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Ford CEO Mullaly expects many Fords to be electric in a decade

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:29:00 +0000

Click above for high-res gallery of the Ford Focus EV “mule” Ford may have been relatively quiet on the electric vehicle front while General Motors got all the attention for its Chevy Volt series hybrid, but the Blue Oval has come roaring back in recent months. It was revealed in its viability plan submitted to Congress back in December that an electric commercial van would be launched just one year from now followed by an electric car the next year. According to CEO Alan Mulally, that’s just the start. At a conference in California this week, Mulally declared, “In 10 years, 12 years, you are going to see a major portion of our portfolio move to electric vehicles.” Mulally told the conference that internal combustion efficiency will also improve dramatically over the next decade, and more hybrids will join the lineup including a plug-in hybrid that will debut in 2012. Ford is shifting a significant proportion of its truck building capacity to cars over the next two years and the company doesn’t expect truck sales to recover to their previous record heights. While fuel prices are low now, they are expected to climb again as the economy recovers. The shifts to cars and more hybrid and electric vehicles will be necessary to meet both market demands created by those expected higher fuel prices and government mandates for higher fuel efficiency. Gallery: ABG Quick Drive: Ford Focus EV mule Photos Copyright (C)2009 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc. [Source: Automotive News , sub. req'd] Auto Blog: EV/Plug-in , Hybrid , Ford Ford CEO Mullaly expects many Fords to be electric in a decade originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green

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Ford CEO Mullaly expects many Fords to be electric in a decade

Elon Musk reportedly sets trap for loose lipped employees

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 11:46:00 +0000

The breathless style of writing at which Valleywag has made a name for itself isn’t the sort of thing we often link to, but we’ll make an exception today. According to the Gawker team , Tesla CEO Elon Musk is not making any friends in his own company; in fact, Valleywag claims that Musk recently tried to pinpoint people on his team who may be leaking confidential information to the media. The tactic? Sending each employee a slightly altered version of an email about stopping the leaks and then checking to see which version made it to the media. It reportedly backfired in a pretty big way. Valleywag reports that Musk did not let his own executives know of this plan to smoke out the leaker. One of them unknowingly forwarded his version of the email within the company, which made it clear to the rest of Tesla’s workforce that they were being set up. We contacted Tesla about this story, but got a simple “No Comment.” That’s fine for us, but it might be a long, long month before the Model S unveiling on the 26th . Follow the source link to Car Blog Greena version of the email, presumably one of many, that Musk sent to his employees. Thanks to Yanquetino for the tip! [Source: Valleywag ] Auto Blog: Etc. , EV/Plug-in , Tesla Motors , Green Daily Elon Musk reportedly sets trap for loose lipped employees originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green

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Elon Musk reportedly sets trap for loose lipped employees

NYT drives electric Ford Focus mule

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 07:39:00 +0000

Filed under: EV/Plug-in , Ford , Detroit Auto Show , USA While it took months for GM to let the media drive its Volt mule , Ford has wasted no time in giving Bill Vlasic of the New York Times a chance to try out its own all-electric Ford Focus-based prototype. The company just announced the existence of the vehicle a few days ago. Accompanied by Ford’s Nancy Gioia and Barbara Samardzich, the reporter toured the streets of scenic Dearborn, Michigan while asking questions of his two handlers. Given the urban setting for the drive, there were no pedal-to-the-metal or other performance tests that might seek out the edge of the vehicles capabilities but we did learn a few things about the car. It’s weight, for example, is a couple hundred pounds more than the gas-powered version and its battery can store 23 kWh of energy. That should be enough to take the car 75 to 100 miles. Bill says it accelerates and handles like a normal car but is more quiet (surprised?). Here’s the link to check out this “first drive” for yourselves. We’ll have the AutoblogGreen first drive report up in short order. [Source: New York Times ] NYT drives electric Ford Focus mule originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Tue, 13 Jan 2009 08:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green

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NYT drives electric Ford Focus mule