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Bill Ford says carsharing helps Ford, EVs need to be clean

To most people, Bill Ford is most famous for being the great-grandson of Henry Ford. But, as the executive chairman of Ford Motor Company, Ford has also been leading the company into greener and greener territory. At the morning plenary session for the 21st World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in Detroit today, Ford discussed a wide variety of topics, including connected cars (of course), plug-in vehicle and how Ford's collaboration with Zipcar came about because of he liked what the Zipcar CEO was excited about getting cars off the road. Given that the conference has a big focus on communication between cars this year, it's no surprise that Ford talked about his company's work on that front. He's looking at the long term, though, and says that despite announcements like the one General Motors made yesterday about Super Cruise, when fully autonomous vehicles get here, it won't be headline news since the ground work is being laid by technologies coming to cars in bits and pieces now. In other words, your adaptive cruise control is getting ready for bigger and better things. "My fear is that we electrify the fleet and our impact is not what it could be." – Bill Ford On the zero-emission vehicle front, Ford said that while he's in favor of electric vehicles, "My fear is that we electrify the fleet and our impact is not what it could be." He was discussing the emissions reality of coal-powered electricity, and said that, "We've got to have a national discussion about what we want our grid to look like." As for the work that Ford is doing with Zipcar (which is just one of the many automaker carsharing operations out there today), Ford said that he first approached Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith after hearing Griffith talk at a green conference four or five years ago. Griffith was surprised, Ford said, because he had just given a talk about ways to reduce car ownership. "Did you hear my speech? I talked about taking cars off the road," Ford remembers Griffith saying. "Yeah, and what's going to happen without us," Ford responded. Today, the partnership allows Ford to get cars to people that have traditionally been "hard to reach," like college students on campuses. Ford's vehicles are currently available on 250 colleges campuses. Ford then spoke favorably about other challenges to the traditional car ownership model, like Lyft and Relay Rides. "Rather than being frightened by that, we need embrace it and help makes their companies better," he said.

The 2021 F-150 elevates Ford's bed game

The new 2021 Ford F-150 is ushering in a new era of pickup capability, but there's more to it than the introduction of the PowerBoost hybrid. While that new powertrain is certainly the truck's headlining element, the supporting electrical architecture enables a level of utility that hasn't been offered in past consumer half-tons. The true party trick is Ford's new "Pro Power Onboard" feature, which is essentially a built-in generator that provides juice for the 2021 F-150's rather robust in-bed power station. This system is available even on gasoline-engine models, but its utility is maximized with the electrified powertrain. ICE models equipped with the option max out at 2.0 kilowatts, while the PowerBoost hybrid can be had with either a 2.4- or a whopping 7.2-kilowatt inverter.  The idea here is that the F-150 can essentially stand in for a high-output portable generator. In a worksite example provided by Ford, a PowerBoost model with the 7.2-kW upgrade and a single tank of fuel could provide 32 hours of power for an 1,800-watt compound miter saw, a 1,000W circular saw, a 1,200W battery charger, a 1,200W hammer drill, and a 1,000W air compressor with hundreds of watts to spare for lighting and other accessories. But even without the Pro Power Onboard option, Ford's new bed setup enables more versatility than in previous models. The new Tailgate Work Surface option adds a flat work area with integrated rulers, recesses for pencils or small tools, and even a stand for a personal device.  Ford is neither the first to offer an auxiliary power outlet in a half-ton pickup bed, nor was Ford the first to introduce a more feature-rich tailgate. GMC's MultiPro tailgate was a major innovation on that front, and while it is geared mostly toward improving the cargo utility of the bed, it can also be customized with 12-volt power and even an accessory speaker system. The Ram 1500 is also offered with both a multi-function tailgate and AC power in the bed, though the latter option is limited to models with the RamBox cargo package.  As half-ton pickups approach levels of towing and hauling capability that begin to blur lines with heavy-duty offerings, it's clear that automakers are looking for ways to differentiate themselves without stepping on their own bigger trucks' toes. These new bed and tailgate innovations may yet be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to full-size pickup versatility. Related Video:    

2021 Ford F-150 goes hybrid and we drive the Cadillac CT4-V | Autoblog Podcast #633

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder and Associate Editor Byron Hurd. They start with the big news of the week: Ford unveiling the 2021 F-150, complete with a powerful hybrid powertrain. The guys have been driving some eclectic vehicles, including the Cadillac CT4-V, Toyota Prius AWD-e and a 1967 VW Samba Microbus. To finish things off, Greg springs a few trivia questions on his guests. We'll post those in the comments, and you can see if you'd have gotten those right. Autoblog Podcast #633 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown 2021 Ford F-150 revealed Read more about the heavy-hitting hybrid Cars we're driving: 2020 Cadillac CT4-V 2020 Toyota Prius AWD-e 1967 Volkswagen Samba Trivia Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: