August 2004

E-Mail This Article Printer-Friendly Version Ford Motor Co.’s European hydrogen i.c. Focus C-MAX demonstrator.

STUTTGART – Following in the footsteps of its earlier Dearborn-bred cousin, the “Hydrogen ICE Hybrid Research Vehicle,” Ford Motor Co. rolled out a European hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine demonstrator here last month.

Ford presented its Ford Focus C-MAX multi-purpose vehicle at the mid-July research conference of the German Automobile Manufacturers Association (VDA), attended by German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. The demonstrator was developed by Ford’s research center in Aachen.

The basic powerplants for both the U.S. and the European versions seem to be identical, a 2.3 liter supercharged intercooled production engine used in various Ford models in the United States and Europe and also by Mazda in Japan. The American version, based on a Focus station wagon which was introduced last summer (H&FCL July 03, Nov. 03), also featured a fancy hybrid transmission system that doubled as an electric drive motor. Ford didn’t say in its release whether the same configuration was used in the 110 hp (82 kW) European Focus C-MAX but it seemed likely.

Like the American version, the C-MAX incorporates three 350 bar (5000 psi) compressed hydrogen tanks - two in the trunk and one under the floor - holding close to 2.8 kg of hydrogen, good for a range of about 200 km (125 miles).

Unique among major car manufacturers, Ford regards the adaptation of i.c. engines to hydrogen fuel as an important stepping stone to a hydrogen- and fuel cell-powered future, in part by helping jump-start the creation of a hydrogen fuelling infrastructure.

“It is likely that the commercial viability of the hydrogen fuelled internal combustion engine will be established earlier than the fuel cell, since the appeal of this type of engine has developed over a period of more than 100 years,” said Ford in its C-MAX announcement.

The only other manufacturers working with hydrogen i.c. engines are Japan’s Mazda, a Ford subsidiary, and BMW. The German company never joined the stampede to fuel cells as main power plants, concentrating on liquid hydrogen i.c. technology for more than two decades, but it is working on fuel cells as on-board APU power generators. Contact: Ford (media) Monika Wagner 049/241 94 21-212, mwagner@ford.com.