Ford Motor Corp. held a live web chat focusing on their hybrid Technology program, Chuck Gray, Ford Hybrid and Electric Vehicles Chief Engineer, and Bob Taenaka, Ford Battery Technical Lead fielded questions from an inquisitive bunch of webbies.
The chat opened with a brief statement touting the merits of Fords hybrid taxi fleet that has logged 80 million miles in California emphasizing the fact that’s quadruple the miles of Toyota’s Prius lineup. A quick mention that the taxi drivers were pleasantly surprised there were so few issues five according to Ford. An obligatory marketing quote that a “leading consumer magazine rated the Ford Fusion Hybrid “most reliable of the hybrids or conventional models available,” conspicuously omitting the name of the aforementioned magazine.
The first question was about the length of warranty Ford Hybrids will have in California accentuating maximum battery life. Engineer Chuck Gray responded with a vague disclosure “our warranties are announced right before the vehicles are available in the marketplace tossing in an upbeat “eight years at 70% maximum battery capacity beats Nissan’s delivery of sufficient energy to the motor achieving its max rated power, but no range promise.”
Battery technology NiMh verses Lithium ion and range dominated most of the hour long chat, a memorable query about the batteries second life verses recycling was answered by Battery Technical Lead Bob Taenaka alluding to a future feasibility study on the matter, his answer sounded more like a made for marketing statement rather than eco-friendly future plans .
This might be a good time to point out a fun fact that didn’t come up during the chat. Battery Technical Lead Bob Taenaka helped engineer the longest-distance batteries ever for the Galileo spacecraft’s 450-million-mile mission to Jupiter.(Go Bob!)
Today’s chat event was notably a Ford “dog and pony show” and the questions were screened, selected, and then answered as close to real time as possible. I asked two questions, number one “Has Ford Motors and engineers put any thought into the possibility of a Solar Maximum event that can cause electro- magnetic pulse which would render any electric vehicle inoperable?” According to NASA our sun is at a fifty year high for activity and has already sent some powerful disruptions our way and anything not grounded or shielded by a faraday cage could be subject to disruption.
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