Mild Hybrids in Motion

By Ron Cogan

Ford’s efforts in hybrid-electric vehicle development go back several decades, and while it would be easy to point to its new Escape Hybrid as the culmination of this work, that’s clearly not the case. There’s more coming. We know this because of Ford’s previous announcement of an upcoming mid-size hybrid sedan as well as a Mercury Mariner hybrid SUV, along with other hybrid work that’s just now emerging.

An example of Ford’s forward thinking is its micro hybrid Fiesta, the result of a research project at its Aachen Research Center in Germany. The goal with this vehicle is to achieve a reasonable fuel economy increase at a nominal cost. In this case, the micro hybrid Fiesta improves fuel economy by about 5% through its use of a Belt-driven Integrated Starter Generator (B-ISG), a system that operates as a generator and a starter combined in a single unit. Ford says this figure could rise to as much as 15% in heavy traffic with frequent stops, with a commensurate reduction in emissions.

In use, the Duratec 1.4-liter engine shuts down whenever the Fiesta comes to a halt in stop-and-go driving, and then restarts automatically when the accelerator or clutch pedal is operated or the brake pedal is released. Ford says the Fiesta micro hybrid is simply a research project, but quickly adds it could potentially be in production by 2006. You think?