Ford Hybrid Vehicles

The renewed Ford quality that's on everyone's lips goes beyond simply the mechanical and technical excellence of today's Ford vehicles. Behind each Ford car and truck lies a multitude of innovations which, in addition to revolutionizing the technologies which power your vehicle, completely alter the way it is built in the factory.

Of course, there are the Ford hybrid vehicles. Leblanc Ford is proud to offer you the Ford Escape Hybrid and the Ford Fusion Hybrid, models which consume little fuel and thus considerably reduce the CO2 emissions which contribute to global warming.

At the same time, you may not know that Ford has for years been building vehicles equipped with "cleaner" engines, which run more efficiently and thus consume less fuel. In collaboration with a number of partners, Ford is developing technologies allowing for the use of cleaner fuels, while contributing to research into bio-fuels.

What's more, when you buy a Ford vehicle, you also encourage carmakers to follow cleaner manufacturing methods. In fact, Ford devotes its efforts to establishing more efficient and eco-friendly construction and assembly procedures in its own factories.

Advancements on the Horizon

We recognize that climate change is a significant global challenge that must be addressed. To do our part, we're pursuing multiple technological paths and working with partners to find new, more meaningful solutions that are affordable for customers and in line with Ford's plans to create safer, more fuel-efficient, quality products that customers desire and value.

Our key near-, mid- and long-term plans for sustainability revolve around the following vehicle improvements:

• EcoBoost: Our family of new gasoline turbo-charged direct injection engines.
• New Technology: A portfolio of innovations to achieve even greater fuel savings and emissions reductions.
• Bio-fuels: Products capable of running on renewable fuels such as bio-diesel and ethanol.
• Clean Diesels: More diesel engines in more products in more markets.
• Electric Vehicles: Aggressive development of hybrid technologies, such as plug-in hybrid electric and fuel cell vehicles.
• Hydrogen Power: A range of technology solutions, including hydrogen fuel cells and hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engines.

Smarter Manufacturing

Keeping things clean and efficient

We know it takes more than a single hybrid model in our lineup to succeed with our environmental commitments. That's why we're not only making vehicles that run more efficiently, but we're also manufacturing our vehicles in a more efficient manner.

Fumes-to-Fuel

Fumes-to-Fuel is an industry-leading pollution-control system that converts emissions from a manufacturing plant's paint shop into electricity to help power the plant. Ford engineers and researchers, in partnership with Canadian research institutions, helped develop this large-scale stationary fuel cell system.

The Dearborn, Michigan Truck Plant features a permanent installation of Ford's patented Fumes-to-Fuel technology. Ford's Oakville, Ontario assembly plant will feature the largest installation.

Internal energy use

Since the year 2000, Ford has reduced its global operational energy use by 27 percent overall (12 percent per vehicle built), CO2 emissions by 31 percent (16 percent per vehicle built), and water use by more than 25 percent (11 percent per vehicle built). These improvements can be attributed to a number of sustainability initiatives the company has implemented including the replacement or upgrade of heating, ventilating and cooling systems; improvements in lighting and vehicle painting systems, and water reduction and recycling projects.

Construction and land management

Ford's largest green building initiative is the redevelopment of the 600-acre Ford Rouge Center in Dearborn, Michigan, into a state-of-the-art lean, flexible, and sustainable manufacturing centre. The focal point of the centre, the Dearborn Truck Plant, boasts the world's largest living roof. A 10.4-acre field of vegetation and soil sits on the roof of the truck plant's final assembly building. This helps insulate the building and reduce storm water runoff.

Paint Shop of the Future

Ford's clean, efficient, and quality-driven Paint Shop of the Future produces fewer VOC and CO2 emissions by using innovative formulations and paint processes.

• Advanced chemical formulation — the new formulation contains more colour pigment and, therefore, reduces the amount of paint coats needed.
• Three coats of wet paint — the new formulation allows three layers of wet paint to be applied one on top of another and baked once, eliminating two paint ovens and resulting in a smaller, more energy-efficient paint shop.