All-New Ford Fusion Hybrid America's Most Fuel-Efficient Mid-Size Car

The all-new Ford Fusion Hybrid is now officially America's most fuel efficient mid-size car with a certified 41 mpg rating in the city and 36 mpg on the highway, topping the Toyota Camry hybrid by 8 mpg in the city and 2 mpg on the highway.
"The new Ford Fusion Hybrid not only significantly exceeds the competition but also embodies Ford's 100 percent commitment to fuel efficiency leadership, quality, innovation and advanced technology," said Derrick Kuzak, group vice president, Global Product Development. "The Ford team set the bar high -- to develop America's most fuel efficient mid-size sedan -- and that's what they delivered."

The 2010 Ford Fusion's final fuel economy certification was completed this week at Ford's testing laboratories in Allen Park, Mich., and the vehicle will carry an EPA label of 41 mpg for city driving and 36 mpg on the highway when it goes on sale this spring. The Fusion Hybrid, which beats even the much smaller Honda Civic hybrid by 1 mpg in city driving, can travel more than 700 miles on a single tank of gas.

To deliver the class leading fuel economy performance, Ford's engineers spent the past three years developing in-house the vehicle's next-generation hybrid propulsion system. It allows the Fusion and Mercury Milan hybrid to travel up to 47 miles per hour in pure electric mode, faster than the Toyota Camry and all other hybrids currently on the road. In addition, the system's Advanced Intake Variable Cam Timing allows the Fusion and Milan hybrids to more seamlessly transition from gas to electric mode and vice-versa.

"The Fusion Hybrid's ability to run at a much higher speed in electric mode allows drivers to maximize fuel efficiently in many driving situations," said Praveen Cherian, Fusion Hybrid program leader. "For example, this would allow drivers to travel around their subdivision and parking areas in all-electric mode."

Fusion's advanced hybrid system features:

-- Smaller, lighter nickel-metal hydride battery, which produces 20 percent more power than Ford's previous hybrid system. The battery's improved chemistry allows it to be run at a higher temperature and cooled using cabin air.

-- New 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine (155 horsepower / 136 lb.-ft. of torque), which is mated to an electronically controlled continuously variable transmission.

-- Enhanced electronic throttle control, which reduces airflow on shutdowns, reducing fueling needs on restarts.

-- Smart climate control system, which monitors cabin temperature and only runs the gas engine as needed to heat the cabin. It also includes an electric air conditioning compressor to further minimize engine use.

-- Regenerative brake system, which captures the energy normally lost through friction in braking and stores it. Nearly 94 percent energy recovery is achieved by delivering full regenerative braking, which means only 6 percent of braking is through traditional friction brakes

Source: Ford

Will the Big 3 ever top the Prius?

The poster child of fuel economy
 
I’m an advocate for the Chevy Volt. The Volt and, more important, the E Flex Drive powering the Volt, demonstrate that GM is preparing for the future.
Unfortunately, however, 100,000 Volts per year is still many years away. In fact, even though the 3rd generation of the Toyota Prius is set to launch next year, Toyota will probably be rolling out the 4th generation Prius by the time GM is ready to start producing 100,000 Volts per year. By then the Hybrid Synergy Drive powering the Prius will be vastly different than today’s version.

Which will be better? Which will be more cost-effective?

On the other hand, Chrysler….well, I don’t even know what to say about Chrysler.

Fortunately, Ford’s new hybrid powertrain represents some hope, and early Fusion hybrid reports indicate that Ford has a hit on its hands, maybe. With plans to only produce 25,000 Fusion hybrids next year, it’s hard not to be a bit concerned. Likewise, why didn’t Ford roll out its new hybrid powertrain in a unique, hybrid-only vehicle? Thus, I cannot help but wonder if Ford’s new hybrid powertrain is cost-effective, for instance. Still, Ford is a wild card.

So, will the Big 3 ever top the Prius? I don’t know, but if it does happen, it won’t be any time soon.

Optimal Energy Joule: South African electric MPV

Everyone is joining in the race to create the definitive new widely accepted publicly-used electric car. We’ve got large corporations like the Renault-Nissan Alliance and even recently BMW but one of the unique beauties of electric cars seems to be the ability for small companies such as Optimal Energy to join the fray as well.

Optimal Energy is a South African company based in Cape Town that was funded by the Department of Science and Technology of the South African Government. It’s electric vehicle entree is the Joule, a 6-seater MPV that at first impression seems to be following the footsteps of the Fiat Multipla to win the ugliest car/MPV of the year award.

The Multipla was a 6-seater too, but Honda has proven with the Edix that it is quite possible to create a 2-row 6-seater that doesn’t hurt the eyes, so why does it have to look like this, Optimal Energy?

Perhaps it’s in the interest of aerodynamics as the overall silhouette of the vehicle kind of reminds you of the Mercedes-Benz Bionic Car Concept which was based on the shape of a fish that cuts through water quite well, so it must be very good in cutting through air as well. The Joule’s body uses a steel spaceframe combined with composite (glass and carbon) and plastic body panels.

The Optimal Energy Joule is an electric vehicle, and while no exact
horsepower/kilowatt stats were quoted, it can go from 0 to 100km/h in 15 seconds and go on to a top speed of 135km/h. The standard Joule is front wheel drive via a motor driving the front wheels through an 8:1 reduction gearbox, but Optimal Energy is also working on in-wheel motors for rear-wheel or all-wheel drive.

The vehicle uses a modular large-cell lithium ion battery pack with the capacity of 200km per module. The chassis can fit 2 modules which means a 400km theoretical maximum range. The batteries can be recharged on the go via brake energy regeneration, and as for plug-in charging, the car has an on-board charger which means you don’t need any additional charging equipment installed in your garage.

Other remaining technical details you should know (and were revealed) are: the car has ABS and airbags, and the suspension uses MacPherson struts at the front and a torsion beam at the rear.