A particularly large number of eyeballs have been watching Ford in the recent past, particularly following the successful first showing of its F-150 Lightning electric pick-up truck. Although it will be years before the model actually launches to showrooms.
Riding this electrification wave, Ford has announced more pledges. Overnight, the firm held an investor presentation, detailing more of its electric roadmap and future EV product.
Among the main confirmations was the development of a fully electric Explorer and Lincoln Aviator. The Bronco and Ranger have also been linked to the electric vehicle love in, too, with a silhouette looking an awful lot like the former appearing as part of the presentation.
The Bronco-like illustrative silhouette was used in the presentation to spuik the creation of a new rear-wheel drive/all-wheel drive EV-specialist platform for “rugged” usage. This seems to fit the bill for both the Bronco and Ranger, which currently use the same T6 architecture.
The sharing across such vehicles won’t stop at the bones. Ford also says that models based on the same architecture will also likely share battery cells, motors, gearboxes, and the like. Ford says it can share up to 80 per cent of a car’s value across a line-up with this thinking.
Good news for efficiency, but bad news for those perhaps chasing a unique driving experience.
Alongside the product updates, Ford also confirmed that it will invest more than US$30billion into electrification by 2025. It expects that, by 2030, 40 per cent of its annual sales will be electric cars.
Admittedly a handy amount of this 40 per cent will stem from Ford’s European division, given that it’s already confirmed that it will be fully electric by 2030. But America is expected to pick up, too (pun not intended) with Ford claiming that a third of the full-size US pick-up segment will be electric by 2030.
The firm also said that it expects to make greater profit from EVs than internal combustion vehicles, as the cost of producing EVs decreases. The “driver-assist technologies, new features and upgraded software content, and EV charging” market will be worth US$20billion by 2030, it adds.
The interest in the brand’s electrified models appears to be there, too. After reports that 20,000 F-150 Lightning reservations had been paid for in the 12 hours following the model’s debut, Ford has confirmed that 70,000 reservations have been made to date.
It’s not just customers who are keen for Ford’s electrification plans, either. Following the overnight news, Ford’s stock price increased by seven per cent. This has become a trend for all legacy car manufacturers who announce big, bold electric vehicle plans.
