In the process of developing its new Fusion Hybrid and other plug-in vehicles, Ford said it now owns 461 hybrid patents including those for the powertrain enabling the Fusion Hybrid to achieve 47 mpg and the Fusion Energi plug-in to hit a projected 100 MPGe.
Among its most talented inventors, Ford made mention of Ming Kuang, who has helped Ford since 2000 to expand its portfolio of hybrid patents from just 10 patents when he began to 461 today.
“The work on the Fusion Hybrid is all about a commitment I made a long time ago to have a positive effect on our environment,” said Kuang. “It’s about helping make the world my children live in – and the world my children’s children will live in – a better place.”
Ming Kuang has 40 patents to his name and Ford would not be producing its plug-in and other hybrids without his intellectual capital contribution.
Kuang was behind nearly 10 percent of the 461 hybrid patents, Ford said, and 25 of his 40 hybrid patents have gone from mere draft form to actual production of key components of Ford’s powersplit architecture system. This system is used on the Fusion Hybrid and Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid.
The company’s prolific run of patents represents a 50-fold increase, Ford said, and signals a solid commitment to growing its intellectual property despite the economic downturn.
“Ford continued to invest to develop new products like our new Fusion hybrids during the depths of the economic downturn,” said Chuck Gray, Ford chief engineer of Global Core Engineering Hybrid and Electric Vehicles. “We succeeded in transforming our lineup with leading fuel efficiency, thanks in part to the many Ford inventors who are helping make our Fusion Hybrid America’s most fuel-efficient sedan.”
Ford went on to say in a press release that “as recent as 2000 Ford owned just 10 patents that it classified as hybrid technology.”
With the evolution of the Escape Hybrid things began to slowly change, Ford said. This vehicle was the first hybrid made by a U.S.-based automaker, but by 2002 Ford conceded it had only around 30 hybrid patents.
Having graduated from the University of California-Davis in 1991, Kuang got busy in those early days of Ford’s hybrid technology development.
“The level of cohesiveness wasn’t anywhere close to where it is today,” said Kuang. “For example, research and advanced engineering and product development didn’t work as closely as they do today, slowing the pace of innovation.”
However, things began to ramp up in the mid-200s, Kuang said, while giving a plug to the the launch of the “One Ford” strategy intended to “accelerate development of new products customers want and value.”
“We stopped trying to create and fix one-off, niche vehicles, and it made all the difference in the world,” he said.
Ford said better collaboration clued inventors to where opportunities exist.
In the last three years alone, the number of inventions submitted to Ford’s legal team to be considered for patents has increased more than 25 percent.
2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid.
But David Kelley, a Ford attorney who handles hybrid patents, said Ford doesn’t engage in the practice of getting patents for the mere sake of getting patents.
“We get the high-quality patents that Ford really needs,” said Kelley. “With the high level of innovation from people like Ming, it makes sense that we should see our hybrid patent levels increase the way they have.”
Eric Kuehn, Ford’s chief engineer, global electrified programs, said also spoke positively on Ford’s level of innovation and being part of a team that has created the Fusion Hybrid and Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid.
“One of the best parts of being involved with Ford’s electrified vehicle group is that they are never satisfied,” said Kuehn. “They are always striving to go further and see how far they can push toward creating even larger gaps between Ford and its competitors. That is ingrained in the culture and mindset of the team here and isn’t going to change anytime soon.”
This entry was posted on Monday, February 20th, 2012 at 12:26 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
+10
Feb 20th, 2012 (12:35 pm)Go Ford. Go GM. Go everyone. Let’s get more on the road.
+10
Feb 20th, 2012 (12:36 pm)Surprised to see a new article on this site today, especially on a holiday! Thanks Jeff!
+6
Feb 20th, 2012 (1:00 pm)My hat is off to the Ford hybrid team. I think the coming Fusion Hybrid and Plug-in Energi are winners IMO. I was critical of Ford the last few years as I thought they were moving too slowly in the field of plug-in vehicles. But with the Fusion Energi in particular, they are raising the bar for the entire field. A gorgeous middle market 5 seater that gets 100 mpg is a game changer in its own right. GM has no choice but to answer this challenge, with no less than an EREV Malibu (I’m hoping).
