Ford is doubling down on its investment in an Electric Future

Ford has revisited its plans and decided to bump up its investment in electric vehicles and autonomous driving. This was revealed at its quarterly earnings call on Thursday. The plan was to spend $11.5 billion by 2022 but the figure has moved up to $29 billion. The timeline has also been expanded to 2025. This falls in line with the trend in the auto industry of manufacturers looking to eliminate or reduce tailpipes from their lineups.

Of the total amount, $22 billion is going to rolling out more electric vehicles, while the balance will be used to develop better autonomous driving technology. The $7 billion spent since 2016 is captured in the $22 billion. This does not cover any future investment in battery, which could come in form of a partnership with other firms. The company has also explored manufacturing its own batteries, in a bid to cut down costs and production time.

image source: Ford

Ford’s earlier investments have yielded electric vehicles like the much anticipated Mustang Mach-E (which is already being delivered to buyers) and F-150, which is expected in 2022. The company’s more immediate plans include an electric van, which will be on the market later this year. The Lincoln line is also expected to yield electric versions. It will also release some hybrid models.

The Dearborn based automaker has been developing two different electric platforms that it will use to mass produce passenger cars, SUVs, trucks and commercial automobiles. The company’s electric vehicle manufacturing capabilities will be expanded to Missouri in the US, Ontario in Canada where it already has a plant, Cuautitlan in Mexico and China. More charging stations will also be added to its network, which customers can access through its Fordpass smartphone app.

image source: Ford

Ford has also been trialing its autonomous vehicles in partnership with Argo AI in Miami, where the latter firm has been carrying out driverless delivery of grocery supplies, using Ford Escape Hybrids.

Jim Farley, the company’s new CEO, stressed that this round of investments is proof of its rather aggressive push to lead the future of transportation, which is rapidly going electric. If anybody still needs to be convinced Ford won’t be left behind, Farley touted his company’s collaboration with Google on putting Android Auto on Ford models from 2023.

“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 during the earnings call.

Written by D.O. for www.ShargeMe.blog