Ford has been upping the amount it plans to spend on vehicle electrification, most recently bumping it to $30 billion through 2025. That number now has some perspective: it will be more than what the company will spend on gas- and diesel-powered vehicles.
That revelation came from Ford COO Lisa Drake who — along with CFO John Lawler — spoke at Barclays investor event early Monday, The Detroit News reported. She noted the positive response to the company’s early offerings are encouraging.
“We’ve been over the moon about the success of Mach-E, and the F-150 Lightning, by bringing in over 70% new customers to the Ford brand,” she said. “What that allows us to do is, now we have an opportunity not only to lead on our ICE business, but also in the EV space with F-150. So our aspirations are high.”
Mach-E success
Ford’s first entry certainly should give top execs reason to smile. Exiting the second quarter, the combined U.S. customer-sold retail order bank for Mustang Mach-E and other Ford vehicles was seven times larger than at the same point in 2020.
In addition, it’s gaining ground on competitors, reportedly responsible for a 10% drop in Tesla’s U.S. market share. This gain comes as the entire industry’s seen record EV sales.
New data from Experian reveals that new vehicle registrations for electric vehicles are up 95% during the first four months of 2021. The entire market isn’t languishing as its up 36% overall. The jump pushed the market share for EVs to 2.3% — a jump from 1.6% for the same period in 2020.
Additionally, the battery-electric version of the F-150 — the top-selling vehicle annually for the last four decades — now has more than 120,000 reservations secured since it was introduced in May, the company noted during its most recent earnings call.
EVs need batteries
The company expenditures aren’t just on the vehicle front. It just announced it was investing $185 million into Ford Ion Park, its new global battery center of excellence. At some point, it will house 200 employees and not only help improve current battery technology but also accelerate development of the next standard: solid state batteries.
However, perhaps just as important was the company securing a partnership with South Korean battery maker SK Innovation. The joint venture, BlueOvalSK, is set to manufacture battery cells and arrays at the Korean supplier’s facility in Georgia.
It mirrors moves by competitors, for example General Motors which partnered with LG Chem, to ensure it has a reliable source for batteries as well as a partner in further development.
