Nancy Gioia explains why Ford isn't doing an ER-EV
Click the plug-in hybrid Escape for a high res gallery
So far, the market for extended range electric vehicles in North America seems to be the exclusive province of General Motors, Chrysler and Fisker with Ford sticking to the parallel hybrid route - both with and without plugs. It's not that Ford hasn't investigated the concept of ER-EVs, they actually had a working example before GM did with the HySeries drive Edge in early 2007. For now, though, they are putting their focus elsewhere.
Nancy Gioia, the director of sustainable mobility technologies at Ford explained that her engineers didn't feel that an ER-EV (or series hybrid or whatever else you choose to call it) could provide the necessary sustained performance levels required for mainstream use. Because of the limitations of current battery density and the inability to predict what power demand might be five minutes down the road, the vehicle could end up in a situation where it has insufficient power. Toyota officials have cited the same issue with ER-EVs as reason for not going in that direction. GM clearly believes it has enough reserve power to meet the demands of the average driver with the Volt powertrain. We'll just have to wait and see.
Related:
- ABG First Impression: Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid w/Video
- AutoblogGreen Drives the HySeries Ford Edge and fuel cell Explorer
- Ford's Nancy Gioia discusses hybrids and plug-ins
- GM's Larry Nitz discusses Volt, Vue PHEV, 2nd Gen Two-Mode powertrains
Gallery: ABG First Drive: Ford Escape PHEV
Gallery: Washington 2009: Ford Escape PHEV
[Source: GM-Volt.com]
Photos Copyright ©2009 Sebastian Blanco, Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
PeterG 2:58PM (2/06/2009)
Is there really that much difference. Once you make a PHEV based on a Series-Parallel design like Fords/Toyotas, is there really much difference in capability?
GMs design is interesting, but has potential issues, that would have me staying far away from GMs Beta program.
Like what happens to performance when you flatten the battery? What is the real MPG (when you exceed electric range). How annoying is it having the generator running at constant RPM?
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Jim Mbongo 3:19PM (2/06/2009)
First of all, Ford stated GM’s Two-mode hybrid system is simply a PR exercise.
Now, Ford came back again and this time against Chevy Volt.
What is amazing in this is that Nancy Gioia is 100% sure that in this, Ford is totally right and GM totally wrong!
Wow!
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gorr 3:39PM (2/06/2009)
I think that we will see many postume cars in the near future like ev1 and corvair and fiero were. Even the prius is on the accelerated decline and small cars like fit, aveo, yaris are not selling more. This is an identity crisis, what i can do to move forward with my car?. Batteries start to be rejected, green algae fuels is not supported by autobloggreen, gasoline is 100% in use, ethanol is costly polluting not efficient and promote deforestration and starvation. Goverment studies only avocate planet warming and crusching, natural gas is prohibited because you can replace it with home-made hydrogen gas from free water and don't pollute and eliminate 25000 madscientists from goverments offices.
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Chris M 7:56PM (2/06/2009)
What I'd suggest is that you take the common sense approach to saving gasoline.
Avoid unnecessary trips, combine trips when possible to reduce miles driven.
Walk or bicycle when it is practical to do so.
Keep your car in good shape with proper maintenance, the right amount of oil, and keep the tires properly inflated. Under-inflated tires reduces mileage.
Don't carry unneeded loads in the car, extra weight reduces mileage.
Drive reasonably, go light on the accelerator and brakes, except in an emergency.
Avoid excessive speed. The optimum fuel economy for most cars is somewhere between 40 and 60 mph.
In addition, I'd suggest that you re-read what you write before you post, to correct mis-spellings, grammar errors, lapses in logic, and anything else that might sound totally plonkers to the average person.
fnc 5:21PM (2/06/2009)
At one point nobody would ever need more than 640K of memory in their computers ever either. Technology prognostication is such an entertaining thing. Corporate spin almost as much so.
It appears Ford has outlined very specific instances in which the Volt could possibly suffer from power fade and extrapolated that it makes an unacceptable all around vehicle as a result. The old Dodge Colt 4-banger I drove years ago sure couldn't pass a semi going uphill, but that didn't mean it wasn't generally useful and practical transportation.
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DouginLA 5:34PM (2/06/2009)
There is a very valid reason Ford is avoiding ER-EV's. There is a battery shortage right now. The lack and cost of Li-Ion batteries makes ER-EVs ridiculously expensive. I think Mulalhy is brilliant in the way he has Ford moving. With the Fusion Hybrid he has an instant competitor to the Camry hybrid. When the Focus hybrid comes out in 2011 it will be a serious competitor to the Prius and Insight. Also Fords focus on the Phev is going to make them very competitive if not the dominant domestic car company by 2014.
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why not the LS2LS7? 6:49PM (2/06/2009)
There was an extended range version of the EV1. So no, Ford didn't have an ER-EV (in 2007) before GM did. They showed it in 1999.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1#EV1_series_hybrid
I would imagine both companies had ER-EVs a long time ago.
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MSU EcoCAR 11:44AM (10/30/2009)
The series hybrid is a relatively simple architecture. As shown by the Chevy Volt, current battery technology has the necessary power density for EREV designs. Cost is the limiting factor here, not predicted power demands. I'm a member of the MSU EcoCAR team and we are developing an EREV Saturn Vue for the EcoCAR competition. Check out our team and the competition at http://www.cavs.msstate.edu/projects/ecocar/ and http://www.green-garage.org/index.html .
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