Ford promotes Nancy Gioia to accelerate EV strategy
Jay Leno's Green Car Challenge Ford Focus EV - Click above for high-res image gallery
Ford has appointed Nancy Gioia, formerly the company's director of sustainable mobility technology and hybrid vehicle programs, to the new position of director of global electrification in order to accelerate the company's EV strategy. She will be in charge of not only coordinating all programs involving electrification of vehicles in the company – pure battery-powered, plug-in hybrids and hybrids – but also to find new partners, business models and the partnering to build plug-in infrastructure. However, Gioia's main target will be making new Ford electric vehicles available to the public, starting with the BEV Transit Connect van in 2010, the battery Focus in 2011, a new-gen hybrid and a plug-in hybrid in 2012.
[Source: Ford]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nick From Montreal 3:22PM (10/10/2009)
Wait a minute. Ford didn't have anyone responsible of electrification until now?
Good news then. I guess...
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Dan 4:01PM (10/10/2009)
... she already was "the company's director of sustainable mobility technology and hybrid vehicle programs." But was more focused on specific vehicles/projects/US sale of... Now it sounds more of a Corporate position to take the company EV's/PHEV's etc worldwide. Higher position... bigger goals. Now that green tech is getting more investment/more companies producing she can look for more than the one company that was able to previously supply parts etc.
At least thats how I understand it.
Tohe 3:40AM (10/11/2009)
Here is a nice informative interview of Lisa Drake from Ford with the Fox Car Report: http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html?playerId=011008&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=4171075&referralPlaylistId=3f678a717f97ef1e78fff11e96c984c75116d98d
jpm 5:38PM (10/10/2009)
Why are the internals of a business news now?
Promote Rush Limbaugh for all I care, just produce an EV that is affordable.
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ziv 5:59PM (10/10/2009)
jpm, no one can build an affordable ev because no one can produce an affordable battery pack, yet.
$1000 per useable kWh doesn't work well with peoples demands that an inexpensive BEV not have a range noticeably longer than a plugin cord. I am exagerating, but the fact is that until we can find an inexpensive ER-EV generator, BEV's will be second cars due to range issues. It will cost more money to recharge during the day, and fast charging will degrade your battery faster than regular charging with a 230 volt. An ER-EV on the other hand can use inexpensive electricity when you charge overnight, AND you have drive all day range on the 30 or 40 days a year you need more than 30-40 miles of AER. In 15 or 20 years, new technology BEV's won't need to be ER-EV to survive, but until huge strides are made in battery tech, the ER-EV's will be the best compromise out there.
jpm 6:08PM (10/10/2009)
We'll see what happens. I would disagree with you on the battery tech not being there -- most people need to get to work at back, not drive 300 miles everyday -- use or rent an ICE vehicle for that. I think it's more a matter of price, which is astronomically expensive. But look at all the activity with respect to Li-ion manufacturing.... I think mass production is around the corner. And if Nissan's Leaf is wildly successful, that will just force everyone else to increase the pace.
wincros 3:11AM (10/11/2009)
If you listen to the AltCar panel with Dan Neil the people in the industry were talking about $400/KWH as a current negotiated price not $1000.
ziv 8:26AM (10/11/2009)
Wincross, I am talking useable kWh's, not total kWh's. If you use all of your batteries potential frequently, it will not be a useable battery in a few years time so you have to use only half or some fraction, of the battery packs total potential power. The Volt will use around half its total rated capacity, so its useable kWh cost would be $800 using Dan Neil's numbers. This isn't like you can go out and wire a bunch of lap top batteries together and have them last the 10 years that CA mandates. If you skimp on the amount of batteries in the pack, that $400 per kWh doubles when you have to replace the battery pack in 3 years. It is easy to build a toy that will get you 20 miles a day for 3 years, it is very difficult to build a reputable car, with range and reliability, and a pack that will last 10 years, for less than Tesla type prices. That is why the Volt is so interesting.
David Wright 6:33PM (10/10/2009)
One trouble with forever choosing the ER-EV (or other hybrid) option is that it kills the ambition that drives development of greater range. If an onboard ER facility is available, there is a tendency to be content with 30-40 miles battery range - whereas those makers pursuing the pure BEV option are chasing 100-200 mile range, and some are already there. Nancy Gioia is already very familiar with the better range being offered by some european makers of EVs (including the existing Smith Ampere, which will be rebadged for Ford in the US next spring as the 'Connie' BEV).
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Randy C. 10:27PM (10/10/2009)
All I can is hope this gets Ford off its dead A$$ and gets us more EV's faster. If Ford gets good at it maybe they can put GM out of business. Why, because GM can't figure out how to make an electric car. And when they do, they later go crazy and try to wipe it from the face of the earth.
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