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An industry group we've never heard of called "Experian Automotive" is reporting this morning nearly half of hybrid vehicle owners will buy a vehicle of the same brand when they buy another one, making them some of the most loyal customers in the industry. Of course, they may not be buying a hybrid again because they're apparently not the most segment-loyal. Who is? You guessed it, pickup truck owners. The specifics, and why this could be good for GM and Ford below the jump. Experian claims 47% of hybrid buyers choose another car from the same manufacturer, as opposed to 35% of buyers overall. Sounds like good news, but for whom? While the report may seem like a boost for Honda and Toyota — and it no doubt is — there's also a silver lining for GM and Ford. While the General doesn't have the best name recognition on its hybrid lineup, it does have two new hybrid trucks in the market starting second quarter of next year, which potentially could allow...
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Rather than make yet another Mustang derivative , Hybrid Electric Vehicle Technologies has done something relevant and managed to install a plug-in hybrid system in a Ford F-150 pickup truck. The resulting vehicle achieves a combined fuel economy of up to 41 MPG, up from a combined 16 MPG on the 2WD version of the truck. HEVT will now offer the technology as a retrofit on a limited basis as they conduct further testing in an effort to put it into mass production. See, how hard was that? Essentially, HEVT has fitted all the systems necessary to turn the F-150 into a parallel plug-in hybrid. Mounted behind the rear differential is an electric motor capable of 200 ft-lb of torque, while a stack of batteries is located in place of the crew-cab seats. A regenerative braking system is also fitted, as is a system enabling the engine to charge the batteries and for the engine to be uncoupled from the driven wheels. HEVT's own electronics and software package, called the Adaptive Control Unit...
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There's something distinctly bizarre about the idea of an all-electric Ford Mustang, even more so with a battery powered Shelby Cobra. Isn't part of the allure the throaty grumble of the exhaust, the fire and noise and fury of acceleration? Where's the passion when you simply press the go pedal in these HST International modified sports cars and you're fired from a silent slingshot to 60 MPH in only 3.9 seconds for the Stang, and 3.2 seconds for the Cobra. Sure that's damn fast, and you can get a 100 miles on an 8 hour charge at 120V, or a three hour charge at 220V, but still, we'd prefer to keep our E-cars separate from our muscle cars. Unless of course we roll like Fisker and just play that tune from the loud speakers. [ MotorAuthority ]
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With Valentine's Day creeping up on us, Russel Stover of eat-my-f'ing-chocolates fame should look into getting into the automotive industry by teaming up with Andy Pag and John Grimshaw, two blokes who recently drove a modified 1989 Ford Iveco Cargo from the United Kingdom to Timbuktu, all on biodiesel created from... chocolate. Mmmm... Timbuktu is in West Africa, by the way. Some info for those (like myself) who had no idea prior. The mission was more than just showing off the chocolate truck—the pair delivered a biodiesel processing unit to a charity in Timbuktu to allow the locals to create their own biodiesel from sustainable resources. The journey took the pair a month to complete. All equipment created and used was salvaged from scrap yards; the inventive duo will be leaving the chocolate truck in Timbuktu. This made me think of chocolate bunnies, those hollow Easter treats that we all love to decapitate. How about a real chocolate truck, confected along the same lines...
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The Ford Escape Plug-In Hybrid that is currently being evaluated in Southern California is capable of up to 120mpg. 20 vehicles have been delivered to Southern California Edison, who will run them as part of their fleet for two years. For the first 30 miles after a full charge, the Plug-In Escape delivers 4.5 times the mpg of the regular non-hybrid Escape. It takes six to eight hours to fully charge the Lithium Ion batteries from a standard 120-volt outlet; once that charge is depleted, the vehicle operates like a normal Escape Hybrid. Some of the vehicles will soon be handed over to selected residential SCE customers for further evaluation. If the results of this test are favorable, we hope gives Ford the ammo to push a similar vehicle into production. [Via Gizmag ] galleryPost('escapeplugin', 6, 'Ford Escape Plug-In Hybrid');
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More exciting action from the D.C Auto Show as Ford snuck some E85 news into the 2009 Ford Escape press release. The company's E-Series vans, Navigator and Expedition will be able to run on E85 fuel this year, which is good news for the small percentage of the people reading this that have access to the approximately 0.01% of gas stations in the United States that actually offer Ethanol and are suddenly in the market for a bold-faced commercial van. Excuse us if we're not that excited. We really wanted them to announce they were building an E-Series van that runs on straight vegetable oil. Press release below the jump. Press Release on E85 WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 22, 2008 - Today at the Washington Auto Show and Automotive News World Congress in Detroit, Ford Motor Company announced its hot-selling compact SUVs, the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner, will become more fuel efficient, more powerful and more connected for the 2009 model year. Ford also announced that it is expanding its...
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Ford has gone through on its promise to lead on technology that other automakers have already developed, delivering the first of 20 Plug-In Escapes to Southern California Edison. The Plug-In Escape achieves 120 mpg when the lithium-ion batteries are full charged (for the first 30 miles at least). The little hybrid gets the Ford advanced technology livery, which sort of flies in the face of the "I didn't feel the need to talk about hybrids" theme in their commercials. All things considered, this is a step forward, if only a small one. Press release below the jump: FORD DELIVERS FIRST ESCAPE PLUG-IN HYBRID TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON * First Ford Escape Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV) delivered to Southern California Edison as part of unique partnership to advance commercialization of PHEVs * Ford Escape Plug-In Hybrid with lithium-ion battery achieves up to 120 mpg * Two industries connected through a common fuel, changing the transportation and energy future ANAHEIM, Calif., Dec....
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Ballard Power Systems Inc. has been at the forefront of hydrogen fuel-cell technology, which means that the company has done a lot of research but hasn't made real money. Said one research analyst, the automotive fuel-cell sector has been a "black hole" for cash. The company tried to set themselves up to be the technological provider when the fuel cells took off, but that hasn't happened yet. It's not a complete loss as there are some buyers interested. Ford and Daimler AG, which own approximately 11% and 19%, respectively, are both in talks to buy that part of the business. The company could still continue to develop fuel cells for other uses, such as back-up power, heat and hot water and machinery. [ G&M ]
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Take one racing -tuned Ford Mustang , add a dollop of environmentally sensitive pretense and what do you get? If you said Steve McGreen , give yourself a slap. If you said the BioConcept Mustang GT RTD you were obviously looking over our shoulder. Ford...
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