Shades of Green
Automakers offer a variety of environmentally friendly vehicles
By Marlon Hanson

By now we’ve all heard about the many hybrid gas/electric cars that are available from the various manufacturers. The Toyota Prius has been so popular that production hasn’t been able to keep up with demand until this year. Toyota Motor Company has introduced many other hybrid models, now even offering a hybrid model of one of the country’s most popular vehicles, the Camry. Americans have bought more than 32,000 of the 60,000 hybrid Camrys that Toyota is capable of producing this year. Through this July, 443,202 Prius models have been sold in the U.S.

Toyota and Lexus now have three hybrid models each available for consumers.

But the subject of focus this month – Americans’ quest to “go green” in terms of protecting the environment – is a hydrogen-fueled vehicle. You see, there is no gas usage. There are no carbon emissions. There is only clean, drinkable water as a byproduct.

You can’t get much greener than that.

The first time I personally saw a hydrogen-powered vehicle was at the Product Development Center of the Ford Motor Company back at the turn of the millennium. At the time, I remember asking how soon it would be available to the general public and being told the principal problem was a lack of “docking stations” where the hydrogen could be replenished.

My thoughts centered around how companies were giving cell phones to people at the time in order to get them to buy minutes through using certain providers. It seemed like some enterprising entrepreneur should copy the concept and enter an agreement with Ford to produce vehicles for them. The entrepreneur could then give them to people in select markets and quickly saturate the market with complete service facilities.

The days when such hydrogen vehicles were only concepts in product development centers are over. There are actually a number of them on the road, even though they are not yet available to the general public.

Perhaps the most famous one is the hydrogen-powered Ford Fusion, which set a new speed record for a production-based, fuel-cell-powered car. The “999” was clocked at slightly over 207 miles per hour at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah this August.

Featured on CNN, as well as other cable news channels and network news programs, the Hydrogen 999 Fusion is the world’s only production fuel-cell racecar. It is not, however, the first hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle on the road. Ford actually began putting fuel-cell hydrogen vehicles on the road in 2005. There are now 30 Ford Focus fuel-cell hydrogen vehicles on roads in seven different U.S. cities in a “real world” test concerning reliability, servicing and overall practicality of the vehicles.

They have logged more than 540,000 miles to date.

We’ve all been on a street corner at some point and almost choked on the fumes spewed by city buses. Ford and the City of Las Vegas believe hydrogen is the answer. Two Ford E-450 buses are being added to the city’s fleet. Anyone who has been on “the Strip” at almost any point of the day or night knows Las Vegas Boulevard is the most consistently clogged road in the world. The buses will provide clean energy and a great way to encourage public transportation that emits less CO2 and run exclusively on hydrogen. Ford will be delivering 30 such buses to cities throughout North America by the end of this year.

In addition to the buses, the race car and the 30 Ford Fusion hydrogen vehicles on the road, Ford has produced the world’s first drivable fuel-cell electric plug-in SUV that combines a hydrogen fuel-cell generator with lithium-ion.

I am glad to say I have driven this new Ford Edge and hope it can have its long-term production viability certified so it can be available for everyone within the next few years.

The Edge I tested travels the first 25 miles on energy that was stored overnight by plugging it in (same concept as your mobile phone). The fuel cell takes over from there and provides another 200 miles of power. The best part, in my opinion, is that you don’t need to drive at a snail’s pace. The HySeries Drive on the Edge means you can travel up to a speed limit exceeding 85 mph. When you arrive at your destination – you guessed it – simply plug it back in to any standard electrical outlet.

You might ask what the difference is between the first 25 miles and the final 200. The answer is the hydrogen fuel cell that kicks in. It automatically turns on and generates electricity to recharge the batteries allowing another 200 miles of travel. The vehicle will then “keep on truckin’” until it runs out of hydrogen – after a total of approximately 400 miles. A fill-up will require about 10 pounds of hydrogen. Ingenious. All we need is more of these on sale at our local Ford dealer and a number of hydrogen service stations, and we’d be thumbing our noses at OPEC.

The current hybrid vehicles on the market would become a great stopgap. They provide much better mileage than old gasoline-only vehicles, but still rely on fossil fuels to function. Hydrogen could be the wave of the future, and put us much closer to arriving at an answer to keep our environment cleaner and eliminate our dependence on foreign oil if all the tests currently underway prove successful.

Ford, GM and many other automotive companies are moving forward in a wide range of technological areas to help keep our world green. Besides the hydrogen-powered vehicles already mentioned, many hybrid gas/electric SUVs are available including the Ford Escape, the Mercury Mariner, the Toyota Highlander and Lexus RX 400h.

The quest for energy independence is one that all automotive companies are embracing, albeit in different ways. Ford’s is a multi-tiered approach. General Motors has a plug-in concept they are rushing toward reality, the Chevrolet Volt. Both GM and Chrysler now have a number of engine displacement systems (use of varying numbers of cylinders depending on the situation) available to the general public.

Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and BMW all have made considerable progress toward making Europe green in various ways. BMW introduced its first hydrogen model at this year’s New York Auto Show, while Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen have constructed clean-burning diesels.

In terms of vehicles already available and on the road, Mercedes Benz was awarded the Green Car of the World Award for its E-320 Bluetec diesel model this year. I have driven two such Mercedes Benz Bluetec models now and can attest that you feel no lack of power, torque or that famous Mercedes Benz tradition of luxury in either of them.

There are many paths toward a green world in terms of the automotive market. We have only scratched the surface of possibilities thus far. Each month we will discuss a vehicle or a concept that is making the world a bit greener. We look forward to your input and comments.

Marlon Hanson is president of the Texas Automotive Media Association and a past president of the Texas Auto Writers Association. He has been in the media industry since 1970 with the New York Daily News, the Dallas Times Herald, Bumper to Bumper, AVIDGOLFER and Focus Daily News. He can be reached at marlon@testdrivereport.com.