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Ford Product Development VP on Powertrain Futures
31 May 2005
all4engineers runs an interesting, albeit short, interview with Richard Parry-Jones, Ford’s Executive Vice-President for product development, on Ford’s views and activities around different powertrains.
Parry-Jones touches on electric vehicles (“very, very limited”); hybrids (significant, but not taking over); hydrogen and diesel.
A few snippets:
[On Hydrogen Internal Combustion engines] A second reason is that there is no guarantee that fuel cells will work. I think they will, but I would not swear my daughter’s life on it. And hydrogen/internal combustion provides a back-up. If we get into an energy crunch, we have another way to go. It’s not as efficient as fuel cells, but it’s not a bad idea.
[On hydrogen fuel] There are no easy wins. If you reduce natural gas to create hydrogen, the cost of fuel is approximately five times higher than using oil. The cost of oil will rise to the point where that becomes viable. But longer term, to really address CO2, we need to find a sequestering technology to sequester the carbon after we liberate the hydrogen, and if we go even longer term, we have to find renewable sources of energy.The oil crunch I talk about is not just around the corner. It will be 40 years at least to work this out. But we have to find a replacement for the energy, not just the oil.
[On Diesel] I believe clean diesels can play a role in this [North American] market, not starting with passenger cars in my opinion, but coming down from pickups.
[On the 2.7-liter diesel shown in the Mercury MetaOne concept diesel hybrid (post)] No [we can’t bring that engine to North America]. There is a new regime coming along, Euro V, and probably an Euro VI after that, which have increasingly stringent levels for particulate and NOx emissions. The North American legislation, after low-sulphur fuel becomes available in 2006, is going to be Tier 2 Bin 5, which is more stringent than Euro V. Although we could sell that engine today in North America, we won't be able to keep it. We and anyone else who wants to sell in North America is going to have to invent some new technology. I tell our engineers, don't moan about it, fix it.
May 31, 2005 in Diesel, Engines, Hybrids, Hydrogen, Vehicle Manufacturers | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Comments
Posted by: odograph | May 31, 2005 at 09:15 AM
odograph: I couldn't agree more. Hydrogen fuel cell cars are, in my opinion, the New Coke of transportation--sounds like a nice plan on paper, but in the real world it falls more than a bit short.
Posted by: loudGizmo | May 31, 2005 at 10:15 AM
I tend to agree with the last two comments. I don't want to pile on here, however; I recall reading some articles in study hall in school about the way we all would be living in the year 2000. The billions of R&D dollars going into hydrogen technologie has a payoff way way down the road, more than 40 years. The internal combustion engine will be here for a while. I have a design for the head cam and valve package that will make a significant difference in the way things are done. I just can't get to the OE's. They still believe if they don't think it up then it won't work. The question the rotary valve guys was trying to answer was, how do we eliminate the the stem and valve head, and have an open port into the combustion chambers.
I am currently running a prototype engine that I am opening more ports with 2 valves than the OE's are opening with 4 valves. That's right; you heard me right.
The answer is air flow in and air flow out. this engine is running at 15.7:1 compression. I have the engine of the future in my gargage.
Posted by: Chuck | October 01, 2005 at 01:04 PM
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I've been writing a few letters to directly oppose the "Hydrogen Highway" in my state (CA). This may not be the biggest problem we have right now (there is a war on), but if any readers have time to spare, it might be worth-while.
In California, at least, they want us to think Hydrogen is the answer, and that we therefore don't need to worry short-term about all those Hummers that the Governor and others are driving around.
The Hydrogen Highway is a dangerous distraction.