Gas 2.0 |
| Driving Green Technology: Part 2 Posted: 13 Jan 2011 03:32 PM PST
Ford's Test and Development Center As you might expect, our group got a lot of speeches from Ford representatives. The one that stuck out in my mind though came from Sue Cischke, Vice President of Sustainability. Cischke spoke to us at Ford's test track, where we learned about the Blue Oval's sustainability efforts world wide, and the challenges both the company, and the human species face. Ford touted its own success with water reclamation technology, lowering its overall global energy use through use of sustainable and better business practices. Indeed, Ford did a great job of making themselves look…great. While I didn't get to ask my particular question (something about how will automakers make cars lighter while adding more and more technology) my colleagues did ask some pretty enlightening questions. One in particular had to do with mass transit, and apparently while Ford isn't looking to jump into this field anytime soon, they have given it some thought. Interesting.  Me just happy to be behind the wheel of something with a turbo After the speech, some of us were ushered outside to the test track, where I saw my prize; an EcoBoost F-150. Alas, it was not meant to be, as I was herded along to a different set of vehicles which mostly consisted of Fiesta's and Fusion Hybrids. So I know this was supposed to be about green technology, but of all the great vehicles Ford makes, and of all the awesome vehicles they showed off at the show, the best they could come up with were some Fusions and Fiestas? Lame. Sure, there was an Explorer and a Taurus SHO (which I made an immediate beeline for) thrown in for good measure, and it was a bit silly of me to expect them to put a Mustang or even a Focus Electric out on the field for us to play with. Honestly though, I was hoping for more. If I wanted to test drive a Fiesta, I'd go down to a dealership. But I was one a race track! I wanted to have a car that could be pushed…like that EcoBoost F-150. I never got a chance to drive the EcoBoost F-150, as snowy conditions made the track unfit for a bunch of bloggers to drive around. Nuts. At least the SHO was fun. While Ford had many plans for that day, the wintery weather threw a metaphorical wrench into our plans. Before we were collectively carted off to the airport, however, my group got to go check out the VIRTTEX safety simulator. Think of it like a flight simulator, but for cars. This $12 million piece of machinery had an old Taurus X at the center of it, and was designed to test out things such as driver fatigue, distraction, and ways to prevent accidents. After a brief introduction to the system, the engineers asked if there was a volunteer who wanted to pilot the machine. My hand shot up right away, and sure enough I was picked to "drive" the simulator. Booyah!  Distracted virtual driving With 12 feet of articulation in any direction, I can honestly say that in just about every way, this feels like a genuine driving experience. The device has been used to study ways to prevent drivers from falling asleep at the wheel, or to warn them of impending doom. I got a taste of this by being put through a test. I was asked to read numbers off of a monitor in the center console. The numbers took just three seconds to flash on screen and I had to read them aloud. As I was reading the third set of numbers, suddenly a warning bell rang and a flashing light lit up just above my instrument gauge. A virtual truck had slammed to a stop in front of me! I stomped the brakes and just barely avoided a virtual accident. My Ford co-pilot seemed impressed, as was I. This system, if it works in the real world, might actually save lives. Other systems they showed me were a variety of lane departure warning systems, some that beeped, some that blinked, and others that bumped the seat. I can now understand how such a system could be useful; I also want one to hook up to my Xbox (hey, a guy can dream.) After that, it was time to return home. While my flight was delayed and we sat on the runway for over an hour, I did manage to make it home just in time for another blizzard to wallop New England. Again, I'd like to thank Ford for giving us an opportunity to be there; next time I go to Detroit, I hope to do so on my own dime. But with the connections I made, and the info I learned, I'll be able to provide you, my readers, with some awesome content in the coming months. Stay tuned. Chris DeMorro is a writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to Hemis. You can follow his slow descent into madness at Sublime Burnout.
|
| The Ford “Driving Green Technology” Experience: Part 1 Posted: 13 Jan 2011 10:08 AM PST
Due to the length of this article, I’m breaking it up into two parts. Part Two will be posted up a little later today. Enjoy! It is important to me that you understand that well before any of this, I was a Ford fan. Indeed, I currently own three Ford-made vehicles (though my daily driver is a Jeep), so really, this was an awesome experience for me. But Ford asked us specifically to report honestly. That we don't sugarcoat anything in Ford's favor. Fair enough, so let us begin. Ford River Rouge Factory Tour On Tuesday morning, the Blue Oval took the lot of us to their Rouge plant located in Dearborn, Michigan. I've never been on a Ford factory tour before, and it was obvious from the get-go that this was pretty much your standard-fare tourist tour. It started with a movie that briefly encapsulated the history of Ford, and the massive Rouge complex (which is over a mile long and ¾ of a mile wide). The video was your standard-fare coporate back-patting, made in conjunction with the smiling faces of UAW workers. While a lot of time was spent on the early years of the complex, the video pretty much glazed over the last sixty years. The Rouge complex currently builds America's favorite vehicle, the Ford F-series trucks, so we were next treated to a "multimedia experience" of the vehicle building process. Aside from some strobe lights and a light misting, it was altogether unimpressive and hard to keep track of things going on 360 degrees around me. It was neat, I guess, but again I was left wanting.  Would be green, if it wasn't white... While my tour did get off to a slow start, the trip to Ford's "green roof" was the next stop, and it was a bit of an eye-opener. While there was no green to really behold, being it winter in Michigan and all, the green roof project essentially covered the assembly line facility in sedum. This thick ground cover, in addition to other plants on the roof, isn't merely there to say "Hey look at this green nonsense here." Rather, the roof-top garden performs many jobs that would otherwise require more expensive architecture to resolve. For example, the sedum filters rainwater back into the nearby river. It also acts as a natural insulation, keeping the building cool in summer and hot in winter. On top of all that, this roof has double the expected lifespan of a normal, non-green roof. When you add this together with the natural lighting (that provides a surprising amount of light to the assembly line as I'll later find out) it winds up being a huge money saver for Ford.  The roof would look like this if it weren't winter This is the point I want businesses to understand, more than anything. Green shouldn't only be about saving the environment. It's hard to get people to understand something they can't see, like greenhouse gas emissions. But everybody understands money. Ford finally seems to have figured out that not only does going green look good from a moral standpoint, but they can save a ton of money too. Kudos. The green roof isn't Ford's only green improvement to the plant, as there are porous driveways, a small crab tree orchard, and even a sun-heated water system. Indeed, Ford does a lot with clean water, especially in H20-starved areas like Mexico and India (more on that later). From the green roof, we went to the assembly line.  American efficiency at its best There's not much to tell here. If you're like me, you find the process of making and building things absolutely fascinating, and watching a truck get put together was beyond awesome for me. For you guys though, it'd probably be pretty boring, so I'll spare you the details. I do want to point out though, that I did witness first hand some of the inefficiencies of UAW workers. For example, I saw one fellow whose sole job appeared to be driving the delivery cart, and another worker who just put moonroofs into trucks, so he was really only working every fourth or fifth vehicle while his neighbors worked on every one. Seemed a bit unfair to me, but that’s a debate for another day.From here though, Ford took us to their test track, where I finally got put behind the wheel of a Ford vehicle. Look for Part 2 later today to read about that experience. Chris DeMorro is a writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to Hemis. You can follow his slow descent into madness at Sublime Burnout.
|
| You are subscribed to email updates from Gas 2.0 To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment