Ford Shifts Into High Gears For Electric, Will Invest $20 Billion

The eco – friendly push in the mobility sector continues to surprise, and add momentum, sometimes well beyond projections as auto makers scale up plans. The latest news comes from Ford Motor, the American auto conglomerate, that has planned to invest a massive $20 billion in the future to match other players as far as electric mobility is concerned. Ford is expected to spend this money in the next five to ten years on electric vehicles manufacturing.

Experts from the clean mobility sector hold that this announcement falls in line with the previous declaration by Ford Motor that it targets to manufacture six lakh electric vehicles every year by 2024 and also sell at least one electric car out of every two vehicles of its global sales by 2030.

With regards to the present disclosure, the investment will be done to redesign Ford’s facilities across the world to be ready to produce electric cars with unmatched efficiency. The move is seen as Ford’s attempt to take on Tesla which continues to lead globally in the EV sweepstakes for now.

As of now, Ford Motor has just two offerings in the EV space. One is the iconic Mustang and the other is Ford’s flagship pickup truck F-150 which was launched as F-150 Lightning recently. It is learnt that there will be no further addition of any product and production of only these shall be ramped up. Ford Motor’s Chief Operating Officer, Jim Farley has announced that the company will triple the production of the electric pony and double that of the electric pickup truck.

To enhance its green mobility stature, the carmaker is planning to invest heavily in skilled manpower. This implies overhaul of the organisation. To begin with, Ford has recently hired Doug Field, who helped Tesla engineer its Model 3 SUV and head Apple’s project on its first electric car, to lead the electric vehicle charge for Ford now. According to the new organizational plan, new and talented engineers will be inducted to work on concepts such as battery chemistry, artificial intelligence and EV software.

The Detroit giant is also investing $11 billion to build three facilities for EV battery manufacturing in collaboration with South Korea’s leading battery tech company SK Innovation. Auto makers have picked battery partners early, considering the huge role and share of batteries in EV vehicle costs. The Ford spokesperson says, “We’re carrying out our ambitious Ford+ plan to transform the company and thrive in the new era of connected, electric vehicles.” Ford aims to build EV truck facilities in Tennessee and Kentucky.