Thank you.
Yes, Eureka!
Oh, hello there.
I was just doing some analysis
on Ford Motor Company's exciting
hybrid electric vehicle, the Prodigy.
If my calculations are correct,
the Prodigy can go from New York
to San Francisco for less than
how much?
This is unbelievable!
Well, I guess there's only one way
to find out.
Remember, the true answers in life
are not always discovered by taking
the most obvious route.
The most efficient hybrid design
will travel from town to town through
traffic across the country on
surface streets and back roads
to show how Prodigy converts coasting
and stopping into useful energy.
This is going to be
exciting because the Prodigy is
an extraordinary hybrid electric vehicle.
It's built with highly efficient
drivetrain components like
a lightweight 1.2 liter aluminum
compression ignition engine,
an integral starter alternator,
an advanced high-power battery,
and an automatically shifted manual transmission.
From the driver's perspective,
the Prodigy drives just like a
conventional car with some important
advantages like very low emissions
and, as you can see, outstanding
fuel economy.
Remarkable, isn't it?
New York to St. Louis for under $15.
Pretty cool, eh?
That's the kind of efficiency you get
with Prodigy's high-tech hybrid
design. The lightweight compression
ignition engine powers the Prodigy
only when you step on the accelerator.
When coasting, engine power is not
required and the fuel is shut off.
And as you decelerate or apply
the brakes, the starter alternator
converts Prodigy's forward motion
into energy that is stored in the
battery. So right now, Prodigy
is not using any fuel at all.
In fact, it's actually generating
energy. That's more than
economical. It's phenomenal.
Now, as the Prodigy
slows to a stop, the engine stops
and the fuel remains off.
That's how Prodigy goes so far
so efficiently.
Wow! Less than
$28 from New York to Denver.
That's impressive.
I spend more than that for a haircut.
We saw how Prodigy's
fuel shuts off to save energy
during deceleration and how
the starter alternator generates energy.
Now, when it's time to accelerate,
stepping on the gas causes
the starter alternator to start the engine.
And without hesitation,
you're on your way. All within
a fraction of a second. Actually,
two-tenths of a second. Like that.
But who's counting? So, the same
starter alternator used to convert
Prodigy's rolling motion into
electric energy also starts
the engine and provides extra
boost when more power is required.
Along with its efficient
powertrain, Prodigy's lightweight
design, which includes an aluminum
body that meets all required safety
standards, means it takes less energy
to get rolling, and Prodigy's
highly aerodynamic styling
and special tires mean that it takes
less energy to keep rolling.
Speaking of rolling, we've
traveled a long way
for very little money, thanks
to Ford's innovative approach
to building a technically advanced vehicle
that's more fuel efficient and
more environmentally friendly than vehicles
most of us drive today.
Ford's next challenge is to make it
as affordable as the cars we
drive today. The key is to
use fuel only when it's needed
and even then use as little as possible.
That's the Ford Prodigy.
A car so efficient
we can travel a distance like New York
to San Francisco
for under $50,
getting over 70
miles per gallon.
Now, I'm no Einstein, but
relatively speaking, I'd say the Ford
Prodigy just might change
the way we see the world and
help make our planet a
cleaner place to live.
There are seven major fuel economy
technologies being used by engineers
in developing the Prodigy.
They are reduction of mass,
smaller engine,
instant on-off
capabilities,
regenerative braking,
advanced transmission technology,
better
aerodynamic design,
and reducing rolling
resistance of tires.
Engineering design
number one, the reduction
of mass. The energy
needed to propel an object
at a given velocity is directly
proportional to its mass.
Decrease the mass by 40%
means a decrease in the
amount of kinetic energy by 40%.
Prodigy's
mass is 40%
less than today's midsize vehicle.
Less mass means
less energy is needed to provide
the vehicle with the same velocity.
Engineering design number two,
smaller engine.
With lower energy requirements
because of lower mass and other
fuel economy designs,
a smaller engine can be used.
A 1.2
liter diesel engine is less than
half the engine size of today's
average midsize car.
A smaller engine uses less
chemical energy to operate.
Engineering design number three,
instant on-off
capabilities.
There is no reason for having the engine
operate while waiting at a traffic light,
stuck in traffic, coming to a stop,
or coasting down a hill.
Sensing these conditions,
the Prodigy shuts off
its engine. That results
in a substantial savings of the chemical
energy stored in the fuel tank.
With chemical energy stored in the
batteries, the engine can be started
instantly when needed.
Engineering design number four,
regenerative braking.
Today's braking
systems transform
100% of the vehicle's
kinetic energy into thermal energy
when the brakes are applied.
Prodigy has two
ways to stop the car.
