Hybrid Car Review

Ford recently backed away from its promise of 250,000 hybrids by 2010, and has instead promised more flex-fuel vehicles. It may have been the competition factor, or it may be the cost of building and researching better hybrid technology. But Treehugger thinks it may be about CAFE.

It seems in 1988, congress passed the Alternative Motor Fuels Act of 1988. As part of an incentive to auto makers to build cars capable of running on alternative fuels, Congress granted a "credit of up to 1.2 mpg toward an automobile manufacturers average fuel economy which helps it avoid penalties of the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards."

The Union of Concerned Scientists are estimating a 65% bonus in credited fuel economy.

But what may be more important is cost of implentation. It's a lot easier and cheaper to implement flex-fuel models throughout Ford's fleet of vehicles. The only problem for consumers is obtaining that flexible fuel. Most fueling stations do not carry the flexible fuel and probably won't for many years (if at all). So Ford gets a mpg boost while not changing any 'real world' values.

Source: Treehugger