Alt Ford, Part Deux: Ford also announced today that 20 demonstration E85-capable Escape Hybrids will be heading for six unspecified states for testing this spring. The announcement notes that driving an Escape Hybrid E85 instead of its gas-fueled sibling cuts CO2 emissions by one-quarter. It also notes (in keeping with Message Point Numero Deux, "reducing our dependence on foreign oil") that "if just 5 percent of the US vehicle fleet were powered by hybrids operating on E85 ethanol, oil imports could be reduced by about 140 million barrels a year."
Highlighting its marriage of hybrid electric power with flex-fuel capability, Ford bills the Escape Hybrid E85 as "the world's first hybrid vehicle capable of operating on blends of fuel containing as much as 85 percent ethanol." Ethanol, the announcement helpfully explains, is "a renewable fuel that can be produced from American-grown corn or sugar beets." And won't you sleep better knowing Ford is reducing our dependence on foreign corn? I know I will.
