Shortly after announcing that it was making its plans to produce 600k EVs annually by 2024 and two million by 2026 flexible, Ford also revealed that it will delay $12 billion in planned investments slated for the second BlueOval SK battery plant in Kentucky, as well as BlueOval Battery Park Michigan and other ventures. However, aside from simply delaying these investments, it seems as if the automaker might just nix them altogether if it makes financial sense, as Ford CFO John Lawler revealed while speaking during the automaker’s Q3 earnings call with investors.
“The first step here is given the flatter growth curve that we’re seeing relative to what the industry expected, and we expected, we’ve made this decision to push out $12 billion of capital expenditures,” Lawler said. “But it doesn’t mean that we’ll actually go ahead and pull the trigger on it if we don’t need to. And we’re going to look at the overall EV business and be balanced about that. There’s a lot that’s going to change between now and 2026 and 2030. And we’re going to adjust appropriately. So it’s something that’s going to adjust as we move and how that business develops. And we’ll adjust that capital allocation appropriately and we’ll change our strategy and make different decisions as well.”
Of course, Ford isn’t alone in this major strategy shift, as its cross-town rival, General Motors, is also having problems with EV production and sales that recently prompted it to nix its plans of producing 400k units by mid-2024. Additionally, GM is proving to be a bit of a thorn in Ford’s side as the latter company works to produce lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) batteries at BlueOval Battery Park Michigan using technology licensed from China-based CATL, which has drawn considerable scrutiny from lawmakers as of late.
Regardless, not all automakers are scaling back their EV plans, as both Volkswagen and Hyundai recently reaffirmed their commitment to electrification. VW plans to work to make its EV models cheaper and profitable in the near future, while Hyundai will continue to lean on its strong ICE sales to compensate for losses incurred by EVs.
We’ll have more on Ford’s EV strategy soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for ongoing Ford news coverage.
Comments
Thank you for finally using some common sense.
Not necessarily common sense…me thinks Farley & Ford (and GM) have been
watching the polls and there seems to be little chance that Biden (or any Democrat)
will be our next president. Therefore, no push for EVs and no bail outs if sales go bust.
Another Biden failure. Pushing a product that the consumer doesn’t want. I’ll never buy an EV, if necessary, I’ll keep an ICE car running forever.
Translation: If we don’t get free taxpayer money and subsidies, then it isn’t worth the risk.
People don’t want them and yet Biden is forcing the car makers to build them. That’s the height of stupidity
Ford needs to focus on Hybrids and Plug-in Hybrids moving forward and that’s it!! Stop with the EV nosense because nobody is really looking for it!
Any car company still building ICE vehicles by 2030 will go out of business.
The change will happen very quickly with the next generation battery cells due out by 2025/26.
You can keep driving your gas powered cars and trucks as long as you want, but you most likely will move to a BEV when they are cheaper to buy, cheaper to fuel (charge), cheaper to maintain, and provide longer range than the average ICE vehicle. Enjoy the future, stop hating it. It’s coming whether you like it or not.
Well said.
I would also add, people shouldn’t think that just because a republican may be in office doesn’t mean E.V.s will be abandoned. Manufactures have been working on E.V.s while Trump was in office.
You’re really drinking some strong Kool aid, huh?
They’ve been saying this for decades, every next gen battery is going to be the ground breaker, and it never is. Even if it were to be some silver bullet battery tech coming out in 26, it would take several years to spring up plants to build those batteries, design cars to use them, and then spin up production of those cars. 2035 at best. And none of that is free mind you, so the price point won’t be competitive for a long time either.
If the current EVa were cheaper than their gas counterparts a lot of people would buy them, look at the success of the model y for proof. But the issue is that the rest of the industry can’t price things as low, they don’t get to skirt laws, they don’t get massive VC injections, and they don’t play crypto markets for a revenue stream. They also aren’t selling a product that was developed using money from carbon credit sales.
It’s far more.eprobable.that more of the EV companies will go bust than any automakers selling ICE vehicles after 2030. Lucid will probably go bust first, and Amy prolonged economic slowdown will likely bust rivian.
Vehicles past 2030 will continue to be a mix of ICE, PHEV, BEV, and hybrid. The smart companies will develop their platforms to work for all these powertrains, such that everything from a full ice to bev to ice range extended BEV is just a powertrain option for the same vehicle. We are entering an age where one powertrain will not fit all, and so the automakers will need to offer more variety of propulsion than ever before.