Shock! Ford is latest carmaker to announce all-electric future

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Every European Ford will be semi-electric in five years, and 100% EV by 2030

Ford’s going all-in on electric. Who’d have thought it. A mere two days after Jaguar announced its masterplan to only build electric cars by the end of the decade, Ford’s just said it’s plotting to do the same in Europe.

We know right? Mad coincidence. It’s almost as if massive CO2 fines are hanging over carmakers that don’t slash emissions, and internal combustion bans loom on the horizon in Europe (and particularly the UK). Oh.

Still, this is a bit of a ‘remember where you were when you heard the news’ moment in motoring history. You’re probably in bed with a mouthful of cereal in your lap. Sorry.

If you’re in the US of A, your pick-up trucks and Mustangs can rest a little easier, as Ford’s only electrifying its European line-up. But this is still a major strategy shift from the company that builds several of Britain’s best-selling cars. So far, Ford’s Mustang Mach-E is its sole electric offering. The wild seven-motor Mach-E 1400 also pictured isn’t in showrooms. Boo.

Already, many of Ford’s core hatchbacks – like the Fiesta and Puma – are sold with mild-hybrid 48-volt boosters. This momentum is only going one way: Ford says by mid-2026, 100 per cent of its passenger vehicles in Europe will be zero-emissions capable, all-electric or plug-in hybrid.

Then just four years later, engines will have disappeared from the line-up altogether – just in time for the UK to ban all combustion-engined cars, with hybrid sales being canned five years later. The times are a changing, friends. Even US imports into Europe will have to be electric, Mustangs included.

The iconic Transit will be going plug-in too. Ford reckons two-thirds of European commercial vehicle sales will be swallowed by all-electric or plug-in hybrid models by 2030.

Worldwide, Ford’s splurging $22billion on EVs, which is more Bitcoin than Tesla makes in a week. It’s megazording with sworn enemy Volkswagen to share EV tech and take on the start-up thorns in their profit margins’ side. Which means Ford EVs based on a VW platform. Big news.

A cheeky billion dollars will buy Ford a bespoke EV factory in Cologne, Germany to kickstart (or, erm, switch on) its battery-powered era. Though details of how its existing factories might be deployed when there’s no internal combustion cars to be built is thus far thin on the ground.

Cologne will begin churning out new Blue Oval EVs in 2023. Or should that be the Green Oval now? We’ll see ourselves out…


SOURCE: TOP GEAR




SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
Ford invests $1 billion in German plant, targets move to 'all-electric' passenger vehicles in Europe by 2030

KEY POINTS
  • Ford is targeting a "completely all-electric" offering for passenger vehicles by 2030.
  • The company, alongside several other major carmakers, is looking to ramp up its electric offering in the years ahead.

Ford is investing $1 billion in an electric vehicle production facility in Cologne, Germany, with the European arm of the automotive giant committing to go "all-in" on electric vehicles in the years ahead.

In plans announced Wednesday morning, Ford said its entire passenger vehicle range in Europe would be "zero-emissions capable, all-electric or plug-in hybrid" by the middle of 2026, with a "completely all-electric" offering by 2030.

The investment in Cologne will see the company update an existing assembly plant, converting it into a facility focused on the production of electric vehicles.

"Our announcement today to transform our Cologne facility, the home of our operations in Germany for 90 years, is one of the most significant Ford has made in over a generation," Stuart Rowley, Ford of Europe's president, said in a statement.

"It underlines our commitment to Europe and a modern future with electric vehicles at the heart of our strategy for growth," Rowley added.

The business also wants its commercial vehicle segment in Europe to be zero-emissions capable, plug-in hybrid or all-electric by 2024.

A 'transformative' decade
With governments around the world announcing plans to move away from diesel and gasoline vehicles, Ford, alongside several other major carmakers, is attempting to ramp up its electric offering and challenge firms such as Elon Musk's Tesla.

Earlier this week, Jaguar Land Rover announced that its Jaguar brand would go all-electric from the year 2025. The company, which is owned by Tata Motors, also said its Land Rover segment would roll out six "pure electric variants" over the next five years.

Elsewhere, South Korean carmaker Kia will launch its first dedicated electric vehicle this year, while Germany's Volkswagen Group is investing approximately 35 billion euros (around $42.27 billion) in battery electric vehicles and says it wants to roll out roughly 70 all-electric models by 2030.

Last month, the CEO of Daimler told CNBC that the automotive industry was "in the middle of a transformation."
"Next to the things that we know well — to build, frankly, the world's most desirable cars — there are two technological trends that we're doubling down on: electrification and digitization," Ola Källenius told CNBC's Annette Weisbach.

The Stuttgart-headquartered firm was "pouring billions into these new technologies," he added, stating they would "drive our path towards CO2-free driving." This decade, he went on to claim, would be "transformative."



SOURCE: CNBC
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