FORD To Showcase Record Breaking Hydrogen Fuel Cell Powered Explorer at 2007 LA Auto Show – VIDEO ENHANCED

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LOS ANGELES – November 27, 2006: Ford Motor Firm will increase the bar in
the hydrogen gas cell race at the moment on the 2007 Los Angeles Auto Present when it
unveils an all-new gas cell powered Explorer that may journey 350 miles on
a single fill-up, greater than any gas cell automobile on the street.

The six-passenger gas cell Explorer is considered one of a number of autos with
inexperienced expertise that Ford may have on the present, together with the brand new 2008
Ford Escape Hybrid, the PZEV emissions compliant Ford Fusion and Ford Focus
and the 2008 Ford F-Collection Tremendous Responsibility with Ford Clear Diesel
Know-how®.

The gas cell Explorer prototype is a part of a sequence of autos
partially funded by a contract with the USA Division of Vitality.
The objective of the Know-how Demonstration Automobile program is to discover a
pathway for a gas various to petroleum that has much less environmental
impression than present powertrain expertise.

“We consider hydrogen might grow to be a viable motor gas within the
long-term,” stated Gerhard Schmidt, vp, Analysis & Superior
Engineering, Ford Motor Firm. “With these expertise
demonstration autos, Ford continues to prepared the ground within the improvement
of hydrogen expertise.”

Analysis into hydrogen, together with the hydrogen fuel-cell-powered Ford
Explorer, is a part of Ford’s total effort to deal with the challenges of
local weather change and vitality independence. Ford is transferring forward with a spread
of expertise options concurrently, together with autos such because the Ford
Escape Hybrid and Mercury Mariner Hybrid, hydrogen gas cells, hydrogen
inner combustion engines, ethanol, clear diesel and refinements to
gasoline fueled engines and superior transmissions. A few of the
expertise, akin to that seen in Ford’s lineup of hybrid autos,
represents near-term approaches. Different expertise, together with hydrogen cell,
should be considered as a long-term possibility.

Gas Cell Explorer

The primary automobile to be publicly unveiled from the Ford and DoE
demonstration program is the fuel-cell-powered Ford Explorer. Whereas it
comes outfitted with superior electrical all-wheel-drive just like the manufacturing
mannequin from which it’s based mostly, a center-mounted hydrogen storage tank now
occupies the area sometimes used for the 6-speed computerized transmission
present in manufacturing Explorer fashions. Finding the hydrogen storage tank in
this space allowed engineers to design a bigger tank and ship a
never-before-achieved 350-mile driving vary for a gas cell automobile. This
distinctive design maintains Explorer’s six-passenger seating association
and the cargo capability discovered within the manufacturing Ford Explorer.

In lower than one yr, the gas cell Explorer has accrued greater than
17,000 miles, together with a world-record drive of 1556 miles in a single
24-hour interval, essentially the most of any gas cell automobile thus far. The document was
set by Ford engineers on the new Dearborn Improvement Middle take a look at facility
in Dearborn, Mich.

In January, on the 2007 North American Worldwide Auto Present, Ford
will unveil the subsequent automobile on this sequence of demonstration autos.

Hydrogen A part of a Broader Effort At Ford

Ford first started engaged on hydrogen expertise within the early Nineties.
Ford’s first hydrogen gas cell automobile, launched in 2001, was based mostly
on a light-weight aluminum sedan physique, which additionally was used within the
improvement of the corporate’s first hydrogen-powered inner
combustion engine.

The corporate presently has a fleet of 30 hydrogen-powered Focus gas cell
autos on the street as a part of a worldwide, seven-city program to conduct
real-world testing of gas cell expertise. The fleet has accrued extra
than 300,000 miles since its inception. With this fleet on the bottom, a
nice deal of knowledge that may be built-in into future gas cell
automobile propulsion programs is being generated in numerous native
environmental situations.

Having the fleet exterior the confines of Ford Motor Firm additionally has
allowed the staff to achieve precious suggestions on servicing autos within the
discipline. As a hydrogen infrastructure is developed and applied for the
fleet at every location, classes realized are being generated to insure that
the client and hydrogen fueling interface is seamless and buyer
pleasant.

TDV 2 Specs

Weight			2560 kg 
Seating 		6-passenger 
Hydrogen Storage	10 kg at 700 bar 
Vary			350 miles 
Gas Economic system		35 mpg M-H 
Energy			60 kW Gas Cell 
Motor			130 kW (Twin 65 kW) Electrical Motors 
Batteries		50 kW hybrid battery