Ford to adapt HySeries hydrogen plug-in hybrid to gasoline plug-in hybrid?
My first thoughts of Ford's HySeries Drive - which debuted at NAIAS - were not great, particularly because this new plug-in platform requires hydrogen to power its fuel cell. The Chevy Volt and its E Flex Drive, on the other hand, provides a much more adaptable and flexible path to fuel cells, as does Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive (See my article on the Hybrid Synergy Drive versus the E Flex Drive). Most important, neither the E Flex Drive nor the Hybrid Synergy Drive are dependant upon either fuels cells or hydrogen - a significant advantage over the HySeries Drive.It seems Ford is now also keenly aware of this fact. Today, Ford is going to display the Flexible Series Hybrid Edge at the Washington D.C. Auto Show. While it seems this new Edge is based upon the HySeries Drive, Ford has already made changes. "We could take the fuel cell power system out and replace it with a downsized diesel, gasoline engine or any other powertrain connected to a small electric generator to make electricity like the fuel cell does now," Gerhard Schmidt, Ford's vice president of research and advanced engineering. (more)
Was Ford influenced by the success of the Volt? Regardless, it seems the auto game is changing. Consumers aren't interested in what automakers are going to do tomorrow, they want to know what you are doing today, and that requires hybrid cars, plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles - all of which can help develop a platform for fuel cells and hydrogen.
Of course, if lithium-ion batteries reduce the cost of plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles, while also providing at least 400 mile per day range, consumers might question whether fuel cells and hydrogen are even needed.
Labels: Chevy Volt electric vehicle concept, clean diesel, e flex system, flexible series hybrid edge, hybrid synergy drive, hyseries drive, plug-in hybrid vehicles
posted by Dahcredyns at
5:56 AM
2 Comments:
While I’m encouraged to see manufacturers publicly considering a variety of energy options, the absence of a hybrid diesel-electric passenger car is a serious oversight by industry. In truth, it’s an equal oversight from both the consumer and the environmental community that there’s not more demand for vehicles that can run on biodiesel.
In Germany, well over 1/3 of passenger cars employ diesel engines. If we can create an analogous demand in the US, entrepreneurs and the agribusiness sector would be stupid not to start marketing biodiesel. It might help if people began objecting more to the fossil fuel lobby buying government.
In the past I would have agreed with you, but I think diesel hybrids make far more sense for Europe. In the U.S., because we've ignored diesel, I think flex-fuel hybrids are a probably an easier choice for most Americans.
Still, I would gladly drive a diesel hybrid.
While I agree with your fossil-fuel lobbyist concerns, I'm not sure that I feel significantly better about agribusiness, which is also becoming dominated by large, multi-national corporations.
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