Electrify your petrol car

Ford has applied for patent on a technology that will power all of a vehicles electrical systems using a large capacity battery with a plug-in system. Now what would this mean for an average consumer? All the electrics in a regular petrol (og diesel, for that matter) car will be powered by a battery that you can charge from an electric outlet at home, increasing the fuel efficiency by 15-20 percent.

Will there possibly be a kit I could install on my grotesquely thirsty SUV?

Ford Explorer 2011 with impressive fuel economy

The 2011 year model of the Ford Explorer was revealed yesterday, and I have to say I was impressed. The old Explorer looks like it was designed in the early 80's (which it probably was...), whereas this new model basically looks on par with the European and Asian competitors. Who would have though.

As if that wasn't enough, the Explorer has another ace up its sleeve: The 4-cylinder 2.0 liter Ecoboost engine delivering 240 hp and 340 nm torque. Not the most impressive figures perhaps, but the impressive part is the fuel consumption. Ford says it will do 19 mpg in city driving, around 12,4 l/100km. That means it will probably end up somewhere around 8 l/100km (close to 30 mpg!) in rural driving, and a combined consumption under 10 l/100km. For a full-size 4WD SUV. Wow! For the record there will be a 3,5 liter V6-enigine available as well, marginally more power and way higher fuel consumption.

My only question is: When will we get an Ecofuel version of the Ecoboost engine? I wouldn't mind driving a Ford Explorer on E85 doing 14 l/100km. Hell, that's less than my petrol-fuelled SUV uses today.

So Ford, pretty please, give us a 2.0 Ecoboost Ecofuel, thank you so much.

Ford Kuga - what a big mistake

Well, not the car itself. It actually looks decent, and hopefully drives decent as well. The big mistake is the new engine option available from early 2009: The 2.5 liter, 5-cylinder old fart that's available in several Volvos and Fords. Looking at the numbers , no one will be impressed:

Combined fuel economy: 9,9 l/100 km (10,3 l/100 km with automatic transmission)
Top speed: 208 km/h.

The sad part is that the engine itself is actually available as a flex-fuel (E85 and gasoline), that can be found in the Volvo V70, for instance. Why Ford didn't just go for that one is a mystery to me. Have they failed to see the massive demand for clean and cheap fuel? Oil is not the future.