Ford Delivers Hydrogen Focus Fuel Cell Fleet

Ford Motor Company has handed over the keys to five hybrid hydrogen Ford Focus Fuel Cell vehicles in Southeast Michigan this week as part of a five-city 30-car program to conduct real world testing of fuel cell technology. Taylor will get four vehicles and Ann Arbor will receive one. Area residents will notice the Focus Fuel Cell vehicles in their neighborhoods as city employees drive the vehicles for city business or, in Taylor , as the water department travels to read meters. The vehicles will also be part of community events to spread awareness of the demonstration program.

The Ford Focus Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV) represents Ford's commitment to advancing the use and development of alternative-fuel technologies. It is one of the industry's first hybridized fuel cell vehicles combining the improved range and performance of hybrid technology with the overall benefits of a fuel cell. Ford has been conducting fuel cell research for more than 10 years and believes fuel cell vehicles could be commercially viable by the middle of the next decade.

Ford claims the Focus FCV looks and drives like other Focus sedans on the road today. Although it is designed to look like any other car on the road, under the hood of the Focus FCV is a sophisticated hybrid electric powertrain. Tucked under the floorpan is a hydrogen fuel cell and auxiliary energy system that supplies electricity to the powertrain. A hydrogen tank in the trunk carries the car's renewable hydrogen fuel.

"The engineers who work on the Focus FCV work hand in hand with those developing our gasoline hybrids," said Mary Ann Wright, director of Sustainable Mobility Technologies and Hybrid Programs for Ford Motor Company. "The knowledge we gain by engineering these cars not only benefits our expertise in innovative fuel cell propulsion technology, it also will help us deliver even better gasoline hybrids in the near term."

Knowledge gained engineering Ford's Escape Hybrid and Mercury Mariner Hybrids has been shared between the FCV vehicle engineering team and the people working on both Ford gasoline powered hybrids on the road today, as well as future gasoline hybrids Ford will sell. Ford is actively engaged in the development of four future alternatives to today's gasoline engines including, clean diesels, gasoline-electric hybrids, hydrogen internal combustion engines (H2ICE) and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCV).