Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Ford, New York Auto Show
ABG First Impression: Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid w/Video
At the New York Auto Show last week we had our first opportunity to actually go for a drive in one of Ford's new plug-in hybrid Escapes. Last year Ford announced a partnership with Southern California Edison to build and test twenty plug-in hybrid Escapes. SCE will be using the crossovers in their fleet to evaluate performance, durability and mileage. They will also be testing out vehicle-to-grid technology using the Escapes. For our drive, Chief Engineer Greg Frenette accompanied us on a half hour drive around Manhattan, mostly in stop and go traffic. We also had an opportunity to open it up a bit on the West Side Highway.
The Escape that Ford brought out to Manhattan was the first of the twenty prototypes being built for the program over the next year and a half. According to Frenette as they build the vehicles they will be changing as the company learns from the previous iterations. The current model is based on the 2008 Escape Hybrid with the 2.3L four cylinder. Future vehicles that will be built starting this summer will use the upgrades planned for the 2009 models including the new 2.5L engine. The primary mechanical changes for this unit involves swapping out the standard 2kWh nickel metal hydride battery pack in favor of a 10kWh lithium ion pack along with a charger and a plug mounted in the left front fender. Aside from that, most of the changes are in software with different calibrations to optimize the use of the lithium battery. Continue reading about the plug-in Escape after the jump.
Gallery: ABG First Drive: Ford Escape PHEV
[Source: Ford]
The liquid cooled battery pack is provided by Johnson Controls-Saft. JCS is also one of the two development suppliers to GM's plug-in Saturn Vue program. The trans-axles in the vehicles have been beefed up and an electric lubrication pump has been added to compensate for the fact that the engine is off much more of the time. The electric motor is unchanged from the production Escape hybrid. That means that the ability to run on electric power alone is still limited compared to a purpose-designed plug-in vehicle.
Although the lithium battery theoretically has the capacity to provide up to 10 miles of electric only motivation, in the real world, the limited power of the motor means that the engine will typically start up long before that. In typical driving, the battery has enough capacity to provide significant hybrid boost for about 30-35 miles before the battery is largely depleted, getting you back to normal hybrid performance at that point. Even with that caveat, Frenette reports that Ford has seen up to 120mpg in city driving and 80mpg on the highway with the PHEV.
New York 2008: Autoblog drives the Escape Plug-In
The most remarkable thing about the PHEV Escape was how unremarkable it was. The Escape was extremely quiet and the engine stayed off much of the time as we trundled along in Manhattan traffic. Like most hybrids, the Escape has a large display showing power flow and fuel consumption as you drive. When Frenette first got involved in the Escape program, he wanted the engineers to focus on "the propulsion system, we don't need a lot window dressing." He now feels that "there is an advantage to interacting with the screen." By providing continuous feedback drivers can start to adapt their driving style to optimize fuel economy by reducing acceleration and getting off the gas and coasting sooner when approaching a stop.
Frenette feels that with the Escape PHEV they've right-sized the battery, providing sufficient capacity for most drivers to displace a significant amount of gasoline without carrying around a lot of extra weight from unused capacity. Among the areas that Ford and Southern California Edison will be testing are smart meters that, when connected to the vehicle, can automatically start charging only after the power rates drop down to lower nighttime rates. They are also working with utilities and others to try and use the same types of cells in different applications helping to increase economies of scale and reduce cost.
In our little tour of Manhattan the starting and stopping of the engine actually felt even smoother than the production Escape. The engineers on this program have made some control changes that Frenette hopes to roll into the production program. By the time we returned to the front door of the Javits Convention Center the fuel economy readout showed and average of 83mpg without really trying for maximum efficiency. Frenette says a production plug-in hybrid could be on the road within five years once the battery durability has been validated. The cost of lithium batteries still remains a major obstacle with the latest rumors indicating a potential price in the region of $48,000 for the Saturn Vue PHEV. That's a price point that just won't see much mass-market appeal, even at 80+mpg.
New York 2008: Autoblog drives the Escape Plug-In
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chris M 9:19PM (3/26/2008)
If they take 5 years, they may find the market already taken by others. There are several EVs and PHEVs planned to be introduced by several different manufacturers in 2010 to 2012 time frame.
With a larger battery pack comes more available power, which means Ford could use more powerful motors, change the ratio in the power split device, thereby achieving higher "elecric only" speeds and better regenerative braking.
Hey, if they can get enough power out of those newfangled batteries, they just might consider dropping a hybrid power plant into a Mustang!
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Brian f 4:58AM (3/27/2008)
*Climbs on really big horse*
I'm sorry to break up the koomabaya over here at autoblog green, but I take issue with "green" vehicles. If I'm spending $25k on a car its not like I earned that money planting friggin trees all day. In my case I work at a store that has huge smelly diesel trucks delivering product all day, tons of lights that drink electricity 24/7 and product mostly made out of refined petroleum. And the workers that assemble the vehicle didnt drive to work that day on a cloud. More like in a standard auto using regular gas belching regular exhaust. Even if the final assembly factory is green the factory that made the parts and materials used in the assembly of the auto sure were not. All I'm saying is aren't we going about this from the wrong end? So what if the vehicle I drive to work is cleaner, when I get there the store I work at is still gulping down energy created by burning coal or natural gas. This goes for just about any job. The real breakthrough isnt going to be when we can plug our cars into a somewhat more efficient power source(power grid), but when we can figure out how to begin and end the day without gobbling nonrenewable resources. Its like those mice they put in cages with a Heroin dispenser next to the water, they guzzled the Heroin and nothing else until they died.
