Ford Hybrid

There are times when we need a composition of two or more different species, system geneses, or in rare cases, families. The product of this crossing is known as a hybrid. A hybrid consists of the qualities of its parents, which are from different subspecies or varieties of a species. A hybrid vehicle is similar in that it is combined with two or more types of engines.

By combining the abilities of SUV capability, exceptional fuel saving, and little ecological impact, the Ford Escape Hybrid is introduced. The Ford Hybrid is the first vehicle with all the above mentioned aspects. We can drive Ford Hybrids like normal and the performance of Ford Hybrid is superb. The different facilities available for a Ford Hybrid are more room, comfortable five-person seating, multi-purpose cargo area, and a 4WD system. As in the other conventional Escape model, the optional intelligent 4WD system provides similar all weather traction and off road capabilities. Escape Hybrid is the world’s major fuel efficient SUV. The Escape Hybrid has been named the North American Truck of the Year of 2005 at Detroit’s North American International Auto Show.

Ford Hybrid contains six major components in the power train. This allows the Ford Hybrid to operate much more efficiently. In the Ford Hybrid, the emissions are safer for the environment, and it has high fuel efficiency as well.

Before the New York Auto Show, a stage was organized by Ford for this vehicle. On this stage, the 2005 Escape Hybrid Sport Utility Vehicle was introduced by taking it on a 37-hour trek through Manhattan. The expectations of the Ford were exceeded because it is able to drive 576 miles through the city. That is an average more than 38 miles per gallon for an SUV!

The fuel rating of 2005 Ford Hybrid is 35-40 mpg on the EPA city cycle. This rating is about 75 percent better than the conventional V6-powered Ford Escape.

When you stop a vehicle that is conventionally powered at a traffic light or stop sign, it is still burning gasoline and giving out exhaust. In the case of Ford Hybrid, however, it saves the fuel and makes an extremely low environmental impact. This is the case because many advanced technologies are used in the Ford Hybrid. As we found, the Ford Hybrid is designed with a full hybrid system and so the fuel economy benefits are significantly higher.

Mainly two types of hybrid vehicles are designed. There are the full hybrid and mild hybrid. Several differences exist between both the full hybrid and mild hybrid vehicles. These differences can be summed up in the following. The full hybrids can run solely in electric mode, but a mild hybrid needs power from an internal combustion engine. While in slower speeds, there is no need for engaging the internal combustion engine for the full hybrid vehicles because the conditions allow it to run solely in electric mode. The power saved up in the battery is enough for full hybrid vehicles. In the case of a mild system vehicle, however, the vehicle stops and shuts down the internal combustion engine and then starts up again at the moment the driving is resumed. In the full hybrid system, the energy from the brakes is funneled into the battery and stores it for later use. The battery in the full hybrid system is much larger and more powerful than the mild hybrids. The Escape Hybrid’s battery is an example of this. It can pack hundreds of volts whereas in a mild hybrid it requires a 42-volt battery.

In the full hybrids emission is less. In Ford Hybrid a smaller engine is used and from this engine the drivers get V6 performance.

The fuel consumption and emissions are less for a Ford Hybrid when compared with other vehicles. So you can get more benefits by using Ford Hybrid.

As most of you may know, it was just Earth Week here in the United States. Earth
Week is a time when we try to show appreciaton for our planet through the
use of energy-efficient practices, introducing new technology with safer
emissions, cutting down on pollution, and many other things. It is a great
time for our country and I feel it should last a lot longer than just one
week.

To get off subject just a bit, I currently am attending Wayne State
University in downtown Detroit, Michigan. And during Earth Week we had
people from Ford and from our very own engineering department at WSU come
down and teach us quite a bit about hybrid vehicles. I personally met up
with the Ford representative and asked him questions about the operations of
a hybrid and what we are looking at in the future. Most of this information
will be given in the future as he provided me with cd's and pamphlets of
some great material.

I think a very important point he made was when I brought up the Toyota vs.
Ford competition in the hybrid division. He surprised me when he said that
Toyota and Ford were actually working closely together in order to bring us
great, energy-efficient technology. In fact, much of the technology for
hybrids that Ford currently uses is licensed by Toyota. I like the way
hybrid use is making its way into SUV's, but the Toyota Prius is still by
far the best around. Some of you may have seen the latest news about a
plug-in feature on the Prius, which would allow it to travel up to 250 miles
per gallon. It would begin by operating off the electric energy it built up
while being plugged in, and once that is used up it would use a mixture of
gas and electric like all other hybrids.

With that said, I feel that Earth Week of 2006 has been a great success. Many people are being educated on important issues facing us,
(especially with gas prices leaning toward $3/gallon and while living in
Detroit a.k.a. the Motor City). As most of you know, I do my best to fill
you in with the newest information about this great topic on my websites and
I will definitely continue to do so. Hybrid vehicles are the future of
transportation, (like stated in the description), and we darn well learn as
much as possible about them.

