Ford is increasing its commitment to electric mobility. The American manufacturer will invest € 25 billion in it until 2025. By 2030, 40 percent of Ford vehicles sold worldwide should be fully electric.
At the beginning of this year, Ford came up with a very concrete goal for the European market: by 2030 it will only sell fully electric cars here. Now the Americans are revealing how it envisions its future in this field worldwide. Not entirely surprisingly, 2030 is still too early for a worldwide pure electric supply, but the group wants 40 percent of its cars sold that year to be fully electric.
Platforms
To achieve that, Ford is investing $ 30 billion in various things. Among other things, the development of two new EV platforms, Ford confirms, according to the news agency Reuters. One platform would be a new base for pick-ups and larger SUVs, the other a successor to the basis on which the Mustang Mach-E now stands and intended for ‘smaller cars and SUVs’.
The latter is still a bit vague, since Ford will use the MEB base of the Volkswagen Group for the European market. Perhaps the proprietary platform is more intended for cars for the American market and possibly to supplement the MEB-based Fords that will be sold here. The modular platform for the larger cars includes an electric Ford Explorer and probably also an electric Bronco. Future electrically powered pick-ups are also based on this basis.
Battery technology
No successful electric car without a good battery pack, so that is part of the investment. For example, Ford is expanding its own knowledge center Ford Ion Park, where it researches battery technologies. For commercial vehicles, it relies on batteries called ‘IonBoost’, which are lithium ion batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries. For passenger cars, the brand is working on much-discussed solid-state batteries.
For the development of the solid-state batteries, Ford is working with Solid Power, a company specializing in battery technology, in which the Americans already have an interest. For the production of the batteries, Ford joins the South Korean SK Innovation, under the joint venture BlueOvalSK. This will produce the batteries in two American factories. Ford CEO Jim Farley says he expects batteries to be 40 percent cheaper by the middle of this decade than they are today.