It was truly dismaying to see the announcement from Ford that they were backing away from their committment to build 250,000 hybrids a year by 2010. While 250,000 hybrids, even good hybrids like the Escape, would not be a panacea for Ford on the environmental front, it did represent a bold vision for sending the company in a greener direction.
Now, it seems, Ford is content to throw that all away in favor of some token greenwashing in the form of a promise to build more flexible-fueled vehicles (FFVs). Good thinking: replace a vehicle that actually delivers a 50% increase in fuel economy, with one that uses a loophole in the law to get credit for an even bigger increase, but at a fraction of the price. Never mind the fact that the flexible fuel vehicles already on the road are using plain old gasoline 99% of the time. Or the fact that we already have enough FFVs on the road to burn all the ethanol we produce in this country - if they were actually using the alternative fuel.
That's right: we already have enough FFVs to burn all our ethanol as E85, yet they're using gasoline 99% of the time. The Big Three solution: build more FFVs.
This is the second major committment Ford has walked away from on the fuel economy front (recall their much-ballyhooed promise to improve the fuel economy of their SUVs by 25%). Now they've squandered yet another opportunity to play a leadership role, and instead gone back to business as usual - and look where that's gotten them to date.
Posted by: Don
What happens to the value of the car five years from now when the batteries need replacing? I have heard that replacing batteries is a multi thousand dollar "repair". Can anyone let me know what happens in the future?
Also, who is taking care of the disposal of these batteries so they do not end up in a river?
Posted by: CPT Kevin | July 04, 2006 at 06:40 PM