Ford Prepares to Backpedal on Its Green Dreams
Yesterday, Ford CEO Alan Mulally announced that Ford would have plug-in hybrids for sale in "five to 10 years." Today, Consumeraffairs.com reports that FoMoCo's spinmeisters are touting hydrogen as the fuel of the future. We're talking about Ford, right? The same Ford that backpedaled on their 2005 promise to build 250k hybrids by the end of the [last] decade? The same Ford that "rethought" their 2000 promise to improve SUV fuel economy by 25 percent? The same Ford that promised alternate fuel vehicles for Europe and nowhere else? Naturally, today's round of attention-grabbing was carefully hedged with cunning caveats: hydrogen fuel storage limitations, public concerns, "if all things were perfect," etc. Except Honda already has a running hydrogen fuel concept, slated for production and public consumption in less than three years. Oh dear.
I'm a computer security geek raised in Nebraska and recently transplanted to Atlanta. I like me some cars, got into car geekery a few years ago and haven't looked back since. I also volunteer at a local ferret shelter and participate in various charity and fund-raising events related to that.
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They way Fordward is to tout innovation, ground breaking technology, and future triumphs; yet never reach those goals. It's not like the public calls them out - as they are so used to being fleeced on all the other failed promises.
Why the push for hydrogen? It consumes far more energy to free hydrogen atoms from other molecules to produce a "fuel" than is produced when hydrogen is burned. Also, if we're so concerned about global warming, why use a "fuel" that produces the most potent greenhouse gas common in nature (water vapor). It sounds easy on paper and rolls off the tounge nicely at press conferences, but acording to popular logic, hydrogen should be less eco-friendly than hydrocarbon fuels.
Yeah, this is just trying to get publicity. If Ford is still around, they will look pretty stupid when Honda trots out their hydrogen car and Ford will still be a decade away from one.