Weight reduction is key to Ford’s green car goals

We reported on Ford’s movement toward building more electric cars. But the company says the first of those all-electrics (and the bulk of its electric-car effort) won’t arrive until 2012. So what’s the company doing in the meantime?

The immediate emphasis is on higher-tech, traditional solutions, such as more efficient engines and lighter weight, according to Nancy Gioia, Ford’s director of sustainable mobility technology and hybrid vehicles. At a recent, Ford-hosted event, Gioia laid out the company’s green motoring strategies.

Through 2012, the company is increasing production of four-cylinder engines, substituting smaller high-tech turbocharged units for larger ones with similar output, and increasing the use of six-speed automatic transmissions and electric power steering.

In the medium term, the company plans to introduce more hybrids and battery-electric vehicles. It has also set a goal to cut 500 to 750 pounds from each vehicle in its lineup as it is redesigned.

Looking further down the road, Gioia safely predicts an increased use of alternative fuels.

Ford expects rising gas prices over the long term to drive a shift toward smaller, more efficient cars – “more efficient packages,” Gioia called them.

While Ford has small diesels in Europe, Gioia said the company doesn’t see enough demand for them in the United States for now, because of comparatively high fuel prices.

Ford believes that climate change is real, and that emissions of greenhouse gasses must be reduced. However, according to Ford, CO2 reduction targets cannot be met just by making more efficient vehicles or by using “greener” fuels – it will take both. Even counting emissions from electric power generation, electric cars bring a net reduction in CO2 emissions, Gioia says.

—Eric Evarts

Read: “An early look at Ford's Fusion Hybrid,” "Ford's road map for electric and electrified cars," and visit our guide to green driving.