STAR: Focus Electric steals show
Ford’s first zero-emission family car, the Focus Electric, is starring at this week’s Low Carbon Vehicle Event 2013 (LCV2013).
Visitors to Millbrook Proving Ground, Bedfordshire, today and tomorrow can be the first to drive the 142PS, 85mph vehicle in the UK.
They are also able to sample Ford’s class-leading low-emission petrol and diesel vehicles and gain an overview of future technologies being developed at Ford’s UK technical centres.
Transport Minister Norman Baker will meet senior Ford technical staff from the company’s Dunton Technical Centre, including product development chief Graham Hoare.
Mr Hoare will give Ford’s view on the future of the internal combustion engine and hybrid power units.
He will also tell LCV2013 that the most significant overall reductions in carbon emissions will come from traditional power units such as Ford’s turbo-powered, direct-injection EcoBoost engines.
“The internal combustion engine has not reached the end of the road,” said Mr Hoare.
“EcoBoost represents the current ‘state of the art’ in petrol technology and future improvements will deliver further efficiencies and CO2 reductions.
“In the medium term the internal combustion engine will remain the high-volume propulsion solution, supplemented increasingly by electrification and mild hybridisation.”
Ford’s 1.0litre EcoBoost power unit, International Engine of the Year this year and in 2012, is on display in a road-registered Formula Ford-inspired track car.
Ford models available to drive at LCV2013 include the Focus Electric, B-MAX, Fiesta, Focus and Transit Custom, each with a range of super-green engines.
Senior technicians from Dunton Technical Centre and the Dagenham Diesel Centre in Essex will staff the Ford stand at LCV2013.
Leaders in their fields of research, they will be on hand to offer insights into Ford’s future technologies and strategies.
