GE Purchase 2,000 Ford Plug-In Hybrids

 
Tuesday saw Ford Motor Company announce that GE will purchase 2,000 Ford C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrids for its company fleet, marking the largest plug-in electrified vehicle fleet sale Ford has made to date.

This marks another step for GE as it moves towards converting half of its global fleet to alternative fuel vehicles. With the addition of the 2,000 Fords, that will bring the number of alternative fuel vehicles in GE’s fleet to more than 5,000, bringing the company 20% of the way to its overall goal.

“Ford is launching six new electrified vehicles – a big bet that fuel prices will continue rising and lead to more demand for advanced fuel-efficient vehicles,” says Ken Czubay, Ford vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service. “We are pleased to partner with GE, a company that is charting a similar course, to promote advanced technology and energy savings.”

“At GE, we are focused on providing our customers and our fleet with more economically and environmentally efficient vehicles,” said Mark Vachon, vice president of ecomagination at GE. “The Ford C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid is a great addition to our expanding fleet of alternative fuel vehicles.”

In addition to the vehicle purchase, Ford and GE have pledged to work together with researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology to study the driving and charging habits of GE employees in an effort to improve the overall driving and charging performance of the GE alternative fuel fleet. Georgia Tech researchers will use Ford’s MyFord^® Mobile app to help in the procss.
 

 
“Understanding driving and charging habits is key to advancing vehicle and charging infrastructure,” says Professor Bert Bras of the Sustainable Design & Manufacturing laboratory at Georgia Tech. “Through access to vehicle data, we can accelerate research and development of new technologies to further improve efficiency, driver satisfaction and environmental benefits.”