Wow even more “electrified” news from Ford: They announced an Escape Hybrid.
On top of that Ford Europe posted another EV video:
Wait “All cars”? (yeah right..oh wait in Europe?)
Still a plug-in hybrid Escape will be cool (see linked article above) although only 30 miles electric only range–I’d hope to see 50 miles these days (yeah always want more).
Hot on the heels of the videos is some Ford hardware in the form of PHEV’s (and announced BEVs but nothing showing yet). Well it is the Frankfurt Motor show this week.
Ford brings three new plugins-to Frankfurt. Very interesting indeed…of course no plug-in love for the US from Ford….
Hey look what Ford of Europe dropped a day ago? A couple of interesting videos (interesting to this blog and my two readers):
They actually show a prototype and everything?! Wow Ford actually built something. But note: These are Europe videos–think Ford USA would show anything like that?? (Well ok they did show the electric F-150 stunt not too long ago so…)
Since there is a prototype you can see its basic shape at least–looks like the SUV Ford has been talking about (probably the one that they were going to call “Mach I” that everyone got upset about).
Come on Ford…more (and show more in the US please).
It is common that you notice more of the car you’re driving (once you get a new, different, car you start noticing that car more). Often you’ll find drivers of certain niche vehicles waving at each other. Something that has been promoted by their advertising (notably Jeep, and Harley Davidson). More ubiquitous cars don’t have such a cult (you don’t see Ford Escape or pickup owner’s waving back and forth–they’d always be waving).
I mentioned this behavior in a past post about the Bolt saying that I think there are too many Bolts on the road to prompt a response from fellow drivers. This may also be reflective of the area I live in: since the cars are designed and, sometimes, built in the area many of the drivers aren’t necessarily owners. (Of course all of this is anecdotal from my sample size of one.) Nonetheless I haven’t witnessed many, if at all, Bolt drivers waving back. (Focus Electric drivers never got the chance to wave since it took too long to get the look of shock off their face at seeing another one on the road to wave at! LOL)
Imagine my surprise, then, when driving down a local freeway a fellow Bolt driver pulls up next to me and waves. Not just the driver, however, every passenger in the car (all children) were also waving and flashing a vigorous thumbs up. After a second or so they sped off on their way. Hey maybe there are a few Bolt owner’s willing to acknowledge a fellow Bolt.
In an earlier post I mentioned that we were getting some driveway work done where I discussed my solution to charging when I can’t park close to the charger.
Well, that day has come: We no longer have a driveway and have to park (and charge) in the street. Now I can post a similar picture to the one in the above linked post, except that there is no concrete…!
So far so good: No parking tickets (I would hope our local police are a bit understanding in that we don’t have a place to park), the cord was still there in the morning, and, most importantly, the car was fully charged. We will have to live like this for the next 3 weeks or so (once the concrete is poured it can’t be driven on while it cures). Of course I could always charge up at a local public charger (most of which are free–except the fast ones) but where is the fun in that (to be fair I have used many of the local free chargers in the past, and will likely do so in the future this just posed another challenge to overcome).
Well what do you know Ford has actually demonstrated something!? What?? Well take a look see:
Indeed that is an all electric F-150 pulling a train. Sure it is a bit of a stunt but what car manufacturer isn’t above the odd stunt now and then?
Anyone who is familiar with EV’s already knows that you get all the torque at low speeds so the result of this demonstration should be no surprise. The other major questions here (other than what is the brand of the tow strap they are using! sheesh) are what will be the truck’s ultimate range, price, availability, etc.
If Ford felt confident enough to showcase this they must be somewhat close (or is this just an F-150 with Rivian parts in it?? After all Ford did make a deal with them). Lets just posit that they are: If they could have a production e-F-150 on sale as early as this fall they would have the corner on that market for a good while (even the aforementioned Rivian won’t have anything for another year or so). Especially since its THE Ford F-150 that would be huge. Ok speculation over: Its probably more like 2 or 3 years away even at the pretty polished state it appears to be in the video…
As I mentioned in the last post: When we travel with the Bolt it gets dragged around instead of driving. We just returned from a week long trip to New Jersey dragging the Bolt all the way.
First to Jersey City at Liberty Harbor RV park (camping on asphalt!)
Then at The Depot Travel Park in Cape May, NJ.
Didn’t notice any strange looks (a EV with Michigan plates driving around?); I did notice a ton of Tesla’s and no other EV’s. Tesla’s where everywhere. The only other non-Tesla EV I saw was ours. (Comparing this to my last few trips to California: there were EVs of all manufacturers everywhere in CA.)
Our sightseeing activities only amounted to about 100 miles or so. I charged up once: About 1/2 way through the trip the car was at 1/2 a “tank”–didn’t really need the charge but this was the first time the Bolt charged at a campground.
It was very nice to have a small car driving around the tight areas on the East Coast (this was only highlighted by the trek into the campground with camper and car in tow). The Bolt easily fit in small spots and narrow roads, even the small one way lanes (I’d call them an alley).
After this successful long trip, perhaps we’ll plan some more….
