Ford Delivers First Fuel Cell Cars in Canada to Vancouver Fuel Cell Vehicle Program

31 March 2005

Ford Motor Company delivered five Ford Focus Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCVs) (earlier post) to the Vancouver Fuel Cell Vehicle Program (VFCVP) for real-use testing in selected fleets.

The five Ford Focus FCVs are the first “customer-ready” vehicles to be delivered by Ford, which plans to place 25 more vehicles in fleets in the United States and Germany by the end of this year.

The Government of Canada, Ford Motor Company/Ford of Canada, Fuel Cells Canada and the Government of British Columbia are collaborating on the five-year, $9-million fuel cell vehicle program.

BC Hydro, B.C. Transit, Ballard Power Systems, the City of Vancouver, Fuel Cells Canada, the National Research Council (NRC), Natural Resources Canada and the Government of British Columbia will use the  Focus FCVs in real daily driving conditions as part of a three-year hydrogen fuel technology demonstration program.

The Ford Focus FCV is a hybrid-electric vehicle that uses the  Ballard Mark 902 series fuel cell engine and Dynetek 5,000-psi (pounds per square inch) compressed-hydrogen storage tanks. (More specs at the link above.) The performance of each car will be carefully monitored over the next three years, providing important data for the continued development of fuel cell technology.