

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Energy Department, Ford Escape Plug In Hybrid, PHEV