Ford Motor Co. will use its Focus as the base for its first production fuel cell vehicle that will go on sale by 2004, the company said Monday. Fuel cells, which use hydrogen to create electricity with no pollution, have become the center of much advanced research by automakers, who believe they could eventually replace internal combustion engines over the next several decades. Many automakers, including Ford, General Motors Corp., DaimlerChrysler, Toyota and Honda have all committed to building small numbers of fuel cell vehicles by 2004. But there have been few specifics about what kind of vehicles the automakers were considering. Ford said the Focus FCV fuel cell car it unveiled in Las Vegas Monday was a production prototype of the car it hopes to build in four years.
Fuel cells use hydrogen to create electricity with no pollution.
As built today, the FCV has a range of about 100 miles and power that's comparable to a current Focus, Kopf said. A road test there is scheduled to start in November. Fuel cells have several problems that have to be worked out before they're ready for widespread use. Today's fuel cell prototypes would be far more expensive than regular cars, even in mass production. Kopf said the production Focus FCV will likely be sold mostly for use in business fleets that can install equipment for handling hydrogen.