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Forum » Eco Car Forums » Rumours & News

Ford going green?

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Written on: 18. 11. 07 [19:23]
ecoadmin Administrator Topic creator registered since: 20.07.2007 Posts: 387	"We understand that environmental sustainability is critical for our future and the future of the planet." - William Clay Ford Jr., Ford Motor Co. executive chairman. Written by JOHN MULCAHY The Ann Arbor News Declaring the automobile "on the edge of a revolution," William Clay Ford Jr. said Tuesday that Ford Motor Co. is working on a variety of new technologies to address energy consumption and global warming. But the automaker's executive chairman also said the country needs to reach some agreement on what kind of technology and fuels it wants to use to make transportation environmentally sustainable. Ford was the speaker at the annual Peter M. Wege Lecture sponsored by the Center for Sustainable Systems based at the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment. Several hundred people attended the speech in Rackham Auditorium. Ford enumerated some ways that the company founded by his great-grandfather, Henry Ford, is working toward sustainable transportation. Those include fleet-testing sport utility vehicles that run on 85 percent alcohol fuel, hybrid car production and tests on plug-in hybrids with hydrogen technology that go 225 miles with zero emissions. The company also is trying to improve on existing gasoline engines with "turbo direct injection" technology. "We understand that environmental sustainability is critical for our future and the future of the planet," said Ford. He called sustainability is "the most important issue facing business" and said society has "only begun to come to grips with the environmental crisis." However, Ford also said that car buyers aren't willing to give up performance, technology or price for green vehicles. "Ultimately, people don't want trade-offs," Ford said. Another problem facing sustainable transportation is a lack of a national direction on energy policy and what kind of fuel the country wants to use, he said. "We truly do need a holistic legislative approach to (energy use)," Ford said. Responding to audience questions after his speech, Ford said his company is not against mass transportation and he said ethanol produced from food crops such as corn is not a long-run answer to energy problems. "We always knew that food-based ethanol was not the way to go, that it was a stop-gap measure," Ford said. To another questioner, he suggested that a tax break for using ethanol or a higher tax on regular gasoline might be a way to encourage ethanol use. Ford said his company would continue to improve fuel economy, but he said the so-called CAFE standards, which would have mandated increased fuel economy for the auto industry, was "flawed legislation." The bill, passed by the Senate but rejected by the House, would have mandated a 35 miles-per-gallon fleet average for auto makers by 2020. After the speech, U-M natural resources student Erika Hassle noted Ford's mention of a nonfood cellulosic ethanol in Brazil. She said it is "an important model." Tom Peretti, a U-M MBA student, said much of the speech seemed to be taken from the auto company's sustainability report, but he said the question-and-answer session provided good insight into some of Ford's initiatives. Ann Arbor resident Tom Barnabei said he wished Ford had talked more about mass transit. "My feeling is that is the way we will have to go," he said. ecocarforum.com - Green Car Network Community for sustainable transport
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Written on: 03. 06. 08 [23:44]
Lwilliams registered since: 05.05.2008 Posts: 2	in more resent news there has been quite a bit of talk about Ford going green & the side effects on their communities. I've included some links to some info below ... cheers www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24037506/ www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071115/OPINION03/711150356 custom automotive commercial & industrial floor mats
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Written on: 05. 06. 08 [19:47]
childress registered since: 14.08.2007 Posts: 81	Thunk! Never trust 'em. Never forget that Ford dropped the Th!nk City, while thousands of folks in San Francisco and California were waiting for it! I wanted one, and they may come back to the states... The big 3 are the equivalent of IBM in the 70's & 80's when they panned the idea of mini-computers and got their lunch handed to them by Apple and Microsoft. With 60% of US households being 2 people (or less), and most Americans driving 50 or less miles per day, the big three are still manufacturing 5 passenger vehicles as their 'small,' while outfitting their 8 passenger vehicles (minivans, suvs) as their luxury mobile. While gas prices climbed from $1.50 to $2.99... and now they've topped $4. With apologies to my forgien readers, as I know you pay more. Commute suck? Twike it; You'll like it! http://www.uiuc.edu/goto/twike
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Written on: 04. 07. 08 [07:34]
fntoy.com registered since: 04.07.2008 Posts: 1	very interesting article! ------------------------------- fntoy.com
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Written on: 06. 07. 08 [06:00]
