Features

Ford chosen to develop hybrid vehicle

The Associated Press
Sunday October 14, 2001

WASHINGTON — Ford Motor Co. and the Environmental Protection Agency are joining in a decade-long project to develop a high-mileage hybrid vehicle, probably an SUV, that runs off hydraulic fluid, officials announced Friday. 

Hydraulic hybrid technology was developed and patented by EPA’s National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich., and refined under a cooperative agreement with Ford. 

Company officials said they felt compelled to explore beyond just proven technologies. “Hydraulic hybrid technology holds great promise for our customers and for our society,” said Gerhard Schmidt, a company vice president. EPA and Ford will share financing and personnel. Costs are expected to run in the millions of dollars, but exact amounts pledged under the agreement are considered proprietary, Ford spokesman Jon Harmon said. 

Though the Treasury would help pay the bill, Ford would have exclusive rights to the technology and hopes to put a pilot fleet of vehicles on the road by the end of the decade. The technology could improve significantly the fuel economy of light-duty trucks and sport-utility vehicles, the EPA said. Harmon said a large SUV probably will be the first vehicle Ford builds using the technology. The vehicle’s power train has a high-efficiency engine and a unique propulsion system that uses hydraulic pumps and storage tanks instead of electric motors and batteries used in electric-gas hybrid vehicles, officials said. 

Energy is stored as compressed hydraulic fluid, and similar to the electric-gas hybrid system, applying the brakes saves energy that can be used to power the vehicle, according to EPA and company officials. 

Other research companies involved in the project are FEV Engine Technology Inc., a German firm with a technical center in Auburn Hills, Mich.; and Cleveland-based Eaton Corp. 

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On the Net: EPA National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory: http://www.epa.gov/OMSWWW/01-nvfel.htm 

Ford announcement: http://media.ford.com/newsroom/breakingNews.cfm? and click on item