In late 2008 I traveled to Washington DC to attend the Electric Drive Transportation Association conference (EDTA as it is known in the industry). Ford made an appearance and shared some of the details for their upcoming 2010 Ford Fusion. The Ford Fusion isn’t a plugin hybrid, just a normal gasoline hybrid like the current gen Toyota Prius, which is unfortunate, but that keeps the cost low – currently set at $2K with up to $3K in government rebates.
PHEV’s, price, and range considerations aside, the new line of Ford hybrids are offering one innovative approach to fuel savings that other car companies are not. They are designing ways to influence how car owner’s drive in addition to the way the car drives itself. Let me elaborate on this point; when you put the “pedal to the metal” in your sports car and squeal off in a cloud of rubber burning smoke, you are not conserving gasoline. When you drive over 65mph in most cars you are stressing the engine by driving outside of its “sweet spot”. When you slam on the brakes in approach to a red light (instead of smoothly decelerating in preparation for a change to green) you are wasting gasoline. Ford is designing cool ways to address these fuel costs by recapturing inefficiency or gently reminding drivers of the impact they are having on the environment and their pocketbooks.
The Ford Fusion, being released in early 2010 in the US, will get an estimated 41mpg in the city. This is in part due to their amazing ability to recapture energy upon braking. This means that even if you are someone who accelerates towards a red light, the car will make up for it with regenerative braking that recovers and stores nearly 94% of energy normally lost through friction. Now this isn’t entirely innovative as most hybrids and EV’s on the market today that run with AC motors have some form of built in regenerative braking but it’s great to see Ford following suit.
In addition to regenerative braking the Fusion will also benefit from a lighter nickel-metal hydride battery, which produces 20% more power than its predecessor and enhanced electronic throttle control which will decreases fuel required on restart (hybrids turn off their gas motor when the car is waiting at a stoplight, for example, and this reduces the fuel required to restart the engine). These technologies are all well and good but the truly innovative feature we’re excited about is the Dual LCD SmartGauge Cluster featuring EcoGuide. That is, a unique instrument cluster that helps coach drivers on how to optimize the fuel efficiency of their vehicle.
In addition to the normal gauges installed on the heads up display on the drivers side dash, Ford has added something extra. Along the sides of the LCD panel there are clusters of leaves which at first look like pure decoration. When I first saw this at EDTA I thought it looked kind of corny and superficial, is this really how you make someone feel green? It’s literally the mark of a tree-hugger to have digital leaves on your dashboard… but upon closer inspection and research I realized that these leaves are interactive guides to driving efficiency. The faster you drive and the harder you press on the gas pedal, the fewer “Efficiency Leaves” appear.
This visual aid reminds drivers, in a gentle way, that their driving directly impacts the environment. Over time as the leaves fade from the driver’s active mind I believe the subconscious will still be registering the cost of aggressive driving. Furthermore, passengers will be impressed and interested in the heads up display and it will remind them of the same driving efficiency practices as the driver. All in all, neat innovative idea from Ford! Considering the regenerative braking, streamlined transmission, and EcoGuide coupled with low price and hopefully the ability to upgrade to a PHEV at some point I would say the Fusion is going to be a great car, hopefully just as successful as the Ford Taurus line that did so well a decade ago.
