Ford Is Eliminating Gas-Powered Cars, Going Full EV
Ford is ramping up their electric car production starting in Europe. The plan is to have 100% EV cars on the road in that continent by 2030
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Ford has long been synonymous with car manufacturing in the United States. They haven’t always been at the top of the sales chain, but no other brand is more recognizable when it comes to quintessential American cars than the one that started it all. And now Ford is going to be going all green, just not in the United States. The company just announced that it will have 100% electric cars on the road by 2030, in Europe.
Ford is going fully electric in Europe thanks to a massive investment in their Cologne, Germany plant which is making the full switch away from gas-powered manufacturing going forward. The initiative should help cement the car company in the electric vehicle game and pave the way for them to begin adopting full EV production in the United States for the near future as well. While the US appetite might be less than it is in Europe, it’s clear they are setting the stage for this to be the standard operating procedure going forward.
As part of their plan, Ford is investing more than $1 billion dollars into this new pivot in Germany, but also $22 billion worldwide wide into ensuring electric vehicles are their future. They cited a new regulatory landscape that is increasingly making gas cars a thing of the past. But they are also aware that with regulations comes a new appetite for electric cars among their consumer base.
It makes sense that Ford would start this initiative in Europe before fulling bringing it to the United States or some of their other sales territories. The continent is ripe for a full electric investment considering the size of that market already. In 2019, Europe represented the second largest territory of electric car sales, trailing only China. There were 1.8 million registered electric vehicles on the road throughout the continent. By comparison, the United States trailed by 400,000 vehicles despite having roughly the same amount of total cars on the road.
In the United States, the electric car competition is starting to really ramp up. Of course, there’s Tesla whose Model 3 is currently lapping the competition in terms of overall units sold for plug-in charging cars. No one else is really all that close. But that’s set to change in the next decade. For starters, with legacy companies like Ford ramping up their production elsewhere they are setting the stage for more EV cars to sell domestically. Plus, there’s the word that Apple is considering a move to once again try their hand at an electric car. If big tech continues to push the initiative then the competition only becomes stronger.
In all, this is clearly the new normal when it comes to cars. Though Ford said 2030 was the goal in terms of 100% electric vehicles in Europe, the rollout will happen in earnest over the next few years. A decade from now is simply the endgame. The new world order won’t see gas-guzzlers on the road much longer. It’s going to just be the quiet hum of electric, Ford included.