-Joe Schumann
Founder of Ford Hybrid Staff

I'm currently working on some brand new resources for you guys in the near future that I'm sure you all will enjoy. Until then, check out this quaint little article I found on the web for you all to enjoy.

Hybrid Cars with 250 MPG Fuel Mileage

Is it possible to have 250-mpg mileage with hybrid cars? Yes, Bellevue auto visionaries’ thinks so. The people owning Toyota Prius and Honda hybrid cars are eyeing for an mpg of 40 to 50 then how a automaker claims to have technology that can give this high mileage. What technology they are using? Let us try to look at answers of these questions.

20 member team at AFS Trinity Power Corp claims to make this possible with their plug in hybrid car. On technology front, they are going to use flywheel to create and store power. Conventional cars use gasoline engine to power the vehicle whereas hybrid cars use gasoline engine with battery support. However, the claimed car will use gasoline engine, battery source with flywheel or a capacitor. The power load is shifted among these sources according to the requirement.

The flywheel will help the car in two ways i.e firstly it will help the car in the time of acceleration and secondly it will absorb the power which is being wasted while braking. It will also help the car to use lesser number and lighter batteries. This will collectively help to reduce the overall weight of the car. Flywheel or capacitor is said to absorb power efficiently and quickly.

In future, the gasoline engine could also be replaced with more fuel-efficient hydrogen fuel cells. It is estimated that these cars would cost $3 to $7 for gas and $4 for electricity per week, which is much lower, then $14 for hybrid cars and $36 for conventional cars.

As the environment is degrading each day and fuel is depleting even faster, these types of technology could help stabilize the situation largely. Let us see if dreams of Bellevue auto visionaries come live. Think of a situation if oil imports from Middle East stops due to some reason.

Ansh a car enthusiast could be reached at New car updates

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ansh_Shukla

Ford Hybrid

Follow the hybrid road: Ford Motor Company joins the hybrid revolution with the first American-built full-hybrid SUV

There's something strangely fitting about using Sony Pictures Studios' Stage 9 to hold the technical portion of the first Hybrid Ford Escape ride-and-drive. Phil Martens, group vice president, Product Creation, mentioned in his presentation that this is the same studio (previously MGM) where the Wizard of Oz was filmed.

And though there weren't any wicked witches to battle, Ford is still trying to pour water on the hot topic of who's parts are actually behind that curtain, or under the hood, as it may be, of the Escape Hybrid.

Ford continues to deny that there are any actual Toyota parts among the 351 patents that make up the hybrid drivetrain (Ford owns 100 of them), but they do share some of the same technologies, similar enough that Ford felt compelled to pony up the license fees on 21 Toyota patents to quash any possible patent infringement suits.

For example, the Aisin-supplied transaxle is identical in concept to the Prius, though components are rearranged for packaging purposes. The unit has also been nearly doubled in size to achieve the necessary power and electrical capacity needed for the larger SUV.

Ford also admits to the trading of patents on some technologies (Ford reportedly swapped gas-injection technology for the electric-only reverse drive option of the Prius).

Similar parts aside, it's the algorithms that tell the components what to do and when and this is where Ford has given Escape a brain and a heart of its own.

While Prius is still aimed squarely at the environmentally-conscious, Ford's 'No Compromise' approach to Escape (V-6 power /4-cylinder mileage), creates a vehicle that's as much about SUV performance as fuel-sipping economy.

From the driver's seat, the Hybrid Escape doesn't differ much from the non-hybrid Escape. The only visual cues are housed in the IP. To the left is a charge and assist gauge that tells you whether you're charging the battery or using it and the tachometer has a small electric motor icon, below the zero, where the needle drops to when the engine is off and the vehicle is running on electric only.

Buyers who opt for the navigation system get a graphic diagram showing the gas engine, motor and battery inside an outline of a truck with arrows depicting the flow of energy to and from the components. Vehicles without the navigation system have bar graphs that monitor the same functions.

Unlike the Prius, which requires a special set of steps to turn the car on, the Escape starts like a regular vehicle. Turn the key and the gas engine purrs to life--press the brake, put it in drive and press the accelerator.

Prius drivers press their accelerator and the vehicle launches in electric mode with the engine coming on around 20 mph. The Escape will launch in electric mode as well, but only if you're very, very light on the throttle.

In a normal take-off, both electric motor and gas engine are working together to create that 'no-compromise V-6 acceleration' that Ford has dialed into the truck. At a cruising speed of up to 30 mph, the engine will shut off and the vehicle will run on electric only. A click over 30 brings the engine back to life.

The first leg of our trip back from OZ took us not down any yellow brick roads, but consisted of a mileage competition on a five mile loop around Sony Studios. We managed to log 44.7 mpg in our Four-Wheel-Drive Escape by creeping away from stoplights and keeping the vehicle under 30mph, far from what I would consider a normal driving pattern and an annoyance to the commuters on busy Venice Blvd.

Though official EPA testing hasn't been done, Ford is estimating mileage at 35 to 40 city and 30 highway.