+7
Feb 20th, 2012 (1:22 pm)My hat is off to Ford as well. This new fusion is absolutely great looking, it seats five, and it’s not a tiny car. It’s not an ugly Prius styled copycat, yet it can get 47mpg city and 44mpg highway. Actually from all appearances it looks like a normal car with great styling. Good job Ford.. Com’on GM catch up.. Put an EREV in the newly styled Malibu.. I’m a Chevy guy, but that new Ford has got my attention.
+5
Feb 20th, 2012 (1:23 pm)Has anyone seen an article in which a Ford employee states that the GenII or GenIII Ford Hybrids DON’T need the patent trade that Ford and Toyota made to make sure that Ford wouldn’t get sued by Toyota over similarities between the Toyota HSD and the Ford hybrid system? I have seen several authors say they thought that Ford’s new GenII hybrid system for the Escape Hybrid (alas, we hardly knew ye!) and the Ford Fusion hybrid system (47 mpg city!) or the the new GenIII C-Max hybrid (42 mpg combined?) coming out later this year.
I remember the deal Ford made with Toyota trading DI tech to Toyota to keep Toyota from suing them over the similarities to Fords GenI hybrid system, but if that deal is no longer needed, it would be an interesting statement about how far Ford has come on hybrids.
Feb 20th, 2012 (1:56 pm)There appears to be a lot of suing going on in the hybrid arena.
http://green.autoblog.com/2012/02/19/paice-drags-hyundai-kia-into-long-running-hybrid-patent-fight-w/
+5
Feb 20th, 2012 (2:03 pm)The number of patents that someone owns is not a particularly significant metric of a competitive advantage. I think I read somewhere that Toyota had over 2000 patents on their hybrid technology. It seems that Ford was able not only to design around them but to get coverage on its own improvements. Good for them.
+4
Feb 20th, 2012 (2:50 pm)These Ford cars are looking pretty sweet.
I especially like that the Ford hybrid cars look like normal cars not some hybrid goofy-looking thing.
Too bad my wife won’t let me even look at Fords. She had a bad experience with a Mercury in 1994.
+1
Feb 20th, 2012 (3:52 pm)I plan on looking very hard at the C-Max Energi when it comes out late this year. If it is comfortable and reasonably priced, I would have a hard time buying the 4 seat volt for the family over that one.
+2
Feb 20th, 2012 (4:02 pm)There is one article in autoblog with is Future Fuel Economy Mandates, Part II: Ford
http://green.autoblog.com/2012/02/17/future-fuel-economy-mandates-part-ii-ford/
which says
I too think trubo is good than Eassist but didn’t see comments on the range extender prototype.
+4
Feb 20th, 2012 (4:40 pm)If it’s like the PiP, i’m not interested. I want to be able to accelerate to freeway speeds w/out the gas engine coming on.
+4
Feb 20th, 2012 (4:43 pm)Speaking of patents
http://www.earthtechling.com/2011/04/gm-racks-up-cleantech-patents/
GM Racks Up Cleantech Patents
The index tracks the granting of U.S. patents in solar, wind, hybrid/electric vehicles, fuel cells, hydroelectric, tidal/wave, geothermal, biomass/biofuels and clean, renewable energy. GM’s 135 patents represent almost 14 percent of the total 1,881 received by 700 entities. GM also notes that it received a total of 940 U.S. patents in 2010, placing it in the top 25 of all companies. Beyond clean energy, patents were also attained in areas such as information technology and consumer electronics.
+8
Feb 20th, 2012 (5:12 pm)I thought this was interesting:
Man trades in Nissan Leaf after 1 month.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F201202160300%2FBUSINESS01%2F202160457
Just ask Paul Becker, 40, who lives in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood. He had his Nissan Leaf only a month before he traded it in for a Chevy Volt. He had paid $38,000 for the Leaf and managed to get $37,000 back at the Chevy dealer.
In the cold(ish) Chicago weather, he was getting about 60 miles range on a charge with the Leaf. To get home from Morton Arboretum with their two small children, he and his wife were forced to drive with the heat off and at lower speeds to conserve battery power.
