Ford will be first to introduce Xenon 25W headlamps on a battery charged vehicle as unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this past January. This new technology is being developed with the Ford Cologne team, Visteon, and OSRAM.
This 25W mercury-free Xenon lamp doesn’t require a lens cleaning system in Europe, which saves cost, volume for the water tank, and 3 to 4 kg of weight per vehicle. The headlight system has a reduced wattage of 25W compared to 65W for halogen headlamps, reducing CO2 emissions by around 2 g / km.Moreover, the Xenon 25W lamp gives about 50% more light than halogen and a higher colour temperature of 4500K.
Here is a comparison of halogen, Xenon 35W and Xenon 25W light sources:
| Halogen | Xenon 35W | Xenon 25W | |
| Nominal power of the bulb with electronics | 55W | 40W | 28W |
| Real power on the car at 13.2V | 130W | 80W | 56W |
| Average of the real power of the car (nighttime/daytime, around 33%) | 40W | 25W | 18W |
| Light output | 1,500 Lm | 3,200 Lm | 2,000 Lm |
| Colour temperature | 3200K | 4200K | 4500K |
| Lifespan B3 at 14V | Around 400h | > 2,000h | > 2,000h |
| Total weight of the light bulb system | < 100g | 4,000g | 400g |
According to what has been presented to DVN, the optical surfaces of the projector module for this Xenon 25 W lamp have been completely redesigned to give an extremely homogeneous illumination of the road. Added to the increased light output of low and high beams a superior driving safety is achieved at night.
As the total system costs are lower compared to a 35W BiXenon system, we can expect in the near future a great extension of this type of system to small and medium cars. Ford also want to present to their “green”