Ford: It’s time to get serious about pure-electric cars
US car-maker to invest more than $6 billion to rapidly roll out 13 new electric vehicles by 2020Ford has announced that it will invest an incredible $6 billion to ensure it isn’t left behind in the big switch to electric vehicles.
Described as the single biggest investment over a five year period since Henry Ford founded the company 112 years ago, Ford’s CEO, Mark Fields, said 13 new electrified vehicles would be added to its line-up before the end of the decade and that, by 2020, 40 per cent of all Ford nameplates would be offered with some level of electrification.
The billion dollar investment will also be used to fund a new generation of plug-in hybrids, traditional hybrids and small turbocharged petrols and diesel powertrains.
In a speech, at Ford’s headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, Fields emphasised the importance of plug-in hybrids as an important stop-gap.
Fields: "We actively see plug-in hybrids as the highest growth for consumers by 2018”.
The decision to embrace technologies like pure-electric was, says Fields, driven by global stricter emissions and fuel economy regulations.
Next year the US-carmaker says it will launch the first of its new pure-electric vehicles, the Ford Focus Electric that will have a range of around 160km but capable of being charged to 80 per cent in just 30 minutes, thanks to a new DC fast charger.
The current Ford Focus Electric is said to take 2.5 hours to reach a similar charging level from flat.
Ford says it hopes the new DC chargers will help consumers overcome the stigma of not having enough range.
In the future, Ford boss Fields said that all new platforms will be engineered to accommodate conventional engines and electric components.
A pure electric performance car is also being considered.
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