In the past year there has been a plethora of news about the American car companies. General Motors and Chrysler have received a large extent of the attention due to their acceptance of government bailout money. On the other hand, Ford Motor Company never put in a bid for bailout money, which has caused them to slip into the background and be forgotten. I am happy to learn that Ford has quietly been positioning the company for electrification. Next year Ford will release the 2011 Transit Connect EV with the hopes that it will be the perfect utility van for companies based in large cities. One year later, the 2012 Ford Focus EV is set to be released to the public. Prototypes of the electric Focus can be seen throughout Hollywood and on the Jay Leno Show in the Green Car Challenge. Its release in 2011 will make it one of the first commercially available all-electric sedans. Ford’s ambitious plans include many more electric vehicles to be on the road soon after the Focus. In order to design these new cars and electric power trains, Ford engineers need to go back to school. That is the reason Ford has partnered with the University of Detroit Mercy to create an Advanced Electric Vehicle Program. There are a total of seven classes that will help Ford engineers and other engineers gain the skills needed to design electric automobiles. This is all exciting news and I look forward to hearing more from the Ford Motor Company.
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