Last month, Ford of Europe announced that it plans on going 100 percent electric by the year 2030 and that by mid-2026, the automaker’s entire passenger vehicle range will be zero-emissions capable, either all-electric or plug-in hybrid. Part of that plan includes a $1 billion investment to transform the Ford Cologne Assembly Plant into the Ford Cologne Electrification Center. Now, Ford of Europe president, Stuart Rowley, has given us a few more details of how the automaker plans to do it in an interview with Automotive News Europe.
Rowley elected not to discuss Ford’s plans for future EV models outside of the Ford Mustang Mach-E and a future EV build on Volkswagen’s MEB platform. “Our portfolio is going to evolve as we grow our commercial vehicle line further,” Rowley said. “We are going to have a more targeted portfolio of highly differentiated passenger vehicles. Our product range will develop over time and as it does it should also be electrified.”
While Rowley noted the success of utility vehicles like the Kuga and Puma in Europe, he also stressed the importance of commercial vehicles in the market. “If I take a step back, the core of our business in Europe and our profitability is commercial vehicles,” Rowley said. We are the No. 1-selling brand. The alliance with VW gives us the industrial scale that allows us to take our commercial vehicle business to the next level. So that’s where I start.”
That commercial focus also means that diesel engines won’t be going anywhere, anytime soon. “We built three diesel engines there [Dagenham],” Rowley said. “The majority of those are going into commercial vehicles, primarily the Transit, so that gives a longer runway When you look a decade out, we will still be selling a lot of diesel engines from Dagenham. It is still a very important part of our future commercial vehicle business.”
As far as its other plants go, Ford of Europe will continue to convert them to electric vehicle production as well. “Cologne won’t be the last plant to electrify. We will make more announcements as we move forward and start to make investments. We have Saarlouis, Valencia [Spain], and also Craiova, which is a very important plant for us now. Romania is very cost-competitive and that’s an important asset we have.” Rowley did note that electrification would reduce the need for powertrain plants, however.
While it’s clear that Ford of Europe is headed toward an inevitable electric future, it also won’t be abandoning its diesel-powered commercial vehicles any time soon. But given the challenges the automaker faces in producing a viable electric commercial product capable of traveling long distances on a charge, that isn’t a huge surprise.
We’ll have more on Ford of Europe’s electrification plans soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for non-stop Ford news coverage.
Comments
Someone should tell Rowley about the elephant in the room.
SINTEF did a multi-year, multi-million Euro study on health effects from long term EMF exposure from electric cars. Let me summarize the conclusions:
1. The study concluded that electric cars are safe. However, SINTEF had to ignore long term EMF exposure health effects.
2. Just in case, SINTEF recommended that BEV designers position the electric motors and power inverters and wiring and batteries as far away from the occupants as possible.
So SINTEF had to ignore the very topic that their study was to investigate….
SINTEF: “Yeah, electric cars are safe as long as you avoid long term exposure….and just in case please position that very dynamic electric motor….more powerful than 300 swimming pool pumps….as far away from the occupants as possible….especially women and hildren….and then there are the rhoids…”
In other news, colorectal cancer is spiking in Norway. Gee….I wonder why?
No worries Rowley…..just keep driving your ICE. Anyway, women and children are much more vulnerable to long-term EMF exposure health effects than men.
In other news, 2020 was the hottest year on record. It was also the year with lowest atmospheric CO2 levels in many years. Hmmmm.
Hey Ford Owner I can tell by your comment that you do not know what your talking about nor I bet have you worked in the industry. Everything you said is incorrect and have been proven wrong. You drive your electric POS and I ll take the ICE car any day. I bet you live in Cali
Electrification of the commercial fleet in Europe is great, but what about here in America?
With all the technology that we have here in the USA it should not take too much to electrify the F series. We already have the technology to power Class 8 trucks, so why can we not put it to a smaller platform like F250-F750? The F150 has already been done, so why not expand that knowledge upscale to the rest of the F series.
I am being a little selfish in my statements above because I am looking to replace my 2008 6.4 F350SD shortly. At present, I am looking at replacing it twice to get to an electric replacement. I am expecting a 400HP motor for a 4WD should to handsomely. My application is for an F450 with a towing capacity of a 5th wheel at 24,500 Lbs. I may be wrong with my estimation combination, please advise.