It’s Ford time

Published:”Wednesday, December 12, 2007 DEARBORN, Michigan - Ford Motor Co expects a new generation of more powerful batteries to be on the road in hybrid vehicles in the next three to five years, a senior Ford engineer said on Tuesday. View Large The Ford Edge with HySeries Drive is the world’s first drivable fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle with plug-in capability.

For average commuters, this research vehicle delivers an equivalent fuel economy rating of more than 80 mpg and emits only water vapor. Photograph by : Ford ARTICLE TOOLS Printer friendly E-mail Font: * * * * Ford and its major rivals are all working to adapt the lithium-ion battery technology now widely used in consumer electronics for use in hybrids as a way to boost the fuel economy of vehicles still in the development stage.

“I think within three to five years you’ll see lithium-ion hybrid electric vehicles out there in some volume,” Ford’s chief hybrid engineer, Sherif Marakby, said on Tuesday. The auto industry’s race to develop the new battery technology has drawn close scrutiny because it is expected to open the door to a new market for electric vehicles and allow automakers to meet tougher U.S. fuel economy standards.

Current hybrids, including Toyota Motor Corp’s 7203.T market-leading Prius, run on nickel-metal hydride batteries. That battery technology is seen as approaching the end of its usefulness because of chemical limits on how much power it can store and the cost of the metals it requires. General Motors Corp is the only mass-market automaker to have committed to a timetable for rolling out a next-generation lithium-ion powered electric car.