Forward Thinking Breaks Out in Auto Industry

This multi-part article will examine the steps that five major auto-manufactures are taking towards creating a more environmentally friendly automobile. This week, we will look at the various programs that Ford Motor Company (Ford) has in place. Ford has always been an innovator in the auto industry. Henry Ford was the first to bring mass production to the auto industry, and started the aerodynamic sedan trend with the Taurus. They have several unique programs that they have been quietly working on. Ford, like GM and DC, is working on hydrogen fuel cells, clean diesel, ethanol powered vehicles, hybrid gas vehicles, and more efficient gas engines. Ford is also working on a technology called Hydrogen Internal Combustion, an interesting twist on the hydrogen-powered car. Ford is making its gas engines more efficient by varying the cam timing. What this means is that the intake and exhaust valves on the cylinders can change the time that they open and close. This increases the compression in the cylinders, allowing more fuel to be burned, creating a more efficient engine. The computer-controlled system tailors the timing of the valves to the speed and load of the engine. Ford is cleaning up its diesels by cleaning up their exhaust gasses. Ford uses a system known as Onboard Reductant Delivery (ORD) to clean up the exhaust gasses. The system injects certain compounds early in the exhaust line, cleaning up the exhaust. The system is a simplified version of existing pollutant reduction for diesels. Ford’s ORD is smaller, cheaper, and uses less parts. Ford currently has one hybrid vehicle available for sale to the public- a special version of the Escape. Ford seems to be following along with industry norms, and there is nothing unique to its hybrid system. The Hybrid Escape uses a gas engine that will shut itself of while standing or at low speeds, has a constantly variable transmission (no shifting), has a battery back to store energy for the electric motor, and uses the gas engine and regenerative braking to recharge the battery, so you don’t have to plug it in. The engine used is a highly efficient four-cylinder engine. The whole system is computer controlled and gives the vehicle comparable performance to the V-6 version of the vehicle. Ford is a leader in the development of Ethanol (E85) powered vehicles. E85, as you may recall, is a mix of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, and is cleaner and more efficient than pure gasoline. Ford currently has five of these vehicles available for sale: a Taurus, Explorer, Explorer Sport Trac, Mountaineer, and Sable. These vehicles can be distinguished from their gas-only cousins by special badges and “FFV” (Flexible Fuel Vehicle) added to the name. These vehicles are mostly sold to commercial customers, and are only available from Ford’s Fleet division. Where most auto companies are taking a one-track approach to fuel cells, Ford is taking two. The first is the traditional fuel cell that uses liquid hydrogen to generate power, and the second that extracts hydrogen from other liquid fuels such as methanol or gasoline (called a reformer). Using hydrogen is far simpler and cleaner, but requires the development of a fueling infrastructure before it is a viable system. Methanol and gasoline complicate the process and require additional equipment to be installed in the vehicle. Fuel cells use a catalyst to start a chemical reaction between the hydrogen and oxygen in the air, which produces electricity. The only emission from these vehicles is water, and these fuel cells are more than 200 percent more efficient than gasoline engines. Many people wonder about how safe hydrogen is, especially when they think about the Hindenburg disaster. Hydrogen is not necessarily more dangerous than other fuels, but still must be treated with caution, just as you would treat gasoline with caution. Ford equips its test vehicles with safety shutoffs in case of leaks- a system of sensors automatically turns the vehicle off if there is a leak. Small fans are employed to vent the vehicles during fueling to, when the fuel door is open, and during vehicle operation to make the vehicles as safe as possible.Last, let’s look at hydrogen internal combustion, the system that is unique to Ford among the major auto manufacturers. A hydrogen internal combustion engine is just like your everyday, run-of-the-mill gas engine except for one thing- it runs on liquid hydrogen. These engines are about 25 percent more efficient than gas engines and are far less expensive and complex than fuel cells. They run very clean, releasing no carbon dioxide and very few oxides of nitrogen (greenhouse gasses). Moreover, with advances in catalytic converters, the air coming out of the engine could be cleaner than the air that came in! Earlier attempts to do this resulted in very underpowered engines, that is, until Ford decided to add a supercharger putting out almost 15 pounds of boost (that’s a lot). The engine is also intercooled (the air going into the engine is cooled down) which makes the air denser and allows more of the fuel to burn, raising efficiency. Ford is working very hard to bring us more efficient cars, and is taking some unique approaches to that goal- like hydrogen internal combustion and reformer fuel cells. The Hybrid Escape, and the line of FFV vehicles are already on the roads. Henry Ford revolutionized the auto industry with mass production, and his company continues in that light by not being afraid to try out new technologies, but also still managing to stay down to earth and not invest everything in a technology that won’t be ready for awhile yet. That is, Ford knows that fuel cells are the ultimate solution, but they aren’t ignoring the technologies that they can put on the road today, like hybrids and ethanol vehicles.Credit: ford.com