Has Ford seen the light? Plug-in hybrid Escort coming in 2010?
You'd think a story like this would be all over the place, but as of right now, only Next Energy News is onto the announcement of a 100 mpge (mpg equivalent) plug-in Ford Escort hybrid due in 2010. According to NEN, the new Escort PHEV will use nanotech lithium-ion batteries from A123 Systems (NEN calls them "Super Batteries", which is a terrible name). The batteries are said to last for 10 years/150,000 miles. Nice as that sounds, as with all li-ion hybrid/EV battery announcements, we'll have to wait to see just how realistic these numbers are when the cars are actually released. NEN says that the Escort PHEV will be available for the 2011 model year (fall of 2010).
By combining the Escort brand with a new-from-the-ground-up PHEV model, Ford hopes to take some sales away from the Prius and other cars with strong green identities. Man, what a week this is already turning out to be. First the VW announcement and now this. What's next?
UPDATE: It's not true.
Related:
[Source: Next Energy News, h/t to Jason S.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rob 3:45PM (9/24/2007)
Excellent news from Ford. Here's hoping they make it a serial hybrid, building on the knowledge they've gained with the Edge Hy-Series ( already on the road, not JUST on paper ... ). Doesn't sound like it, though.
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Scott 3:54PM (9/24/2007)
How do you call this an "announcement"? Ford has said nothing publicly, and the NEN article specifies no source for the story.
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Sebastian Blanco 3:59PM (9/24/2007)
Scott -
good question, and that's why I started the post the way I did. To show that this might not be all it's cracked up to be. We have asked Ford for a comment, but haven't heard back yet.
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4bush 4:35PM (9/24/2007)
It look's nice enough to actualy own.
Much better looking than any other plug-in I have seen to date...
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Tony Belding 5:09PM (9/24/2007)
Next Energy News is a highly dubious source.
A few months ago they floated a story that California was going to fund Dr. Bussard's fusion reactor project. It caused quite a stir. . . for a couple of days, until the governator's staff denied knowing anything about it. As far as anyone can figure, NEN simply invented the whole story.
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TIMMAH! 5:33PM (9/24/2007)
Oh god, please don't tell me they're going to use the "futuristic Buck Rogers" font (the "2010" in the above picture) anywhere on the product...
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