Ford Motor Company the producer of high quality with its E85 Escape Hybrid will be helping to rebuild the City of Greensburg, Kansas which was nearly destroyed by a tornado.
It was Ford's Tony Reinhart, South Central Regional Governmental Affairs Manager who has handed over the keys of the E85 Escape Hybrid to Greensburg's Mayor John Jansen. Aside from the hybrid vehicle, the members of the Ford-UAW Local 249 have also donated $5,600.
Last May 4, Greensburg was nearly destroyed by an F5 tornado killing 12 people and ruining nearly 95 percent of its infrastructures both residential and commercial. And today, Greensburg is developing plans to rebuild itself as an environmental model community that would have renewable power and energy-efficient buildings.
Tony Reinhart said "This is a win-win for both Ford and Greensburg because the use of the E85 Escape Hybrid will allow the town's municipality to utilize an environmentally-friendly vehicle as it works toward rebuilding the city. At the same time we gain insight into the technology as it is used under day-to-day driving conditions."
Mayor John Jansen of Greensburg has also said, "We are excited that Ford is including us in its demonstration of E85 Escape Hybrids. This opportunity fits in with our green vision to rebuild Greensburg to a more environmentally-friendly and sustainable community."
There would be a total of 20 Ford E85 Escape Hybrids that are to be delivered to selected fleet customers in six states supporting the automaker's claim to another important industry's first. The E85 Escape Hybrid is the world's first vehicle that is capable of operating on a mixture of fuel containing as much as 85 percent ethanol.
Ethanol is the renewable fuel that can be produced from American-grown corn. Ford's Escape Hybrid produces around 25 percent lesser greenhouse gas emissions as compared to gasoline-fueled Escape Hybrid. Plus it runs completely on renewable fuel which can help in reducing the nation's reliance on imported oil.
There are already six million flexible fuel vehicles now running on America's highways and if all of them would run on E85, a total of 3.6 billion gallons of gasoline could be saved a year. Ford has also committed itself that half of its annual vehicle production are to run on alternative fuels.
One of the difficult challenges in promoting vehicles that runs on renewable fuel is the availability of bioethanol fueling stations since less than 1 percent of the 170,000 retail gas stations in the country offer E85 ethanol. And if the government is really sincere in its eco protection programs then it should help in expanding the availability of E85 since automakers just cannot do it alone.
