Ford's Green Machine

[y2krog2000]

HYDRO-GENIUS

I'VE seen the future and it's powered by hydrogen. This week I was privileged to lead a convoy of the greenest vehicles in the world from Brighton to London, driving both a hydrogen-powered Ford Explorer and Focus.

The Revolve Eco-Rally was the largest ever gathering of hydrogen-powered vehicles - which are real, functioning cars from major motor manufacturers.

The idea of our green cavalcade was to show the public and the Government that the motor industry isn't just ready for the Big Change, it's actually driving it.

Hats off to Ford for spending untold billions on creating hydrogen prototypes, from which they won't see a return for at least a decade. My green SUV left me deeply impressed. Handsome, desirable, fast and cathedral-quiet, all that came out of my Explorer's exhaust pipe was water clean enough to drink.


Here's how it works. A Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell stores hydrogen to mix with oxygen, creating electricity to drive the wheels. The range is 350 miles, emissions zero and, if we had an infrastructure of hydrogen filling-stations, there'd be one sitting in your driveway right now.

The great thing about my hydrogen Explorer was that it was easy to drive, utterly conventional and, most important, sexy. We stopped in Croydon, where Malcolm Wicks, Minister for Science and Innovation, and Chris Grayling, Shadow Minister for Transport, both made impassioned speeches that their parties believe in the green agenda.

For the final leg of my green odyssey, I changed steeds from the Explorer to a Ford Focus Fuel Cell Vehicle, also powered by hydrogen. Amazingly, it was even more refined, quiet and user-friendly than the SUV. And, like the Explorer, all that comes out of the tail-pipe is warm air and water.

BMW fielded two hydrogen-powered 7-Series, Saab a 9-5 Biopower, Honda a Civic Hybrid and Vauxhall a hydrogen-powered Zafira, sponsored by Ikea. There was even an electric white van by Modec.

So it's time to forget the urban myth that the car industry doesn't want to change. It does and it's leading the charge. The public are far more enthusiastic about owning green cars than we ever dared believe. The only problem is the Government. They talk the talk, but are yet to walk the walk.

And who says you can't go fast and still be green? Caterham have just produced their X330, a one-off supercharged concept with a better power-to-weight ratio than the Bugatti Veyron or the McLaren F1.

With ultra-light steel chassis, lightweight wheels and lashings of carbon fibre, the X330 can manage 30mpg and pushes out less than 200g/km of CO2. And later this year it'll be running on bioethanol. That's supercar performance with a clean conscience.

TECH FILE

EXPLORER

Engine: 65kw Ballard Fuel Cell

Power: 175hp

0-60: 8.3

Max: 90mph Who'll Drive It: Only Ford boffins at the moment

Quentin Willson 10/06/2007

Clean enough to drink