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12th January 2007

Ford launched a hydrogen-fuelled, battery-powered plug-in powertrain concept in the new Airstream concept vehicle this week at the North American International Auto Show. The system, trademarked HySeries Drive, is powered by a 336-volt lithium-ion battery pack at all times and has a range of 25 miles on a full electric power. Once the battery pack is depleted by about 40%, the hydrogen-powered fuel cell begins generating electricity to recharge the batteries, increasing range by another 280 miles, for a total driving range of more than 300 miles.

At the driver’s home, assuming access from the car to a power point, the battery pack can be refreshed by plugging into a standard outlet. The HySeries Drive powertrain delivers a combined city/highway petrol equivalent fuel economy rating of 41 mpg and can travel at up to 85 mph.

"We think one of the benefits of this powertrain is that in the early days of a developing hydrogen infrastructure, you can extend the time between hydrogen fill-ups by plugging in to recharge the batteries," said Scott Staley, chief engineer, Hybrid and Fuel Cell Technology at Ford Motor Company, this week, adding that another advantage of the HySeriesDrive is its fuel, engine and energy- conversion flexibility.

"For example, you could take out the fuel cell and replace it with a hydrogen or diesel internal combustion engine," he explained. "And instead of a six- or eight-cylinder engine, I could use a considerably smaller three- or two-cylinder engine as an auxiliary power unit to recharge the battery pack."

The HySeries powertrain reduces the size, weight, cost and complexity of a conventional fuel cell system by more than 50%, and also promises to more than double the lifetime of the fuel-cell stack.

The HySeries Drive system already is on the road in a Ford Edge prototype, which will be shown publicly for the first time at the Washington, D.C., Auto Show on 23 January.