Lensman registered since: 31.05.2008 Posts: 81	I hope everyone has seen the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" It's available at YouTube.com if you haven't. I think that gives a pretty good summary of the situation. It shows that there wasn't any one factor which caused GM to quit selling the EV-1, but rather a variety of factors. All those factors are still true today. And there's one point on which the documentary is wrong: It said batteries are "not guilty" of helping kill the EV-1. That's just not true. We're on the verge of having battery tech good enough for an electric car to compete with a "gasser", but we're not there yet. It's estimated the Tesla Roadster's battery pack would cost between $20,000 and $30,000 if it were sold separately. Even if that battery pack were sufficient to give an electric family sedan the speed and range of a "gasser"-- and it's not-- it's so expensive that an all-electric car simply cannot compete, feature for feature and price for price, with a "gasser" at present. I question how much of Ford's environmentally friendly claims are true. There's a lot of "greenwashing" propaganda being put out today, and much or most of it is nothing but "lies, lies and damned lies". Ford is in precisely the same position as GM regarding electric cars. They have invested many, many billions (not just millions) of dollars developing cars powered by the internal combustion engine. They're going to be very reluctant to abandon that investment, they're going to be very reluctant to "bet on" new technology which hasn't been proven by decades in the marketplace, and they're going to be even more reluctant to have to compete with "upstart" green tech startups. They have every reason to drag their feet and fight legislation compelling them to change the tech that's currently in their cars-- and that certainly includes improving gas mileage. And another *very* important factor for traditional auto manufacturers, which was pointed out in "Who Killed the Electric Car?", is all the money they make from selling parts and service. An electric car will require significantly less of both. This would cut into their corporate profits quite a bit-- and they know it. But I don't think we should look at the auto manufacturers as the "enemy". Big Oil is the Enemy, despite all their current despicable "greenwashing" propaganda. Big Oil has a vested interest in keeping us addicted to oil. But the auto manufacturers don't, really; they are in the business of making money selling cars. If they find that what customers prefer is electric cars, they'll sell them. Because they know from experience that no matter how good a car is, it doesn't matter if-- like Ford's Edsel-- no one wants to buy one. Auto manufacturers *will* be the Enemy as far as fighting legislation forcing them to make their cars more "green". Trying to force them is the wrong approach. Remember, the best way to get someone to do something is to make them *want* to do it. The right approach is showing them, demonstrating to them that they'll make more money by selling "green" cars than by continuing to try to sell gas-guzzlers that no one wants. It will be much easier to solve the pollution problem if we can convince the big auto manufacturers to be our ally instead of our enemy. They *can* be our allies, and sooner or later at least some of them *will* be. GM is giving every indication of being committed to developing the Volt plug-in hybrid car. I wish them every luck with that; if the EEstor ultracapacitor system turns out to be a bust, it may be the Volt which leads the way to a less polluted future.
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Written on: 08. 07. 08 [23:33]
insight registered since: 26.04.2008 Posts: 14	Yes they have invested billions and they may be reluctant to change but what is the alternative? If they don't change they will loose anyway. The point is there are no visionaries today, its all run by committee and they are driven by stockholders. Henry Ford was a visionary, Wernher von Braun was a visionary, but in today's climate nobody seems capable of getting the big picture and choosing a route to go down. They are all biding time just waiting to see what the next one is going to do before committing. This is where the era of big business has gotten us today... real visionaries are shunned as being nutters and can't get off the ground with their dreams,meanwhile big business goes down the tube through lack of individual imagination and leadership,lack of sales etc. After they have closed just maybe we will end up starting the whole process again just like Henry did in the beginning with people constructing cars in their own garages starting the new wave of green cars. Don't laugh its already happening just check out YouTube and see some of the weird "one off" electric creations individuals are constructing. Somebody has to do it the big boys won't.
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Written on: 10. 07. 08 [10:05]
childress registered since: 14.08.2007 Posts: 81	While it is true that the American Auto Manufactures do not have a vested interest in keeping us addicted to oil, they DO have a vested interest in keeping us addicted to oversized vehicles. They market to us that we need a car that will do 100+ miles per hour and go for 300 miles between fill-ups when 90% of the time we barely break 50mph and go 20-50 miles a day. And they whine that battery technology is why it can't be done. Rubbish. The Progressive Automotive X-prize is anything other than progressive, and anything other than X-cellent or hard to obtain. They went from a Space race, pushing people to dream big to capitulating to 'industry experts'. The standards are a joke. Do. Not. Trust. Them. Remember Preston Tucker. Remember Ralph Nader (ie, Naderbelts and Naderbags -- most folks call 'em Seat Belts and Air Bags). Trust but verify -- I'll believe it when I see it. Commute suck? Twike it; You'll like it! http://www.uiuc.edu/goto/twike
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