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The Ford Escape Hybrid motorcar, launched in 2004, is a gas-electric hybrid powered version of the Ford Escape SUV developed by the Ford Motor Company and built in Kansas City, Missouri. It is the first hybrid SUV to hit the market. A similar vehicle will be sold by Mercury, the Mariner Hybrid, starting in 2007.
As of 2004, the Escape hybrid system is the most advanced available on the market. Previous hybrids have been smaller, lighter, vehicles; substantially more power is required to make such a system work in even a small SUV.
Ford plans to build 17,000 Escape Hybrids in the second half of 2004, four times as many as the company had planned to build. Consumer demand has been strong, as it was with the Toyota Prius.
The Escape Hybrid was named the North American Truck of the Year for 2005.
Performance
The Escape Hybrid's 133 hp gasoline engine and 94 hp electric motor combine to give performance similar to the 200 hp V6 engine commonly used in the regular Escape. The hybrid is stated to give approximately 75% greater efficiency, and is stated to achieve 33-36 mpg in city traffic and 29-31 mpg on the highway. Unlike regular cars, hybrids achieve better figures in the city because they do not wast power idling and can recover some power when stooping, by using regenerative braking, that would be wasted on a conventional vehicle.
Emissions
The Escape Hybrid meets both California's SULEV and PZEV standards, with tailpipe emissions better than 90% less than the average 2003 new car and zero evaporative emissions.
Development
The Escape hybrid uses technology similar to Toyota's Prius, which required Ford to license a number of Toyota patents. Both Ford and Toyota state that Ford received no Toyota technical assistance in developing the technology, although Ford has contracted Aisin AW, a Japanese auto component manufacturer part-owned by Toyota, to supply the hybrid systems. Aisin does not provide Toyota with hybrid components, and the system they and Ford have developed differs from the Prius' system. Ford-owned Volvo, which has worked with Aisin on transmissions before, is the third partner in the development. Sanyo of Japan will build the battery pack.
The disparaging story that Ford simply bought the technology completely from Toyota is without merit and has been denied by all companies involved, although certainly it builds on the ideas Toyota patented.
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