The first is to create friction,
which changes the mechanical energy
to thermal energy, much
like the brake pads on a bicycle that
press against the wheel.
The second way to stop the car is to make
the rotating wheels turn a generator
that makes electricity.
The electricity can be saved as chemical
energy in a battery for later use.
Typically, about
10% of the mechanical energy
is stored in the battery during this process
called regenerative braking.
The electrical
energy is then stored as
chemical energy inside the
high-power batteries located
in the trunk's wheel well.
This stored
power may be needed to start the engine
many times during a trip.
The stored electrochemical
energy in the batteries
may also be required to produce
electrical energy when more power
is needed by the driver.
Engineering design number five,
advanced transmission
technology.
Newton's first
law of motion tells us
that a body at rest will remain
at rest unless it is acted
upon by an outside force.
To overcome
matter's desire to stay at
rest, the vehicle's transmission
allows the car to change
from rest to slow,
to moderate, to fast.
These gear changes
are done by having the driver
change gears manually
or by having it done automatically.
Many drivers
prefer an automatic transmission
over a manual transmission.
An automatic is simply more
convenient which, for some,
outweighs its lower efficiency.
The driver's
decision when to shift
can affect the amount of energy
transferred into unwanted thermal energy.
Prodigy has a
manual transmission which is shifted
by a machine at the most efficient
time. This gear
shifting robot reduces
thermal energy transfers
and increases fuel economy.
Engineering Design
Number 6
Better Aerodynamic Design
Of the
15 units of mechanical
energy possessed by the wheels
of today's mid-sized car,
11 units are transferred into
thermal energy as a result
of tire friction with the road
and air resistance.
Prodigy's better aerodynamic
design reduces
air resistance and the mechanical
transfer of energy into heat.
This results in
higher fuel economy.
Engineering Design
Number 7
Reducing Rolling Resistance
of Tires
Reducing rolling resistance
of tires with the road while
maintaining safety is a task for
engineers. This reduction
is primarily achieved by
manufacturing a lighter automobile.
Less weight
means less force between the tires
and the road. Also
there is less flexing of tire
materials which causes the production
of thermal energy.
Tire pressure, design
and composition can
also reduce the transfer of motion
into thermal energy.
Advanced Technology
and Innovative Engineering
Designs will result in
concept cars with almost 3
times the fuel economy of today's
mid-size passenger vehicle.
This will be accomplished by
managing the use of chemical
and mechanical energy
and its transformation into thermal
energy. As these technologies
are proven to be durable,
reliable and affordable,
they will be put into production.
Some already have.
Hi, my name is Ruth.
I know you've just been learning
about Ford's concept car, the Prodigy
and probably still have some questions
about it. I will be asking Mr.
Powers some of these questions.
Thank you, Mr. Powers, for joining us today.
Well, thank you, Ruth. It's a real pleasure
to be here.
With lightweight materials, will this car
last as long as today's cars?
Yes, it will last as long as today's cars.
Thank you.
Will it last as long as today's cars?
Definitely. In fact, this vehicle has
a lot of aluminum in it like airplanes
do. So airplanes
last a long time, corrosion-free.
It will last. Prodigy
shuts off the engine when you're stopped.
How do you know it will start
when you press the gas pedal again?
Well, we have made
cars go 150,000
miles, durably, for years.
And we have many test procedures
to check this out. We take cars, we put
them on test tracks, we put them in fleets.
Also, we have modern computer
technology to help us do that.
We have electronic ignition and
electronic fuel injection as
well as fail-safe procedures to make
sure it works.
Will starting and stopping cause the engine
to wear out sooner? Will we notice the
starting and stopping when we're riding in the car?
First of all, it will not affect
engine life. Second,
we worry about noises
on board the vehicle. And so we
will make it so it is imperceptible.
In fact, you'll just feel like it's a
very smooth idle and just
almost noise-free.
Then when you touch the gas pedal, the car
will start right up and you won't know the difference.
If the Prodigy uses diesel fuel,
does the environment still
benefit? Yes, because
there's two kinds of pollution we worry about.
One is called smog
and that's very local, like you see in cities.
We also worry about
greenhouse gases. And these
are across the whole globe.
And diesel helps us deal with the
greenhouse gas problem.
So it will reduce
emissions not only locally, but
globally as well.
When will people be able to buy the Prodigy?
Ruth, this is an experimental
vehicle. It has hundreds,
even thousands of new parts on it
in the engines, transmissions, the body,
new materials. So
some of these we've already qualified
and they're coming into cars today.
The whole vehicle with all of these concepts
will be on the order of five
to ten years from now.
Thank you, Mr. Powers, for joining us today.
I hope I'll be able to drive a Prodigy
in the near future.
Thank you, Ruth. It's been a real pleasure to be with you.