Industry media report on Ford & Toyota views on PHEVss
Jun 19, 2006 (From the CalCars-News archive)

Everyone in Detroit (and presumably at
auto-makers around the world) reads the trade
journals. (We don't have the budget to
subscribe.) We hadn't seen a significant story in
WardsAuto.com until we were contacted by a
company that works with auto-makers, whose
interest was aroused by a long summary of the
article in Hampton AutoBeat's AUTOTECH Daily.

Below are excerpts from AUTOTECH, followed by the
report for WardsAuto.com on which it was based.
(Both reports report Ford "not knowing" about
discussions because they didn't identify them as
the CalCars-Andy Frank proposal to which Bill
Ford responded at the annual meeting.) The Wards
story includes important comments indicating the
perspective and level of understanding of people at Ford.

AUTOTECH Friday, June 16:
"PLUG-IN HYBRIDS NO SLAM DUNK"
The chatter about the potential benefits of
plug-in hybrid vehicles has been steadily
increasing in recent months. But automakers
remain somewhat cautious about the technology,
observes WardsAuto.com. It points out that
several technical and cost hurdles still must be
overcome to make such vehicles viable.

Plug-in technology can extend a hybrid vehicle's
driving range in full-electric mode by using a
larger battery that can partially be recharged
through regenerative braking. To be fully
recharged, however, the vehicle must be plugged
into an electrical outlet, just as an
all-electric vehicle. This adds weight and
requires advances in battery technology. To some
extent, the industry is sending out mixed signals
about the readiness of plug-in models. Top
executives for Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor
Corp., for example, have touted the technology's
potential at recent company events, only to temper their remarks later.
<snip>
Redwood City, Calif.-based CalCars boasts that it
already has modified several conventional hybrid
vehicles for plug-in use. And Kramer says he's in
discussions with Ford about possibly partnering
on a demonstration fleet of plug-in Escape
Hybrids. Ford didn't seem to know anything about
such a project, says Ward's -- but it didn't rule it out either.


http://wardsauto.com/ar/ford_plugin_hybrids/index.html
Ford Faces Obstacles in Development of Plug-In Hybrids
By Byron Pope
WardsAuto.com, Jun 9, 2006 9:57 AM

Ford Motor Co. Chairman and CEO Bill Ford’s
remark at the company’s annual shareholders
meeting last month that the auto maker was
looking into ‘plug-in’ hybrid-electric vehicles
(PHEVs) immediately led to industry speculation
Ford was in the process of developing such technology.

“We are very keenly looking at it and working
with that technology,” Bill Ford told his audience at the time.

However, a Ford spokesman says “a lot more
development is needed to make (PHEV technology) commercially viable.”
Ford is not alone in its thinking.

PHEVs, like traditional hybrids, would recharge
their batteries through onboard generators and
friction energy recovered from braking.

However, they have the added benefit of having
batteries that can be recharged by plugging them
into a 120-volt household power outlet, greatly
expanding the vehicle’s range in electric-only mode and saving additional fuel.

Although Ford officially declines to discuss
future product plans, Sue Cischke, vice
president-environmental and safety engineering,
tells Ward’s there are obstacles to developing such technology.

California group wants Ford to make a plug-in Escape Hybrid.

“You read about how ideally (PHEVs) can work, but
there are other issues such as added weight, the
need for more battery capacity and how it works with the power grid,” she says.

“So, Mr. Ford is saying we’re looking into it. A
lot of people are very much interested in (PHEV
technology), and we have to confirm that it is
the way to go. Everything is on the table.”

Toyota Motor Corp., considered one of the leaders
in HEV technology, agrees there are inherent drawbacks to developing PHEVs.
“Plug-in HEVs won’t be commercially or
technologically feasible to build until battery
technology improves,” Dave Hermance, executive
engineer-environmental engineering for Toyota
Technical Center USA Inc., recently told Ward’s.

Currently, HEVs are equipped with
nickel-metal-hydride battery packs, which
supplement the power of the vehicle’s traditional internal combustion engine.
While PHEVs provide a larger electrical charge,
today’s batteries are not designed for excessive
use, unlike consumer electronic devices that can
be fully charged and then fully discharged.

Hermance says plugging in HEV batteries causes
them to “operate frequently at their minimum and
maximum 20% of capacity, which is when most damage occurs.”
Felix Kramer, a former Silicon Valley
entrepreneur, self-proclaimed PHEV guru and
founder of CalCars.org – a non-profit group
dedicated to making PHEVs a reality – disputes auto makers’ claims.

Kramer, whose Redwood City, CA-based group has
modified several HEVs into PHEVs, says the
technology is viable today, and past vehicles
prove the argument of inadequate batteries is not true.

“The best example is the (Toyota) RAV4-EV in the
late 1990s,” Kramer says of the now-defunct
all-electric cross/utility vehicle. “They built
those cars and sold them in California, which
required the batteries to last 150,000 miles (241,402 km).

“Toyota said they would last 75,000 miles
(120,701 km) and would have to be replaced
halfway through the vehicle’s lifecycle. But
today, there are some still on the road with no
sign of degradation of the batteries.”

Kramer claims his group has approached Ford about
forging a partnership to develop a demonstration
fleet of plug-in Escape Hybrids. Correspondence
is ongoing, he says, but nothing has been agreed upon at this point.

A Ford spokesman says he has “no knowledge of any
correspondence,” with the group but doesn’t rule
out the possibility, saying the auto maker
receives “thousands of inquiries a year.”

In addition to pressure from environmentalists,
some elected officials are calling on auto makers
to develop PHEVs. On his website, U.S. Rep. Rahm
Emanuel, D-IL, calls for the government to
“provide credits toward the installation of hybrid plug-in conversion kits.”

And in February, during a stop at a Johnson
Controls Inc. facility in Milwaukee, President
Bush said, “using new lithium ion batteries,
engineers will be able to design the next
generation of hybrid vehicles, called plug-in
hybrids, that can be recharged through a standard electrical outlet.”

Dave Szczupak, Ford group vice president of
manufacturing-The Americas, says PHEVs have
potential, but they’re not necessarily a means to
an end to innovative powertrain technology.

“I think the idea of having the ability to charge
the battery overnight to get even more available
energy is maybe just another way to top things
off,” he says. “It’s not the answer that we’re
all going to have plug-ins. It’s just another level (of HEV technology).”

bpope@...