Ford Airstream Concept
Beneath the Airstream's retro-futuristic monospace mosh-pit trappings lies Ford's interpretation of the drivetrain of the future. Like the system in Chevy's Volt, it uses fully electric drive, with front and rear motors boasting 174 peak horses each for bodacious giddy-up. The electrons can come out of either a big battery or a smaller one recharged by an engine or a fuel cell. The Airstream concept carries 14 pounds of hydrogen at 10,000 psi (10 pounds at 5000 psi is more likely for the nearer term) to power a conventional fuel cell. It also carries a plug-in 16-kW-hour lithium-ion battery pack good for 25 miles before the fuel cell stack comes on and runs at peak efficiency, maintaining the battery at between maybe 30- and 60-percent charge-that's lower than the current hybrids to allow space in the batteries to juice up on cheaper plug power at home. Range should extend well beyond the hydrogen-hybrid Explorer's 350 miles.