By Al Vinikour
MotorwayAmerica.com

(July 22, 2011) DEARBORN, Mich. — There’s an old saying that goes,“everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it.” To paraphrase this, everybody seems to have a hybrid in their product line, but few companies can match Ford in hybrid sales and technology.

Ford gave a progress report on its hybrid and electrification programs at a media event here on Thursday. The company is one of the pioneers of hybrid technology, having begun research in its battery lab in the 1990s. To date the company has produced approximately 190,000 Escape and Fusion hybrids.

Ford cited its West Coast taxi success story.

Several years ago Yellow Cab Company in San Francisco began using Escape and Fusion Hybrids — admittedly wary at first. However, the vehicles, which made up more than half the fleet, logged more than 80 million miles in its first decade. Each vehicle is on the street about 21 hours per day and will log 80,000-90,000 miles per year.

The hybrid taxi fleet has logged more than 80 million miles in California alone during the past decade — more than quadruple the number of miles logged by Toyota’s Prius lineup.

In 2009, Ford introduced the Fusion Hybrid to the general public. It had a leading 41 mpg city fuel economy rating — 10 mpg more than the Toyota Camry Hybrid. In the two years since it has achieved a hybrid-best customer satisfaction rating of 88% — compared to 80% for the Prius. (Figures are provided by the U. S. Global Quality Research System). 

The Fusion Hybrid  has helped Ford attract 75% of its customers from competitors — the highest conquest rate of any Ford vehicle. The mid-sized hybrid can remain in electric drive up to 47 mph.

The first-generation batteries were nickel-metal hydride. Ford is now moving to the lighter, more powerful lithium-ion batteries. They save weight and space and increase the capability to power the vehicle longer.

Ford battery technology is so strong that the odds of experiencing an issue with one of its battery cells is around 8.5 million to 1 — about the same odds as a person being struck by lightning twice. Among the nearly 43 million battery cells Ford has tested or seen put to work in customer vehicles, only five issues have been documented, according to Chuck Gray, chief engineer, Global Core Engineering, Hybrid and Electric Vehicles.

Gray said that Ford has 200 patents related to its work in hybrids, 100 of them for Fusion alone.

Electrification is an important piece of Ford’s overall product sustainability strategy. Its aggressive strategy includes five new electrified vehicles in North America by 2012 and in Europe by 2013.

Ford launched the Transit Connect Electric small commercial van last year and will launch the Focus Electric later this year. In 2012 it will introduce C-MAX Hybrid, a second-generation lithium-ion battery hybrid and C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid.

Ford says that even during the depths of the economic downturn when all its competitors dramatically cut back product spending, the company invested billions in researching and developing new, fuel-efficient engines, transmission and electrified vehicles.