Ford is undergoing an extraordinary expansion of its all-electric vehicle manufacturing capacity, which has been greatly accelerated due to high demand.
By the end of 2023, the current short-term goal is to increase manufacturing to 600,000 all-electric vehicles globally.
“The Ford team is unstoppable when we set our minds to something,” said Ford CEO Jim Farley in a video on the process, adding, “That’s just the beginning.”
It appears that the entire corporation is now focused on mass-producing electric automobiles.
The @Ford team is unstoppable when we set our mind to something. Watch how we are going to scale up our BEV capacity to 600,000 by the end of 2023 – and that’s just the beginning. pic.twitter.com/dfHUJFhTiW
— Jim Farley (@jimfarley98) February 23, 2022
Let’s not forget that Ford’s initial battery-electric vehicles include the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Ford E-Transit, and Ford F-150 Lightning.
By 2023, the Mach-E is predicted to sell over 200,000 units globally, while the Ford F-150 Lightning is expected to sell 160,000 units annually (after doubling the target twice). The Ford E-Transit is added on top of that (produced separately in North America and Europe). In the United States, production has already begun:
It’s official. We’re now shipping E-Transits to our @FordPro customers across the U.S. ⚡️300+ commercial customers have already ordered 10,000+ electric vans, all of which (vans + batteries) are assembled by @UAW workers at @Ford‘s Kansas City Assembly Plant #BuiltFordProud pic.twitter.com/CWRLLz398v
— Jim Farley (@jimfarley98) February 8, 2022
Ford will produce more electric vehicles, but the release of some of them in the United States has been delayed in order to focus on scaling up the existing ones (like the Mach-E). Tesla has taken a similar approach, prioritising expansion above new models.
New electric Fords are, however, on the way. Ford will introduce at least one electric vehicle in Europe, based on the Volkswagen MEB platform. In 2023, the first model, a tiny crossover/SUV, is expected.
Starting in 2023, the European electrification plan predicts 600,000 MEB-based EVs to be sold over a six-year period, averaging 100,000 per year.
Ford is building three new battery gigafactories in Tennessee and Kentucky in addition to EV production.
It’s really great to see that the company is finally fully onboard with electrification. If that’s “just the beginning,” then in the next few years there might be a pretty high wave of new Ford electric vehicles.