US:Ford goes green at L.A. show - Ford Forums

Stacy94PGT · 11-27-2006, 05:46

Ford goes green at L.A. show

By RICHARD TRUETT | AUTOMOTIVE NEWS
AutoWeek

Ford Motor Co. plans to use the Los Angeles Auto Show this week to show off a variety of environmentally friendly vehicles.

Topping the list is a Ford Explorer powered by a fuel cell that allows the SUV to travel 350 miles on a single tank of gaseous hydrogen. Ford developed the vehicle with the U.S. Department of Energy and has been quietly testing it this year around Detroit.

Ford spokesman Nick Twork says the fuel cell Explorer, which can carry six passengers, has logged 17,000 test miles, including 1,556 miles traveled in one 24-hour period.

The special Explorer has electric four-wheel drive with transverse motors on the front and rear axles. The hydrogen fuel tank is mounted in the center of the vehicle in the space usually occupied by the transmission, transfer case and driveshaft.

Ford plans to host public demonstrations of the fuel cell Explorer on Wednesday, Nov. 29, and Nov. 30 at the L.A. show.

In addition, Ford is unveiling the revamped 2008 Escape Hybrid, which features the company's second-generation hybrid powertrain.

Ford also is showing a superclean-running partial zero-emissions Fusion sedan and the 2008 Super Duty truck with Ford's new diesel engine that features piezo fuel injectors and other pollution-reducing systems.

Stacy94PGT · 11-27-2006, 12:23

L.A. Preview: Ford To Show 350-MPG Explorer Ute

Inside Line

(Photo courtesy of Ford Motor Company)
Ford will be showing a prototype of a hydrogen-fuel-cell Explorer at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

(Photo courtesy of Ford Motor Company)
The alt-fuel Ford Explorer will have a center-mounted hydrogen storage tank in the space where the six-speed automatic transmission is normally found.

(Photo courtesy of Ford Motor Company)
Ford Explorer hydrogen fuel-cell version is only a prototype...for now.

LOS ANGELES — Ford Motor Co. will unveil a fuel-cell Explorer this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show that it claims can travel more miles on a single hydrogen fill-up than any fuel-cell vehicle on the road.

The Explorer has the hydrogen fuel tank mounted in the center of the vehicle so the tank can be larger and deliver more miles — 350 — on a single fill-up than other fuel-cell vehicles, Ford claims. In addition, the location of the tank allows for the six-passenger seating and same cargo capacity as on today's Explorer. It is also equipped with an advanced electric all-wheel-drive system.

In the past year, the Explorer has been driven 17,000 miles at Ford's Dearborn, Michigan, test facility. Ford says the fuel-cell Explorer also set a new record for the most miles traveled in a 24-hour period in a fuel-cell vehicle — 1,556.

The fuel-cell Explorer is the first of a series of prototype vehicles to be built for the U.S. Department of Energy to determine if hydrogen propulsion is feasible. The fuel-cell Explorer is one of several vehicles with green technology that Ford will have at the show. Others will be the new 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid, the PZEV emissions compliant Ford Fusion and Ford Focus and the 2008 Ford F-Series Super Duty with Ford Clean Diesel Technology.

Ford's Explorer won't be the only vehicle at the show that runs on hydrogen. BMW will show the Hydrogen 7, a hydrogen-powered version of the 7 Series.

What this means to you: The hydrogen fuel-cell race is heating up, but so too is the race for automakers to position themselves as greener than the next guy in the environmentally sensitive Southern California market.