As a company, Ford committed to the carbon fight right from the start. Now, they’re now teasing out their second-generation fleet of electric vehicles–and they are ‘banking’ on it’s success.
According to their CEO, Jim Farley, the EVs they’re poised to unveil will be unlocking a totally new era of both product and profitability for the company. In fact, he claims that their second-generation EVs will redefine the entire EV landscape. Yep, that’s bold! But for them, it also means profit–as much as 8%.
Farley was very transparent about the path that they’ve had to navigate, as well as their aspirations. Gearing for a 2 million EV run rate by 2026, they’ve hired hundreds of people and hit the legacy issues with their first generation EVs head on. Here’s a few highlights.
Raw materials: Going in, they assumed that sourcing the raw materials would be the biggest barrier. Turns out that it was actually processing. They dedicated significant resources to smoothing it out as much as possible.
Battery: To deal with the legacy battery issues EV owners are challenged with, Ford had to divert the chemistry of their batteries to make them cheaper, while also enabling double the charging cycles.
Software: Frustrated by finding themselves at the mercy of other players, Ford decided to take back their EV software architecture. It’s 100% proprietary and undateable, meaning they control it all.
Design/Fabrication: The new fleet is radially simpler in gearing, making the vehicles more streamlined but also requiring 40 – 59% less labor to assimilate.
Infrastructure: Ford has collaborative ventures underway to support rapid expansion, the goal being making it as frictionless to find a charge as it is to find a gas station.
Ford is bullish that they playing to their strengths and leaning on how well they know customers with these strategic moves. Holding true to the attributes that their legacy customers value most, they also call out that this new generation is totally different than its predecessor, stating that “when you look underneath, you’ll be shocked”. This new fleet is a paradigm shift in many ways, including the driving experience, and cements their intention to claim their stake as an EV innovator. Farley is confident that this new fleet will bring with it new heights of profitability, and that 50% of their future sales will be customers new to the brand.
We love a good comeback, and it’s really exciting to see a U.S company commit to this kind of EV innovation. We can’t wait to see this new fleet in the flesh, and you can bet we’ll bring them to you as soon as they’re public!
Published May 22, 2023 10:02PM
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