“With the Volt, if you have something unexpected come up, you just go,” he said. The Volt is a plug-in vehicle that switches to gasoline if the battery power runs out, extending its range beyond that of a fully electric vehicle. “We thought that if we had a longer trip we would just rent a car, but in practice, we found we didn’t do it.”
In the Volt, Becker has managed to stay on battery power most of the time, charging up as often as possible. The benefit: In electric mode, he said, he’s paying about 20 cents every 30 miles by charging up at night at a 220V charger he had installed on the outside of his house
+1
Feb 20th, 2012 (5:18 pm)Interesting article, but I don’t think the 20 cents for 30 miles estimate makes sense. I have rather cheep electricity at $0.095 per kWh. I estimate it costs me about $1.20 to “fill up,” assuming 12.3 kWh. That’s good for about 40 miles in fair whether. I think GM used to use $1.50 for a full charge as a national average. Maybe Paul has solar panels, although I tend to doubt it in Illinois.
+2
Feb 20th, 2012 (5:36 pm)GM could further increase it’s eAssist mpg by adding to it, direct injection/turbo charging, but that would increase the price of the vehicle too much. Sooner or later all engines will have DI/Turbo, but until then, it makes no sense having both eAssist and DI/Turbo. Ford calls direct injection/turbo charging Ecoboost which is simply a marketing name they gave it. VW and GM had this technology about 3years before Ford, but never gave it a name.
+3
Feb 20th, 2012 (5:45 pm)Meanwhile, Mazda is touting their hybrid as a performance vehicle, not eco. Theirs is called SkyActive. Way better than any ‘eco’ name.
Their latest advert shows that pressing the ‘eco’ button means ‘compromise’ in reality. Then they go on to show turtles and other slow things as examples.
Brilliant!
+3
Feb 20th, 2012 (7:03 pm)“The work on the Fusion Hybrid is all about a commitment I made a long time ago to have a positive effect on our environment,” said Kuang. “It’s about helping make the world my children live in – and the world my children’s children will live in – a better place.” This great attitude will inspire a lot of talented people from this point on. It can get people involved in technology and business success that never would have thought that they even belonged there in the past. Lets get more plug-ins on the road.
Awesome job Ming. Go Ags!
+5
Feb 20th, 2012 (7:58 pm)Being efficient and using less gas is one thing. The ability to use no gas, and still drive the way one wants to is quite another. I’m sorry Ford, until you get rid of Synergy Drive, you will always be behind the 8-Ball.
+1
Feb 20th, 2012 (8:25 pm)I’m not sure how he came up w/that figure. Maybe he’s using 12Whr’s used by the battery for a 40mile range. If his rate is 8cents/kwh like mine that would be 8 cents/kwh x 12 kwh / 40 = 2.4 cents/mile. To go 30 miles that would be 2.4 x 30 = 72 cents. So it looks like they meant to say 30cents for 20 miles?
+2
Feb 20th, 2012 (8:27 pm)There will always be those “purists”. As there are purists who wouldn’t want an ICE anywhere near their garage.
But for most of the population, power split might prove to be a good compromise. We will have to wait and see what the market says.
+1
Feb 20th, 2012 (10:41 pm)We’ve said for years on this site that the Volt will spur some serious competition. Here’s the proof! That Fusion hybrid is a rather attractive bit of competition. I’m glad to see it, but kicking myself for not buying some Ford stock about two years ago.
+9
Feb 21st, 2012 (8:07 am)I still think it is all about fuel availability, not fuel economy.
If a refinery or two goes offline, or when any one of the middle eastern countries does something stupid (how likely is that?), and causes even a short disruption in fuel availability, people are going to look for ways to avoid the lines at the gas stations. And bumping the daily driving fuel economy from 25mpg to 35mpg isn’t the answer.
Once they understand that cars like the Volt mean using almost no gasoline for their regular driving patterns, people will start to buy these in huge volumes. When you can go from buying 14 gallons of gas every 10 days to buying 8 gallons once every two months, people will get that. I always get attention when I say”I use maybe one gallon of gas per week”.
