DETROIT ? Mary Ann Wright, who heads up Ford Motor Company?s hybrid and fuel cell efforts, said with the Ford Escape hybrid winning the North American Truck of the Year award vindicates all the effort Ford has put into developing alternative fuel vehicles.
Wright, Director of Sustainable Mobility Technologies and Hybrid Vehicle Programs for Ford, said winning the award will further motivate her 300-person development team, which worked 24/7 to get the Escape on the road.
In an interview Monday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit with Mitechnews.Com Editor Mike Brennan, Wright also emphasized how important hybrid gasoline and diesel vehicles as well as fuel cells are to the future of Ford. The entire interview follows in a question and answer format:
Q: So what does the Escape hybrid winning the North American Truck of the Year Award mean to you, your team and Ford?
A: Winning the North American Truck of the Year Award for the hybrid gasoline-electric Ford Escape does three things for Ford.
No. 1, it was a huge affirmation that we have really turned the corner and have some dynamite products on the road.
No. 2, after getting Truck of the Year for the Escape Hybrid after Prius got Car of the Year last year, this shows hybrids are no longer the quirky little products people thought they were, rather they are in the mainstream after winning the most prestigious awards we have in the auto industry.
Equally important is I?ve had a team that gave up everything to get this vehicle on the road. We gave up our weekends, we gave up our vacations and we were all really together. I split the team and put them on two shifts. We worked 24 hours a day.
In a few more months, we?re going to add four more name plates. The Fusion and Milan represent the next generation of technology. We announced we pulled the Mariner ahead of schedule by a year. We?re going to introduce it this fall.
Q: How big is your development team?
A: Right now we have about 300. We?re fully subscribed between all the hybrid programs and I also have the Focus fuel cell. We?re putting our first 30 unit demonstration project on the road, starting next month. We?re also working with the advanced marketing guys on the hydrogen ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) as a bridge to hydrogen fuel cells. We?re fully subscribed and we?re going to continue to grow.
Q: I interviewed several General Motors executives on Sunday at the roll out for the Sequel fuel cell vehicle. It seems like the auto industry is really committed to a hydrogen future.
A: If you look at the theme of the show this year, and look at the real news going on at the show, it?s hydrogen, hybrids, green. It?s not even limited to that. We?re talking about our PZEV (Partial Zero Emission Vehicle for California) Focus, our PZEV Fusion. It is definitely the auto show of the green machine, of environmental stewardship. On the hybrid front, it helps with the new players coming in addition to Ford and Toyota. In addition to Honda, volume is going to help grow regulatory attention. It?s going to help grow supplier capabilities. And it will help drive costs down, which all of us are going to focus on. Then when you get to the hydrogen that is a wide open space. And Ford is really going after the whole portfolio from clean diesels, hybrids, hydrogen ICE, plus fuel cells.
Q: The fuel cell arena still seems more of a ?what if? marketplace. General Motors predicted Sunday it will have fuel cell vehicles in production by the year 2010. Will Ford have fuel cell powered vehicles in production by 2010?
A: Commercially viable means mass production at mass production prices. It?s only five years away, and do I think we?re going to have really good (fuel cell) fleets out there in greater numbers? Yes. Do I think as many people that are driving hybrids will be driving fuel cells? No. We have a lot of technical challenges. Such as free start capabilities, useful life. We need a useful life as long as gas powered vehicles. Reliability. Cost. Even if we solved all those challenges, the infrastructure is not in place yet.
Then there?s codes and standards for transporting the fuel. Where is it going to be stored? We?re going to need to learn how to integrate hydrogen fuel stations into fossil fuel stations. Then we have to solve what is the source of the fuel. We know how to do it from fossil fuels, natural gas and so forth. We?ve also got to sort out nuclear, and wind, and water, and solar. Those are the places we need to get it. There?s an awful lot of stuff we have to solve, but I?ll tell you, it?s not a case of if; it?s a case of when. If we don?t start now seriously, that?s going to bode very seriously on our viability and our future.
Q: I?ve head (Ford Chairman) Bill Ford at press conferences say how committed Ford is to the green economy. Is it because Ford?s future is at stake?
A: Yes. That?s about it. But he said he?s not going to sacrifice any of the product programs in the pipe line. You can?t. You?ve got to plan for tomorrow because tomorrow is going to come. We really view this as our single biggest chance to open the door and figure out where it?s going to be 20, 30, 40 years from now. In 10 to 15 years, every vehicle you see on the road will be a hybrid. We?re going to do that for fuel economy, for performance. Something huge is going to have to happen to get the American people to say, ?I?m willing to sacrifice passenger accommodation and performance for fuel economy.? They are telling us I want fuel economy and lower emissions, but you better not take anything away from me. Right now they are willing to pay a premium for fuel economy, but that?s not going to last forever. We know that. And that?s why having Daimler and GM join the game and others getting involved, that?s good news for everybody.
Q: Executives at GM are openly advocating federal government assistance in developing the hydrogen infrastructure. Do you share their view?
A: I think that?s a resounding voice in the entire industry. Having the tax credits for hydrogen, that?s huge. Right now it?s not a factor when you?re buying a hybrid. But it will years from now. We?ve got to have the government lead code development, infrastructure development. It?s not going to happen just with the corporate and private sector driving this. It has to be government lead.
Take a look at what has happened in Japan. Do you think they would be where they are without government subsidies and support? They recognize Japan is a little island and they have had their government, their universities, their industry get behind this effort. The U.S. government must do the same.
