Ford Edge HySeries CAR review

It’s a few years now since the first serious prototype fuel cell cars hummed onto the radar, yet they’re still very much at the research stage. That said, they have come a long way considering the rocket science involved in making them work and the huge technical mountains engineers are having to climb. The Edge is the latest from the Ford stable and is based on the production SUV crossover. Replacing the usual 3.5-litre V6 Duratec engine is the ‘HySeries’ drive comprising a fuel cell, battery and two 130kW electric motors driving four wheels.

So what’s special about the Ford Edge HySeries?

The Edge with HySeries Drive is the world’s first fuel cell plug-in hybrid. A plug-in hybrid is one where the battery powers the electric drive and the engine is used only as a generator to recharge the battery as it becomes depleted. Having plugged the car into the mains at night, you leave home in the morning on a full charge, use of the engine being kept to a minimum. In the Edge, a hydrogen fuel cell replaces the engine and starts re-charging the battery when the charge level drops to around 40 percent.

How does it drive?

Inside, the Edge looks like any other big American SUV except the two big dials read speed and current draw rather than speed and revs. Twist the key to start and the system ‘fires up’ to a modest hum. Then select drive as you would in a normal auto and the electric motors begin turning as the car moves off, like an electric train.

Cruising out into the traffic near Ford’s Research Centre in Aachen, the Edge is still virtually silent except for a quiet whine from the drive motors. Inevitably, it sounds a little like a giant dodgem car only a lot more refined.

260kW roughly equates to 348bhp and foot down, the acceleration feels impressive considering the car’s bulk. We quickly reach 75mph on a straight stretch of the rural test route which bears out Ford's claim of an 86mph top speed. Only the narrow roads stand in the way of taking a bigger stick to the Edge which feels as willing as it might with the Duratec under the hood. The battery takes a bit of a beating though, and the fuel cell has to work overtime to keep up.

The Edge has regenerative braking, so the motors act as generators when slowing, adding charge to the battery. It has a couple of settings to increase or reduce the braking effect and shotgun-riding fuel cell engineer Sabine Flanz soon decided it was time to switch to ‘max.’ That said, the monster hybrid survived an afternoon at the hands of a couple of journos and a film crew without running out of steam. Refuelling happened at a hydrogen pump in pretty well exactly the same way as you would refill an LPG car at a UK service station.

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