The Ford motor company has announced that it will be doubling its current investment into electric vehicles to a whopping $11bn and has promised that it will offer some 40 hybrid and electric cars by 2020.
According to Ford it will offer 16 fully-electric cars and 24 hybrids by the self-imposed deadline.
Rather than building new models, Chairman Bill Ford confirmed that the company’s approach would be to electrify current vehicles.
“We’re all in on this and we’re taking our mainstream vehicles, our most iconic vehicles, and we’re electrifying them.” said Ford.
“If we want to be successful with electrification, we have to do it with vehicles that are already popular.”
Now you would be forgiven for seeing this announcement as Ford playing catch-up with its major rivals, many of which have already announced considerable investment in electric vehicles.
Volkswagen Group, the largest car manufacturer in the world, announced late last year that it would be investing a staggering $40bn into electrification with its entire range converted by 2030. That’s over 300 models.
The 5th largest car manufacturer currently doesn’t sell any hybrid or electric vehicles in the UK.
Go over to the US and you’ll find Ford’s recently announced Focus Electric 2018 which has a range of just 115-miles.
It will have to compete with the likes of the Nissan Leaf, which now offers an improved range of over 230-miles and the Tesla Model 3 which is also promising a range of around 220-miles.
Then of course there are the new entrants into the electric car industry including Fisker and rather surprisingly, UK-based Dyson.