Now GM would have to do their part and make more models available, so that people can still drive the vehicles they prefer, but where is the downside?
All I can say is that for me, there is no going back. Traditional vehicles just seem so crude now.
JMHO
C-5277 – Proudly purchased on 10-04-2011 In Youngstown, Ohio
+1
Feb 21st, 2012 (8:17 am)The Ford Fusion Hybrid is a nice car. Amazing they can get 47 MPG out of it since it is a larger vehicle than the Prius and the Volt.. The Fusion Energi (plug in) is also very interesting. There are still lots of unknowns about the car like it’s price, electric range, and battery size.
+2
Feb 21st, 2012 (8:42 am)Local gas prices are getting crazy high again. Lowest price for premium is $4.23 a gallon.
The Trade Express Magazine is filled with 5.0 mustangs, Chargers, and SUV’s.
Anyone for a used Bullitt Mustang? Just $39,000
Go Volt!
+2
Feb 21st, 2012 (9:47 am)I rather liked the bodywork of the previous Fusion model. But this new one is growing on me. I just wish Ford would make more clear to the casual viewer which vehicle does what.
+1
Feb 21st, 2012 (11:25 am)#24
The front page of our local (South Bay area of L.A.) paper this morning had a color photo of a local gas station sign showing $4.15/gallon for regular.
Feb 21st, 2012 (12:02 pm)With Iran threatening to stop supplying oil, it’s obvious we will see gas prices rise again. Here in Canada, it’s already the case : gas prices are high and there is no relief in sight. It will go higher. The Volt is making a lot of sense here up north.
My Nissan dealer just invited me yesterday to come in and see their ‘special offers’. They even called me on the phone. I still have 18 months left to pay my actual car. Boy they are agressive…
Feb 21st, 2012 (12:47 pm)Excuse me if I’m writing this in the incorrect place, but does anyone here know where I could find opinions on a enterprise in the Us advertising an IT sales employment? The business is LTJ Management, LLC located at 900 Congress Ave., Suite L-150, Austin, TX 78701 (512) 895-9500. I’m transferring to the US shortly and any support would be appreciated. Thank you.
Feb 21st, 2012 (6:05 pm)At least Ford is doing the right thing by being competitive like Toyota but without being the copycat of not copying others but I could be wrong because I’ve heard in the past few months some say that the Ford Focus looks like an Astro Martin and I can see that when it comes to it’s body and grill but still so far not trying to be offensive to you Volt fans but it seems that Ford is the one that is doing the best at the moment.
Though I do want to see the Volt succeed as much as possible like any other car out there.
Also when I was working at the theater my main job one of the guys who I know that is a big fan of sports cars told me of a racing game for the XBOX 360 called Forza has every kind of car you can think of including every type of Hybrid and electric car you could imagine including the Volt as well just to say and here is the game I was talking about. Also they give you a few new cars as online packages or as extras every week if your wondering? http://www.gamestop.com/xbox-360/dlc/forza-4-season-pass-dlc/95584
+1
Feb 21st, 2012 (8:58 pm)Sean,
I went to the Forza website to read more about what they had. Here’s what they said about the Volt and their 3D rendering of it:
http://forzamotorsport.net/en-us/Cars/Detail.aspx?id=19327361404
It’s safe to say the Chevrolet Volt is the boldest American car offered for sale in recent memory. Bolder even than the GM EV-1 that came before it, because the Volt isn’t merely a large experiment, it’s a real extended-range electric vehicle aimed at real-world conditions and sold to real-world buyers. Chevy’s new wondercar returns astonishing fuel economy, equivalent to more than 90 mpg by official tests. Don’t call it a hybrid, though: the EV uses an onboard gasoline motor, a high-performance four-cylinder, only to recharge the battery when it gets too low (and in very rare circumstances, to kick a little extra power to the driven wheels). With this system, two torquey electric motors can propel the innovative Volt up to 35 miles before the range extender, managed by a complex computer system, even fires up. All this techno-wizardry is entirely transparent from behind the wheel, giving drivers a little taste of the future without having to compromise any of the driving experience of a “regular” car.