Ford Hybrid Electric Flexible Fuel Vehicles On The Highways!
According to news on theautochannel.com, four of the Ford Motor Company’s demonstration fleet of ethanol-fueled hybrids were already handed down to the State of Missouri and Kansas City Power & Light at Ford Kansas City Plant, the home of the famous Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner hybrid SUVs. The Ford E85 Escape Hybrid is the world’s first hybrid vehicle that is proficient of operating on combined fuel having as much as 85 percent ethanol. This move by the Ford Motor Company was intended to broaden the use of alternative energy in the state.
“As a leader in both hybrid vehicles and in vehicles capable of operating on ethanol-based fuels, Ford is the ideal company to bring both technologies together for the first time. This innovative research represents one of many projects we have at Ford to address our customers desire for a fuel efficient product that meet all of their functional needs, while working on reducing our nation’s dependence on oil imports and helping to address global climate change,” says Nancy Gioia, the director for Sustainable Mobility Technology for the car-making company.
One of Kansas City’s field design groups that work in the company’s service area will make use of Kansas City Power & Light’s E85 Escape Hybrids. They’ll be used in urban surroundings, mainly to benefit from the hybrids capabilities in urban driving settings.
“Great Plains Energy’s environmental strategy is aggressively pursuing the use of renewables. We are pleased to be among the first to take advantage of the flexibility of a hybrid vehicle that uses E85 fuel. Our current biofuel program has already offset approximately 20 percent of our gasoline usage and these Ford vehicles will advance our long-term commitment to a diversified fleet,” says Michael Chesser, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Great Plains Energy.
“My administration has and will continue to strongly encourage the use of these environmentally-friendly technologies. The use of renewable fuels improves our environment and the air we breathe. With old-fashioned American ingenuity, like that displayed by the Ford Motor Company, we can become more energy independent. Our state is doing our part to look for alternative fuels to help lessen America’s dependence on foreign oil. The more clean-burning, renewable fuel Missouri produces and uses, the better off we will all be in the long-term,” says Gov. Matt Blunt on the matter.
Ford, joint ventured with MFA Oil in Missouri and Vera Sun Energy, in Illinois last year established the nation’s first ethanol corridor. The Midwest Ethanol Corridor expands E85 availability in stations located primarily along I-55 in Illinois and I-70 in Missouri by altering gasoline pumps to E85.
