Auto Start-Stop
Ford’s popular fuel-saving technology that automatically shuts off the engine when the vehicle comes to a stop – a feature found today on Ford Fusion Hybrid and Ford Escape Hybrid and on some Ford cars in Europe – will soon be added to conventional cars, crossovers and SUVs in North America. Their patented new Auto Start-Stop system for gasoline engines will improve fuel economy for most drivers by at least 4%. The gain can be as high as 10% for some drivers, depending on vehicle size and usage. It also reduces tailpipe emissions to zero while the vehicle is stationary or waiting at a stoplight with the engine off.
Human Machine Interface
HMI – the way the vehicle interacts with the driver – is a significant component in Ford’s suite of electrified vehicles that helps to inform, enlighten, engage and empower drivers.
Just as the growing leafy vine of today’s SmartGauge with EcoGuide represents fuel efficiency in Fusion Hybrid, the cluster display in the all-new Focus Electric will use blue butterflies to represent the surplus range beyond one’s charge point destination – the more butterflies there are, the greater the range. At the end of each trip a display screen provides distance driven, miles gained through regenerative braking, energy consumed and a comparative gasoline savings achieved by driving electric. Other range enablers will include a budget view, range view and Brake Coach, which gives drivers feedback on their braking performance to maximize recuperation back into the battery.
Motor
The new Ford C-MAX Energi and C-MAX Hybrid models, to be launched in 2012, build on the success of the critically acclaimed powersplit architecture Ford uses in its current hybrids, including Fusion Hybrid. In a powersplit hybrid, the electric motor and gasoline-powered engine can work together or separately to maximize efficiency. The engine also can operate independently of vehicle speed, charging the batteries or providing power to the wheels as needed. While this system enables the current Fusion Hybrid to operate in fuel-saving electric mode up to 47 mph, Ford is targeting higher electric operating speeds for C-MAX Hybrid and even more capability for C-MAX Energi, which will have the advantage of additional battery power.
Battery
Ford’s future hybrid and electric vehicles will use new lithium-ion battery systems that are designed to maximize use of common, high-quality components, such as control board hardware that has proven field performance in Ford’s current, critically acclaimed hybrid vehicles. Li-ion battery packs offer a number of advantages over the nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) batteries that power today’s hybrid vehicles. In general, they are 25 to 30 percent smaller and 50 percent lighter, which makes them easier to package in a vehicle, and they can be tuned to increase power to boost acceleration or to increase energy to extend driving distance.
Thermal management of lithium-ion battery systems is critical to the success of pure electric vehicles. The system also features cabin climate preconditioning while on charge from the wall plug to further maximize electric range during driving.
Regenerative braking system
Regenerative braking is a function that captures the energy normally lost through friction in braking and stores it. Greater than 90 percent energy recovery is achieved by delivering full regenerative braking, which means less than 10 percent of braking is through traditional friction brakes.
The power of choice
Electrification is an important piece of Ford’s overall product sustainability strategy, which includes the launch of five electrified vehicles in North America by 2012 and in Europe by 2013. Ford launched the Transit Connect Electric small commercial van in 2010 and will launch the all-new Focus Electric later this year. In 2012, these models will be joined in North America by the new C-MAX Hybrid, a second next-generation lithium-ion battery hybrid and C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid. This diverse range of electrified vehicles allows Ford to meet a variety of consumer driving needs.
Source Ford Motor Company
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