Ford Faqs

As the Ford Edge glids along the George Washington Memorial Parkway you’ll notice that it doesn’t have spinning rims or a booming sound system. The bling in this SUV is the technology. The vehicle runs almost silently. It needs no gas and releases no polluting exhaust like most vehicles.

The HySeries Edge, which is to be revealed at the Washington Auto Show today, is a plug-in hybrid with an electric drive powered by a battery and a hydrogen fuel cell. Its arrival intensifies the competition to manufacture a mass-market electric hybrid that reduces reliance on gasoline and curbs the emission of greenhouse gases.

But the futuristic Edge vehicle is Ford’s only one, and it cost $2 million to build. To get a car like this into the showroom for sale to the public will require the automotive and energy industries to leap high technological hurdles. The infrastructure to deliver alternative fuels such as hydrogen is in its infancy, and engineers are puzzling over how to mass-produce a lightweight, inexpensive and safe electric battery.

Because development costs are steep, the industry is hoping President Bush will announce his intention to increase research funding during his State of the Union speech tonight. Already the government pumps millions of dollars into the development of automotive technology. The carmakers frame their latest request as a battle cry against Japanese rivals, whose fuel-efficient models have cut sharply into the U.S. market. They have asked for as much as $500 million for battery research and development.

The Edge plug-in, a vehicle Ford calls the first drivable plug-in hybrid from a major auto company, is one result of a $44 million matching grant from the government, which has gone into a variety of projects. Its on-board fuel cell is used to recharge the battery while driving; it has a range of 225 miles with fuel cell recharging. The vehicle also can be plugged in for recharging.

Producing electric batteries for automobiles presents several challenges. The preferred technology is found in lithium-ion batteries, which are smaller and lighter than others and have the capability to store two to three times as much power. But without the benefits of mass production, the batteries are still far too costly. Battery engineers are also working on the safety problems of lithium-ion batteries. Under certain conditions, some of the materials in the batteries are unstable and can ignite or explode when packed together.

Scientists have been working on reducing the risk, but technologies needed for those improvements make the batteries less powerful and less effective. Engineers are also testing to make sure the batteries can survive a 15-year lifetime without malfunctions.
Ford’s Ijaz said the biggest hurdle is getting the costs down.

Among the vehicle’s other expenses, fuel cell technology is dependent on precious metals such as platinum. “History shows that we are making the steps,” he said. “Before, there were no fuel cell cars. Ford has 30. We’ve cut the weight of fuel cell power by half. The auto industry is pushing forward.”