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Big Three Scour D.C. in Search of Taxpayer Subsidies

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

January 23, 2007
Detroit's Big Three have converged on Washington in search of government help to beat back the relentless challenge from Toyota Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. Ford has been displaying a hydrogen/electric hybrid.

Ford Edge with HySeries Drive

Ford also announced that 20 new hybrid research vehicles will be delivered later this year to demonstrate how hybrids can help reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The automakers are promising that a government subsidy would help ensure greater national energy independence.

They're asking Congress to use taxpayers' money to foot part of the bill for developing alternative fuels and advanced battery technology as the Big Three to retool to meet the new automotive challenge from Japan.

U.S. automakers are well aware that the Democratic-controlled Congress is increasingly concerned with global warming and U.S. reliance on foreign sources of oil and they are moving quickly to take advantage of those political concerns.

Ford Motor Co. brought a hydrogen-powered, plug-in hybrid electric vehicle to Capitol Hill for lawmakers and administration officials to drive around.

The Ford Edge hybrid uses technology Ford calls the HySeries Drive. It's similar to the GM Chevrolet Volt unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

The HySeries drive is made up of a fuel cell, a hydrogen tank, two electric motors and a lithium-ion battery system. The vehicle, built on a Ford Edge platform, can go about 25 miles on electricity alone. The fuel cell then switches on to power the electric motors and recharge the battery pack, providing another 200 miles of range.

The little hybrid Edge rolling around Capitol Hill can get the hydrogen energy equivalent of 41 miles per gallon of gasoline but Ford claims that a driver traveling fewer than 50 miles a day would get fuel economy well over 80 miles per gallon.

"This vehicle offers Ford the ultimate in flexibility in researching advanced propulsion technology," said Gerhard Schmidt, vice president of research and advanced engineering for Ford Motor Company. "We could take the fuel cell power system out and replace it with a down-sized diesel, gasoline engine or any other powertrain connected to a small electric generator to make electricity like the fuel cell does now."

The Ford Edge with HySeries Drive can travel at speeds of up to 85 mph. An on-board charger (110/220 VAC) can refresh the battery pack when a standard home outlet is available, making the concept a true plug-in hybrid.

When the battery pack is depleted to approximately 40 percent, the hydrogen fuel cell -- supplied by Ford partner Ballard -- automatically turns on and begins generating electricity to recharge the batteries.

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As Ford is chauffeuring members of Congress around the Capitol building, all three automakers are using the Washington Auto Show at the nearby Convention Center to highlight hybrid technologies.

GM, Chrysler and Ford all vehemently oppose new federal requirements to require their vehicles go further on a gallon of gasoline but at the same time they all strongly support no-strings-attached, taxpayer-funded research and development.

Detroit was buzzing earlier this month at the Detroit auto show when GM revived its previously crushed EV1 plug-in program with the Chevrolet Volt concept car. DaimlerChrysler AG is also moving ahead with battery technology and Ford is considering a plug-in.

Auto and energy experts agree more sophisticated batteries will be needed to help power the next generation of hybrids. The challenge is to make batteries that are lighter and with more storage capacity while producing them at much lower cost.

Flex Fuel Hybrids

Also at the 2007 Washington Auto Show, Ford displayed the first Ford Escape Hybrid E85 scheduled for delivery this spring. It is a demonstration vehicle marrying two petroleum-saving technologies -- hybrid electric power and flexible-fuel capability.

Ford said the Escape Hybrid E85 is the world's first hybrid vehicle capable of operating on blends of fuel containing as much as 85 percent ethanol, a renewable fuel that can be produced from American-grown corn or sugar beets. Ethanol use releases no fossil-based CO2, so its use as a fuel in place of gasoline reduces the release of greenhouse gases.

Ford is producing 20 demonstration Escape Hybrid E85 vehicles for use in fleets in six different states. Deliveries will begin this spring.

The world's first hybrid SUV, the Ford Escape Hybrid, was introduced in 2004. Along with the Mercury Mariner Hybrid, it remains the cleanest and most fuel-efficient small SUV available anywhere. No other American automaker today offers even one full hybrid vehicle.

Ford said it will introduce several new hybrids in the coming years, including a Mazda Tribute Hybrid in 2007 and hybrid versions of the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan midsize sedans in 2008.

E85 is a fuel blend that contains 85 percent ethanol and only 15 percent gasoline. Ethanol is a completely renewable fuel that, in the U.S., most commonly is made from corn. Gasoline sold in the U.S. frequently contains up to 10 percent ethanol, but an increasing number of vehicles on the road today can operate on blends containing up to 85 percent ethanol.

"If all of the nearly six million flexible fuel vehicles now on America's highways operated on E85, more than 3.6 billion gallons of gasoline could be displaced a year. That would be equivalent to saving a full year of gasoline consumption in a state like Tennessee or Missouri," said Sue Cischke, Vice President of Environmental and Safety Engineering.

Additionally, ethanol-fueled hybrids could significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Ford Escape Hybrid would produce about 25 percent less carbon dioxide if operated exclusively on renewable E85 ethanol fuel instead of carbon-rich gasoline.

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