In recent weeks, Ford – along with other automakers – has faced a bit of a lull in terms of demand for some all-electric vehicles, prompting it to push back plans to ramp up global production of those models to two million units annually by 2026 and also cutting a shift at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center where the Ford F-150 Lightning is built. With the automaker facing a month-long strike by the United Auto Workers (UAW) and much uncertainty surrounding its future EV plants, Ford also recently paused construction at the future BlueOval Battery Park Michigan site, though development by other parties continues. Amid all of this, both CEO Jim Farley and chairman Bill Ford have been quite vocal about all of these issues, with Farley recently calling EVs a “political football” – a notion that Bill Ford essentially repeated in a recent interview with the New York Times.
“EV sales are still up 50 percent this year, so sales are growing very fast,” Ford said. “But we’ve also seen a politicization of EVs. Blue states say EVs are great and we need to adopt them as soon as possible for climate reasons. Some of the red states say this is just like the vaccine, and it’s being shoved down our throat by the government, and we don’t want it. I never thought I would see the day when our products were so heavily politicized, but they are.”
“The other is prices. Electric vehicles are expensive. We know prices will come down, and as that happens, we will have a bigger ramp-up of EVs. Keep this in mind – the most valuable company that our industry has ever seen is Tesla, and it’s growing. That’s a very instructive point when people say EVs are not desired.”
Meanwhile, EVs remain a major sticking point in negotiations with the UAW – which wants to include future plants in its next master contract with the Detroit Big Three automakers – something that GM has agreed to do, while Ford wants to give its as-yet-unhired workforce in those facilities the option to choose for themselves.
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Comments
When you take tax money from people that don’t want EVs, and then give it to people that buy EVs by force of government, then you create a political problem. If Ford doesn’t want it to be political, then they should advocate for a “hands-off” free-market approach to EV adoption. As it is, Ford wants to get free money directly and indirectly from the government and not have people complain about it. “Shut up and do as your told” is the mindset that got us where we are with EVs today.
David D: What you just said is misleading at best and mostly untrue at worst. And you know it.
I’m not going to get into a back and forth on this, but you really need to look into the subsidies in other areas such as payments to farmers for ethanol. Tax credits to big oil. If you plan to blow the dog whistle about EV’s and tax money, then blow that same dog whistle about the rest too. Otherwise, you are part of the political division taking place.
Subsidies for those other industries (actually, all industries) should be eliminated also. EVs are more political because your average citizen feels the effects of the government’s heavy hand more directly, and people are being forced to pay a higher price for a less-effective product that they don’t want. EV authoritarianism effects people more personally, so it is by nature more political.
I’m a gear head race care engineer/mechanic/crew member.
But for sure what Mr. Ford says is correct and we will see the day where all venicles are electric as it’s simpler, no oil cahnges, no complicated emissions crap and whey will be cheaper than ICE.
Probably no steering wheel either because they will be atonomous.
My biggest concern is the generation protfolio and if it is fossil fuel based , then we got techincal issues that the population, in general, does not understand.
Addressing that issure will be expensive on your electric bill and the president and congress are hiding that form you.
EVs have always been political thats why all the car makers have invested heavily in them. The real facts are EVs are very inefficient low range greatly effected by the weather and very long charge times. Plus ad to the equation there production is more harmful to the environment and disposal of the very dangerous used batteries is another ecological disaster waiting to happen.
Instead of responding to just David D above, I have decided to address all the comments so far as they are nothing more than talking points from a certain group.
David: I agree that subsidies of all types need to stop. I sure hope you complained back in 2008 when they did the horrible “cash for clunkers” program in which our tax money sent billions back into the Japanese market.
David and Buck: Please post where you are attaining your “facts” that EV’s are very inefficient and low range. It’s not true. My Bolt EV is getting higher than the equivalent of 184 MPH. On a DC fast charger it take me 1.5 hours to fully charge from 10% and costs me around $30 depending on where I would charge. However, I normally keep it topped off from free chargers at business that I go to or at home. The rest of what you said (Buck) is just pure rubbish and has been discredited time and again by study after study.
If you don’t like EV (I’m sure since it sounds like you don’t know much about them), then don’t buy one. But to continue to spread lies that you hear from certain sources that have little understanding of the subject is just silly at best.
Sorry, not sure how to make a correction. In my above comment, I stated MPH when it should be MPG. Also, when fully charged my Bolt (at 100%) range is between 310 and 325 depending on conditions. At 90%, I consistently get 290 miles. And as for being less efficient in colder/very hot weather, yes that is true. Just like ICE vehicles. Where I grew up in NW Illinois, the gas vehicles would lose MPG and driving range just like an EV. Admittedly, the EV tends to lose slightly more range than ICE in the extreme cold, but that’s going to change.
