Ford Motor is responding to the increasing demand for electric cars, announcing Thursday that it will invest $4.5 billion to build 13 new electric models by 2020.
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Ford will add 13 new EVs to its portfolio by 2020, meaning 40 per cent of the company’s global nameplates will come with an electric option.
Example is the soon to be released new Focus Electric will feature DC fast charging capability, which can be recharged up to 80 percent in approximately 30 minutes and an estimated 100 mile range.
Ford plans to invest $4.5bn to more than double the proportion of its vehicles that it offers with electric propulsion by the end of the decade, as part of a comprehensive reshaping of its approach to product development to address challenges such as growing urbanisation. That suggests that whatever is under the silk sheet is probably much more significant than an updated plug-in hybrid Fusion.
Ford continues to deliver sustainable savings. In 2016, the company will double the number of projects related to “observing how buyers interact with vehicles, gaining insight into the cognitive, social, cultural, technological and economic nuances that affect product design”.
As a vehicle maker, Washington said, Ford can more “seamlessly” integrate the software and hardware needed to operate a ride-hailing system.
In Dearborn Michigan, Fields cited Apple, Intel and Lego as inspirational forces behind the shift that Ford is undertaking to focus more on the consumer experience.
As for the future-future, next week CleanTechnica will be chatting with a Ford engineer to catch up on the company’s fuel cell electric vehicle program, so stay tuned. The auto will include a special customizable instrument cluster displaying such things as EV power usage and a “Brake Coach” that helps drivers maximize the amount of energy captured during braking.
One new EV model headed our way: the 2017 Focus Electric, which goes into production late next year.
“Certainly, the gas prices that we’re seeing right now don’t help the electric-vehicle sales”, Raj Nair, the company’s product development chief, told reporters in Dearborn. In fact, in this era of low gasoline prices, consumers have recently voted with their pocketbooks for trucks and SUVs over more efficient vehicles.
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The global expansion also allows Ford’s Electrified Powertrain Engineering teams to share common technologies and test batteries virtually, in real time, to develop new technology faster while reducing the need for costly prototypes.
