The Governors' Ethanol Coalition reported today that Ford has delivered the first 3 (count'm 1, 2, 3...) hybrid vehicles that can run on gasoline or up to 85 percent ethanol. Of course Ford's hybrid also happens to be an SUV--the Escape to be precise. So while these 3 vehicles represent the logical marriage of the hybrid fuel economy technology and fuel choice, and will almost certainly be the most fuel efficient FFVs on the road, there's still a lot of room to go before consumers can buy a super efficient vehicle that gives them real choice at the pump.

The next logical technology marriage is a plug-in, hybrid FFV. Then consumers would have an energy efficient vehicle that would give them a choice of 3 different sources of energy--electricity, gasoline, or ethanol. GM's Volt concept promises to move in that direction, but as long slog of the Ford Escape hybrid, FFV's from concept car to 3 test vehicles shows, even bringing together two off the shelf technologies takes a long time and plug-in technology is still very much a work in progress.

The other two Ford hybrid FFV are going to DOE and the Renewable Fuels Association.