“If you don’t like EV (I’m sure since it sounds like you don’t know much about them), then don’t buy one.” – That’s the problem. It appears that we won’t have any other option to buy soon.
I complained mightily about Cash for Clunkers, to no avail. The most efficient use of automobiles and the best environmental answer is to maintain them properly and keep them going as long as possible. To that philosophy, I average 20 years per vehicle. Regarding “then don’t buy one,” I live in a state where that will not be an option in the future because new ICE vehicle sales have been outlawed starting in several years. There are several states that have done the same. That said, I am not opposed to EVs. I am opposed to being coerced to purchasing an inferior product at a higher price because the government said I have to. I think PHEVs are the best of both worlds…and I see Ford just cancelled another one. Ugh.
The used car market NEVER recovered from cash for clunkers. It’s been nothing but more and more expensive to buy a used vehicle since.
David: Some very good points. I don’t think we really disagree on much here, maybe just a little. I was selling during the cash for clunkers program and to this day that angers me a lot. There is, under zero instances, no justification for our US tax money going to assist people buying Japanese brands! All that money that went into the Japanese market and the hands of them. Total crime.
As for EV’s being the only option soon? We know how quickly these companies change plans at the drop of a hat. This article above is basically just that. So when there’s a change in the political environment, this very easily could change just as quickly. Not only that, but the technology in the EV field is moving much faster than in ICE. My thought is that in only 5 years from today, we will have EV’s that charge as fast as you can fill a 20 gal fuel tank. They will go 600+ miles per charge and even the most anti-EV people will begin to embrace them fully.
I’m full in with the EV’s and I’m on my second one (2023 Bolt) and love it. But I still love my ICE and have two beautiful older Cadillac’s sitting in my garage at home.
So you have the EPA/CAFE/NHTSA tightening standards to the point they have come out and said you might as well just make all EVs to meet our standards, you have California and some other states wanting to ban ICE by a certain year, and you have Europe wanting to ban ICE by a certain year. And you have the hedge funds like BlackRock and Vanguard and the others in the WEF that own most of the shares of every company in every industry in the world that matter all bribing, sorry, lobbying politicians to force these changes. Yeah, I just can’t see how EVs have become so political, LOL!
John: That sounds about right. Now say that exact same thing about gas/oil. Because it’s the exact same thing going on and has been for 100 years.
You aren’t entirely wrong. I had a longer response typed out earlier and it wouldn’t post, weird.
Feds have been interfering with and involved with the vehicles we buy for over 50 years. Emissions regs, crash standards, the 1980s 85 MPH speedometer limit, the circled ’55’ on speedometer, CAFE, the list is endless…..
And that’s the problem with government. There is an initial item (i.e. safety) that everyone agrees the government should be involved in, and then the crooks get in there and pervert the system for their political benefit. If the government is involved, then it is political.
Time for a convention of states. The constitution provides for federal government overreach which has been abused since Lbj’s great society. Unions in government and education is a failure. Affirmative action entitlements are discrimination against whte males and bright asians. Democrat controlled congress hasn’t done their actual responsibilities in decades, pass legal administration and balanced budgets. Using the courts to enact laws is dead wrong. Appointing activists to Supreme Court who apparently have no clue of Constitutional Law. Their birdbrain opposition comments prove it. Bill Ford should step down as should Farley and the lefties on the Board. Ask you selves one simple question. How would Alan Mulally handle all of this. Green renewable energy will never sustain the nation in MOST of our lifetimes. What’s wrong with a mix of energy sources, Clean Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas. Just like ICE can never fill the needs of all necessities. Critical thinking is a lost art. Just reading the responses make it seems like another political hot bed. My ties with Ford go back to 1948 both as dealer and corp. and continue still. My disappointment in the FOMOCO is at an all time high!
If the federal government stuck to its “enumerated powers” we would solve 80% of our problems.
The speedometer may have stopped at 85 but you could go faster. The needle is still able to be moved further past 85 mph.
Bill Ford has it all wrong. I’m not interested in getting ripped off by Ford a franchise owners. I went into my local Ford dealership to purchase a Mustang Mach E. The sticker was 50. Then the dealer added another 4 k in junk fees, add ons and pure garbage. Lertvthe dealership went on line and ordered a car from another company. The Ford Dealership model is broken and will eventually ruin that company. Fox it before it’s too late.