From what I've read, a PHEV Escape could get up to 30miles @ 40mph before the battery was fully drained. That's probably during warm weather so our Michigan weather will drop it by 20% or so.

If it shows up in under 4 years, I'll be surprised.

It is an interesting technology and I'd buy it if it only added a couple hundred to the cost of the car. For my daily driving (I-75 to downtown Detroit and then back to the 'burbs) it wouldn't be a significant impact and I'm willing to be Ford execs will think the same way.