Hi,

Shortly after the FEH came out, the lady engineer / manager in charge resigned. I can look around for her name. I was wondering if anyone knows where she is now?

I've always felt she got a bum deal and Ford let an opportunity pass. I'd like to know things worked out for her.

Bob Wilson

 

That would be Mary Ann Wright and she went to work for Johnson Controls. I think she heads up the hybrid plug-in battery program.

GaryG

 

Mary Ann Wright, who left Ford to work as head of PHEV and HEV battery development for JCI-Saft.

The entire situation is somewhat nebulous, I've heard conflicting stories on why she left, but bottom line, JCI-Saft is working on becoming a leader in HEV and PHEV battery development, as well as home power stations. I talked with her briefly at NAIAS last January. Without someone sufficiently qualified to replace her, Fords Hybrid program stalled, along with their interest for some time, as well as leaving them in a rather weak position in terms of their hybrid portfolio.

 

There is a RUMOR that she was asked to leave Ford after her public statement that there was no Japanese technology in the Escape hybrid. Later it was released that all the Escape Hybrids actually had (and have) an Aisin CVT, which is manufactured and shipped from Japan...

Sean

 

vv

 

It should also be noted, Ford was back tracking from their "statement" of producing "thousands(250,000?)" of hybrid vehicles shortly before she left Ford Motor Company. I got the feeling, Bill Ford was unable or unwilling (bean counters?) to fund the hybrid program the way Mary Ann Wright wanted.

maryanwrightin2007selfphoto.jpg?t=1218575600
Mary Ann Wright was a second generation Ford Engineer. She was associated with several new Ford Product launches and was brought into the Escape Hybrid program by former Ford Executive Phil Martens for this purpose--to bring the Escape Hybrid to the marketplace on time. I remember reading after she left Ford about her comments on the "layers of management" she had to deal with. Johnson Controls headquarters is actually in Glendale, Wisconsin--an area I lived in many years ago.

As for the Asian eCVT, if one compares the Toyota and Ford versions, there are differences in capabilities/specifications. These may be produced in the same location but differences exist.

 

That may or may not be a fair point since, unless you are on the inside of those conversations, none of us have a true understanding of what was, or was not, being talked about inside those meetings. It could just as easily be that there is a material shortage in terms of hybrid specific technology, such as the batteries, and that booked demand has bottlenecked production capacity so that future orders could not be met. But that is all just speculation and meant only to say that another 'opinion' could be just as valid as the one that the 'beancounters' are the ones holding up the production. Maybe I am just a little sensitive since I am a beancounter and I see this in the company I work for all the time where my function is blamed for things we we are working with parameters outside of our control that dictate what we can or cannot do.

 

Article in the Detroit Free Press today quoting Wright.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...SS01/808130357

 

We should make every effort to see if she might attend next year's hybridfest. It is in the area and she would be an excellent speaker.

Bob Wilson