Renewable Gossip

When President Obama visited Southern California Edison’s electric vehicle test facility in March, he used the Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid as the main prop for the photo op. The president spoke in soaring tones about America’s energy challenges, green jobs, and the cars of tomorrow—but the expression on his face in the PR photo was disbelief if not outright disapproval.

While Ford’s marketing folks might have preferred one of Obama’s winning smiles, his grimace better reflects Ford’s rigorous and skeptical approach to making sure the Escape Plug-in Hybrid is truly ready to hit showrooms in 2012. In February, Sue Cischke, Ford’s group vice president for environment and safety, said, “Plug-in hybrids hold great promise, but do still face significant obstacles to commercialization.”

It’s All About the Battery

Ford is claiming that the plug-in hybrid version of the Escape, a fully capable small SUV, can travel 30 to 35 miles using little or no gas—if driven in town and if the batteries are charged for six to eight hours using common household current. After those 30 or so miles, the vehicle reverts to acting like a conventional Escape Hybrid—which happens to be the most fuel-efficient SUV currently on American roads.

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