We reported yesterday on a story that turned up about Ford working on a new dedicated plug-in hybrid referred to as a new Escort. We decided to check with Ford to see if there was anything to this story, and spokesman Said Deep let us know that story is untrue. Where did the rumor come from? Earlier this summer Ford announced a joint test program with Southern California Edison to evaluate a fleet of plug-in hybrid Escapes. In fact Ford has had a small internal test fleet of plug-in Escapes since late 2006.
Ford is also continuing development work on the HySeries drive platform that was shown in a Ford Edge last January. The HySeries Edge has been under continual test and evaluation since it was completed last November and a lighter-weight version is currently being worked on. However, no dedicated compact plug-in hybrid is currently planned for the 2010 time-frame.
The other problem with yesterday's rumor is that GM has a development deal with A123 that gives them some exclusivity to intellectual property developed by the two companies for automotive use, which could limit Ford's ability to use these batteries.
[Source: Ford]
Ford is also continuing development work on the HySeries drive platform that was shown in a Ford Edge last January. The HySeries Edge has been under continual test and evaluation since it was completed last November and a lighter-weight version is currently being worked on. However, no dedicated compact plug-in hybrid is currently planned for the 2010 time-frame.
The other problem with yesterday's rumor is that GM has a development deal with A123 that gives them some exclusivity to intellectual property developed by the two companies for automotive use, which could limit Ford's ability to use these batteries.
[Source: Ford]
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