• Detroit Free Press, Friday, April 16, 2010 10:43 AM

Ford executive chairman Bill Ford, an ardent and long-committed environmentalist, says "it appears that the biggest game-changer will be electric vehicles." He made the comment yesterday in a closing address to the SAE World Congress in Detroit.

The need to deliver fuel-efficient vehicles that meet the challenges of diminishing oil reserves, global warming and a desire by customers to spend less money on gas is driving the change, Ford says, pointing out that electric cars have been around for a century or so "but they really haven't had mass-market appeal."

Ford plans to introduce a Transit Connect Electric commercial van, a Ford Focus electric vehicle, two new gasoline-electric hybrids and a plug-in hybrid over the next three years, Brent Snavely reports. The company is also committed to improving the fuel economy of all of its new vehicles and announced that a new feature of its MyFord Touch system called Eco-Route that finds the most fuel-efficient route to a destination.

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