From there, we took off at a normal pace for the Calamigos Ranch near Malibu for some offroading. Our 'no-compromise' SUV enjoyed the stop and go cruise through the heart of Hollywood, the type of driving that hybrid's are designed for, but didn't care much for the long stretches of highway driving as we headed up into the mountains.

The 133 hp, Atkinson cycle 2.3L aluminum DOHC, 16-valve 4-cylinder and electric motor were working hard to pull the small truck up the mountain. And though the eCVT transmission is designed to let the gas engine perform at its most efficient, the engine and CVT seemed to be unable to find that 'sweet spot,' the engine wailing at plus 4,000 rpm, the electric motor draining the battery and the mileage readout at 22 mpg. The powertrain seemed to lack a strong top end in city driving as well when it was pushed.

In the world of hybrids, the Escape really showed its courage on the off-road trails at Calamigos. Going where Prius fears to tread, the small, agile SUV easily climbed up and down the rutted dirt horse trails, while the hybrid drivetrain didn't miss a beat.

The Escape SUV benefits from Ford's intelligent four wheel-drive system, which was the option on the vehicle we drove. The fully automatic system requires no input from the driver and uses a computer controlled clutch that engages the rear wheels as needed. Using sensors at each wheel and a throttle sensor, the system sends the exact amount of necessary torque to each wheel, making calculations at the rate of 200 times per second.

The Escape's hybrid drivetrain was designed to fit in the same packaging spate as the option al V-6 allowing the hybrid to be built on the same line at Kansas City Assembly in Clycomo, Mo., along with the Mazda Tribute, which is based on the Escape platform.

The system will show up in the Mercury Mariner (an Escape clone) in 2007 and some time later in the new Ford and size sedan.

The 200-lb. Sanyo battery is shaped like the load floor and takes up no extra space though with the battery and powertrain components the hybrid weighs 366 lb. more than a V-6 powered Escape.

Maryann Wright, head of Ford's Sustainable Mobility Technology' and Hybrid Vehicle Programs, says the battery has been tested in extreme conditions, though heat is more of a problem than cold.

The batteries were subjected to four straight months of temperatures above 100 degrees and started fight up. To help keep the batteries at optimum temperatures, the hybrid is equipped with a thermal management system that includes an electric heater and forced air cooling system that draws air in through vents in the rear quarter windows.

The hybrid truck is equipped with electric power-assisted steering as a traditional belt-driven hydraulic system wouldn't work while the engine was shut down at idle.

The Hybrid Escape will be available later this summer, nearly a year after the initial release date of the fall of 2003.

Wright told Al at the New York Auto Show that there was no delay.

"We were always on track for retail production this summer (2004)."

She says that the press misunderstood Ford's intentions and that a fleet of 30 demonstration vehicles was slated to be on the road in the fall of '03. Wright says that the decision was made to keep those vehicles in house, keeping engineers focused on the vehicles and not have them spread out all over the country.

Plans are to sell 20,000 units per year. Martens says that Ford has had 300,000 hits on the Escape hybrid web site since its launch.

"21,000 are hand raisers," he adds, "and 20 percent of those do not own a Ford."

Martens says that he expects demand to far outstrip supply.

Several established hybrid internet groups are already clamoring about the Escape Hybrid and some are launching sites specific to the Escape.

Pricing won't be announced until later this summer, but Martens has said that it will be comparable with the Honda Civic Hybrid and Toyta Prius, both of which carry a $3,500 premium.

Ford admits that they are subsidizing the hybrid Escape but won't reveal how much they're losing per vehicle, only saying that the Escape platform as a whole (hybrid and non-hybrid) will be profitable.

Escape Hybrid Suppliers

Battery Sanyo
Battery Software Pi Technology
Transaxle Aisin
Brakes Continental Teves
DC/DC Power Converters TDK
Electric Power Steering NSK
Motors Toshiba
Power Electronics Mitsubishi

Escape Hybrid Specifications

Hybrid System Net hp 155
Gasoline engine Aluminum DOHC
16-valve Atkinson cycle 1-4
Bore/Stroke 3.44 x 3.70 in.
Displacement 138 cu. In. (2.3L)
Compression Ratio 12.3:1
Fuel injection Sequential multiport
electronic Valvetrain Direct-acting
mechanical bucket
Power 133 hp at 6,000 rpm
Torque 129 lb. ft. at 4,500 rpm
Emissions rating Advanced Technology
Partial Zero Emissions
Electric motor Permanent magnet
AC synchronous motor
Power 94 hp at 3,000-5,000 rpm
Voltage 400V maximum
Transmission Electronically controlled
continuously variable (eCVT)
Maximum towing capacity 1,000 lb. (when
properly equipped)

Note: the V-6 Ford Escape can tow 3,500 lb.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Diesel & Gas Turbine Publications
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group

Ford Hybrid

Welcome to my blog about Ford Hybrid. Here you will gain access to tons of information about Ford Hybrids, plus links and reviews to other sites about the Ford Hybrid. Thanks, and have a great one!

-Ford Hybrid Staff