DETROIT — The Ford Fusion hybrid will be the most fuel-efficient midsize sedan on the market when it arrives this spring, clocking in at 41 miles per gallon, according to data given to Ford Motor by the Environmental Protection Agency (Sharon Silke Carty USA TODAY) http://www.usatoday.com/...
Ford has achieved this in a midsize sedan,
and outperforms Toyota's Camry hybrid by 8 mpg in city driving,
and 2 mpg on the highway. The Fusion can go 47 miles on battery power alone.
So, why didn't they do this before ?
"Praveen Cherian, engineering team leader for the Ford Fusion, says the automaker was able to get Fusion's mileage to over 40 miles per gallon by taking a lot of little steps."
Evolved aerodynamics, lighter battery, and an electric powered air conditioner.
Cherian explained, "It's not just one thing, but thousands... we've optimized the heck out of that vehicle, it's individual components."
On December 19, Dan Neil (LA Times) reported that on a test drive, he got 52 mpg in mixed city/highway driving. http://www.latimes.com/...
He then asked, "Wait, so, has somebody invented the car of the future and didn't tell us?". Neil gives a very good summary of the critical points of hybrid design, while making the mandatory attack on Ford, criticizing Ford for not getting these cars out last summer.
What the Fusion demonstrates is three fold:
- Hybrid technology is evolutionary
- Ford has been working on this stuff for a long time
- BIG gains will not be made until batteries are improved.
And if you ever intend to stop your new Fusion without using its brakes,
it has a safety rating of 5 stars.
Is this enough to save Detroit ? Will this, and the Chevy Volt, convince ANYBODY that Detroit is more than capable ? The last word goes to Oscar Wilde,
"This suspense is terrible. I hope it lasts !".
.