*Climbs off big horse*
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MikeInNC 8:31AM (3/27/2008)
Brian F: While I can appreciate the sentiments you have to start somewhere. The alternative is to keep doing it as we always have which is worse. A lot of new applications will come out of all this so, this is truly just the tip of the iceberg.
It's unreasonable to expect everyone to wake up and put on their self made shorts, shirt and flip flops and walk into the next switch grass hut to trade the hand woven hemp man purse we made last night to our neighbor for a few organically grown carrots. Stone age environmentalism isn't just absurd it's not even remotely possible without a near apocalypse. So, instead of hoping for said downfall (not you but, there are plenty who hope for this), we should pursue the best option we have which is making things cleaner, more efficient and less impactful and then spread that technology to new and unexpected applications. You'll be amazed at how people's eyes will open when you can deliver a similar or better quality product that requires little or no energy to use. Regular Joe citizen only starts to pay attention when something affects their wallet. Instead of products that we all say "you should use this" we just make a BETTER product and people will flock to it.
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Yggdrasilly 9:33AM (3/27/2008)
Actually, I'd love to see a post-apocalyptic world full of peaceful hemp-growing hippies.
They'd make perfect serfs for one of the punk biker warrior clans I intend on joining (as a low-ranking toady, but still..)
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Schmeltz 10:31AM (3/27/2008)
I think this PHEV Escape is outstanding! Ford: Use your massive buying power as leverage to lower mass production Lithium Ion batteries to be less expensive. Then, refine this vehicle as you have been doing, and finally market the heck out of it. If you could get this vehicle production ready in say 3 years instead of 5, and at say $30-32,000 MSRP, you probably won't be able to make enough of them! You may need to take a loss on them for a few years, but it will be worth it in the long run. There is a strong business case for this vehicle. My 3 cents.
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mike 12:14PM (3/27/2008)
When, at what speed, does the gas motor kick in? 83 mpg sounds pretty good.
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darius 12:54PM (3/27/2008)
Ok so if thats in a region of $48,000 for 10kWh lithium ion pack, how about trading in that huge and heavy SUV body and switch to a small size car, decrease the size of the ICE engine and lower the battery pack to lets say 5kWh with an upgrade option to add a second 5kWh pack as needed. Wonder how mych that would drop the price down...
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mike 3:24PM (3/27/2008)
darius hits the nail on the head.
How about a Verve, C30 or Mazda 3 or Miata hybrid? with darius's specs.
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Kevin 7:41PM (3/27/2008)
OKay so now you have the concept lets bring this into reality people. One huge problem though are those batteries . Like seriously if all big manufacturer used one battery company the research of batteries would go alot faster . the battery manufacturer would be making loads of money and to keep with competition they woudl do very intense research and invent the net generation lithium ion batteries. But hey they don't so what is the sense.
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Mark 2:15PM (1/01/2009)
It is about time you Ford guys made the Escape PHEV!
If Lion EV can convert the existing Escape Hybrid to be a PHEV now, why does it take 4 or so years for the Ford guys to get this car to market?
We need this car now!
I own an Escape Hybrid, I would love for it to be a PHEV. But, only one company will do the upgrade and the conversion cost is like $20K!
Rather just get a factory made PHEV...
If you think about it, this car is way better than a Tesla. A Tesla will run out of energy after 60 miles, not good for trips.
The Ford Excape PHEV offers the best af all worlds, EV for 'in town' driving and Hybrid use on trips or for extended range. Twice the technology at less than half the cost over the Tesla.
Now, just get the cost of the Lithium battery down and sell the heck out of these cars. Get them to market ASAP BEFORE the Chevrolet Volt comes out.
If you sold these cars now for $35K or so, you will not need a bail out loan from the taxpayers!
Mark
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Sam Abuelsamid 5:41PM (12/21/2008)
Actually if Ford started selling PHEV Escapes for $35K they really would need a bailout because they would losing money on every unit.
Mark 11:30PM (12/21/2008)
If Ford can get the cost of the Lithium battery down, the rest of the Ford Escape car is already in production... Cheap to produce!
I am thinking of volume sales here. Make the target price under $40K.
Mark
Chris M 2:29AM (12/22/2008)
The Hymotion PHEV upgrade for the Prius is only $10K. Hymotion is considering one for the Escape, if it comes to market it will be priced similarly.
Sorry, Mark, but a Tesla Roadster can get 244 miles per charge on the standard EPA drive cycle, and even extreme driving will give over 150 miles. To "run out of energy after 60 miles" would require either improper charging or truly insane driving by accelerating to the maximun 120 mph then slamming hard on the brakes, and repeating that over and over and over... Not likely, unless they're trying to make the car look bad.
Gary 6:10PM (6/02/2009)
I'd like to just buy another battery, throw it in the back of my '08, charge it at night, and run it dead before switching back to ordinary factory built mode.
I'm just unsure about what the extra weight would be, and it's effect on mileage.
I carry too much stuff around with me anyhow....
Anybody out there hacking the software and chips yet?
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