Even if you’ve only been paying the slightest attention to the automotive world, you probably know that automakers are making plans to transition cars from running on gasoline to electricity. Many have already pledged to do this in the coming decade and are spending big bucks doing so.
Ford has already committed massive time and investment to making its future vehicles electric, and this week doubled down on the effort.
In a conference call with investors this week, Ford President and CEO Jim Farley said the American automaker will invest at least $22 billion in electrification through 2025. That is nearly twice the amount what Ford previously committed to EVs (electric vehicles). Billions more are being committed to autonomous vehicles (AVs).
‘Today, not Someday’
“We are accelerating all our plans – breaking constraints, increasing battery capacity, improving costs and getting more electric vehicles into our product cycle plan,” Farley said. “People are responding to what Ford is doing today, not someday.”
Some industry observers have noted that Farley’s emphasis of Ford’s in-the-now electrification efforts is a swipe against GM’s recent pledge for its vehicles to be electric by 2035.
Among those aforementioned cars of “today” is the all-new Mustang Mach-E, a game-changer in Ford’s lineup that melds the styling of its Mustang sports car with a crossover SUV body. It’s all-electric and poised to be a prime rival of the Tesla Model Y. The Ford Mustang Mach-E recently went on sale and has already garnered critical acclaim by winning a North American Car of the Year Award.
This is just the beginning of an onslaught of EVs we’ll see from the brand in coming years. Proving that the new generation of electric vehicles are anything but small and dainty, Farley pointed to an electric E-Transit commercial van slated to arrive later this year and an all-electric version of America’s best-selling vehicle, the Ford F-150, next year.
