The Ford Escape Plug-In Hybrid that is currently being evaluated in Southern California is capable of up to 120mpg. 20 vehicles have been delivered to Southern California Edison, who will run them as part of their fleet for two years. For the first 30 miles after a full charge, the Plug-In Escape delivers 4.5 times the mpg of the regular non-hybrid Escape. It takes six to eight hours to fully charge the Lithium Ion batteries from a standard 120-volt outlet; once that charge is depleted, the vehicle operates like a normal Escape Hybrid. Some of the vehicles will soon be handed over to selected residential SCE customers for further evaluation. If the results of this test are favorable, we hope gives Ford the ammo to push a similar vehicle into production. [Via Gizmag]

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