Ford To Show 350-MPG Explorer Ute

LOS ANGELES — Ford Motor Co. will unveil a fuel-cell Explorer this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show that it claims can travel more miles on a single hydrogen fill-up than any fuel-cell vehicle on the road.

The Explorer has the hydrogen fuel tank mounted in the center of the vehicle so the tank can be larger and deliver more miles — 350 — on a single fill-up than other fuel-cell vehicles, Ford claims. In addition, the location of the tank allows for the six-passenger seating and same cargo capacity as on today's Explorer. It is also equipped with an advanced electric all-wheel-drive system.

In the past year, the Explorer has been driven 17,000 miles at Ford's Dearborn, Michigan, test facility. Ford says the fuel-cell Explorer also set a new record for the most miles traveled in a 24-hour period in a fuel-cell vehicle — 1,556.

The fuel-cell Explorer is the first of a series of prototype vehicles to be built for the U.S. Department of Energy to determine if hydrogen propulsion is feasible. The fuel-cell Explorer is one of several vehicles with green technology that Ford will have at the show. Others will be the new 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid, the PZEV emissions compliant Ford Fusion and Ford Focus and the 2008 Ford F-Series Super Duty with Ford Clean Diesel Technology.

Ford's Explorer won't be the only vehicle at the show that runs on hydrogen. BMW will show the Hydrogen 7, a hydrogen-powered version of the 7 Series.

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