Ford's Hybrid Cars: A Huge Steps towards Reducing gasoline consumption

Ford's Hybrid Cars have shown that gasoline consumption and air polution can be reduced

Car manufacturers are investing heavily on hybrid car development and the result is a wide choice of hybrid cars that are being continually improved. Ford is a key player in hybrid car manufacturing. If you drive a car, then you are no stranger to the escalating cost of gasoline. Hybrid cars are becoming very popular as the proven solution for concerned car drivers who wants to drive down the cost of running their car.

Today’s financial crisis comes as a main concern with the price hikes of main commodities and the tremendous raise in petroleum prices. More and more people—interest groups, government administrators, consumers and the industry are bothered by these. Since one cannot do away with transportation utilities, alternatives to the conventional gasoline engine are a current issue to both consumers and auto manufacturers.

The United States ranks as the world’s largest consumer of oil. Transportation is responsible for roughly 65 percent of petroleum use not to mention that it is likewise the major cause of air pollution. The Department of Energy sees the transitioning to vehicles which are fueled by less oil thereby yielding to higher gas mileage as the solution to the dependence on the already dwindling and too expensive resource that may lead to the reduction of pollution.

Hybrid cars are on the watch list. Several government leaders from all over America recommend the use of hybrid cars since they combine gas and electric fuel sources. Hybrid cars integrate a gasoline engine with both an electric motor and a powerful battery to continuously recharge and store energy therefore the configuration it produces allows less energy to be lost and holds a high gas mileage.

Practicality and technology speaks for the hybrids. Several manufacturers started coming up with their hybrid concepts to respond to the consumer and the present time’s call. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention, as Plato puts it. Ford is basically spurred by a sense of necessity, practicality, inevitability, and the reality that it is the ultimate relief to today’s downtrodden economy.

Ford Escape Hybrid is the very first vehicle to combine SUV capability with an outstanding fuel economy and low environmental impact. True to the qualities possessed by an SUV leader, Ford’s Escape Hybrid drives normally, performs superbly, and contains no compromise features expected of an efficient SUV.

"When we began work on Escape Hybrid, we made a commitment to delivering a no-compromise, authentic Ford SUV that's fun to drive, spacious, comfortable and capable, with substantially lower fuel use and emissions," said Mary Ann Wright, director, Sustainable Mobility Technologies and Hybrid Programs, Ford Motor Company. "Mission accomplished! It's wonderful to see the vehicle we originally envisioned resonating so strongly with customers," she added.

Escape Hybrid has earned the highest fuel economy numbers for an SUV as certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with its 36 mpg city/31 mpg highway/33 combined in front-wheel-drive configuration; 33 mpg city/29 mpg highway/31 mpg combined for the four-wheel-drive model. It is certifiably a clean vehicle to run and operate producing 97% less hydrocarbon and oxides of nitrogen emissions than vehicles that meet the nationwide Tier I emissions standard. No wonder Ford Escape Hybrid has been named "North American Truck of the Year" for 2005.

Jenny McLane works as a Market Analyst for one of the country's leading auto parts distributors. She has been in the auto parts industry for over ten years now.

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