In the past few months, Ford has decided to push back its targets of building 600k EVs annually by 2024 and two million by 2026 as it deals with falling demand for those types of models, not to mention ongoing politically-fueled controversy that hovers over the segment. Thus – coupled with concerns over things like pricing and infrastructure – recent polls suggest that the EV pivot may in fact take longer than some expected, though in the meantime, FoMoCo will continue to focus on conquests to grow its all-electric business. However, it isn’t just Americans who are souring a bit on EVs, as Ford Canada CEO Bev Goodman recently noted that her country is out of early adopters, too.
“This is the really, really difficult part of the move that we need to make,” Goodman said at the recent Automotive News Canada Retail Forum in Toronto. “A year and a half ago, we couldn’t build enough EVs. Now there are some cases where inventory is building up on selected vehicle lines, and there’s some cases also where we have the wrong inventory in the wrong places.”
As such, Goodman noted that Ford is changing its strategy a bit by focusing on winning over mass-market consumers that don’t care about being the first in their neighborhood to have the latest hot vehicle. Instead, those customers want a broader range of options, better charging infrastructure, and lower pricing. Goodman noted that Ford Canada has a special team in place that’s dedicated to working through these issues, though it also plans to continue to focus on ICE vehicles in the meantime.
“Not all customers and not all vehicle segments will shift to zero-emission vehicles at the same time and at the same rate,” Goodman said. “We’re very much continuing to invest in ICE vehicles and hybrid-electric vehicles, as well as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, giving customers those propulsion choices that they really need and want.”
We’ll have more on the future of EVs soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for 24/7 Ford news coverage.
Comments
YES!
Paraphrasing: Now that all the suckers that bought into this fraud have been robbed blind, we need build vehicles that benefit the Average Joe.
Ford and the dealer network have figured out that the EV market is not going to happen the way politicians want it to. Time to drop back and punt!!
The quote is amusing in referring to these as “zero emission vehicles”. I guess folks don’t know those charging stations where they plug in each day are most often powered by electricity generated from coal or natural gas. The hypocrisy of this is breathtaking.
The good news? The marketplace is imposing a correction on government dictates and overzealous automakers through consumer purchase preferences.
EV’s are NOT zero emission vehicles…..everything it takes to manufacture the batteries and continuously recharge them is potentially a greater issue for the environment than an ICE powered vehicle
I’m not surprised to hear this. I think the same is being witnessed here in the States. Just look at the slowing sales in many segments of this particular market. There are probably several factors at work here. High barrier to purchase. Less expensive ICE alternatives. Nagging issues regarding a reliable charging network. Even with the tax exemption and rebates now being offered, these issues may be somewhat mitigated, but only somewhat.
Hopefully now with slowing EV sales the EV charger infrastructure build out can catch up and improve reliability in both Canada and the US.
EV’s are a fraud and a hoax on humanity. Only the very dim witted among us believe the bold faced lie that they are “zero emission vehicles”. The rest of us know the incredibly negative impact of battery production and disposal. The huge downside of buying a vehicle that will be a paperweight when the batteries fail and are too cost prohibitive to replace. The pathetic infrastructure for changing that makes out of town travel depressing and undesirable. The fact that the government takes poor people’s taxes to subsidize rich people’s purchases of niche EV’s. ( think long and hard about that last one because it’s incredibly gross)
In 1924 many still said get a horse.
EVs are technically zero emissions as are Hydrogen vehicles. They use electrons. So thems the facts.
Battery manufacturers are constantly tweaking the formula and like space science we are all benefiting. We only have begun.
Back to 1924. A model T got 11 litres per 100 kms. and couldn’t go 100 kph if it tried. Gasoline vehicles require significant material and manufacturing and transporting has a huge pollution footprint. But once they’ve been delivered that is when the real pollution begins. Gasoline is refined from oil requiring MORE ELECTRICITY in that process than needed to charge EVs. Then trucks and trains deliver gasoline and pollute more. So the numbers clearly say EVs are better overall for the environment.
Charging infrastructure is a problem. The grid won’t collapse like some are saying but there are some other problems.
Chademo, CCS1, J1772, NACS. The competing and incompatible standards hinder adoption. Gasoline has 3 grades and Diesel is separate. But we pay at the pump with a debit or credit card in any gas station. To charge your EV you need to become a member. You can sometimes use a credit card and you must with some networks have an app. with internet (not always available in the boonies).
So I support EVs and when Tesla (NACS) becomes the dominant Charging Standard in 2024-25 this hopefully will be rectified.
So when people talk about EVs they need to realize the facts. We are only starting and the Gasoline cars have over 100 years of history. 100 years from now things will be completely.
I have no idea how anyone can say that EVs are zero emissions with a straight face. God didn’t make the batteries suddenly out of thin air. Electricity doesn’t just magically appear at the outlets in your house, or at the charging stations. “So the numbers clearly say EVs are better overall for the environment.” The jury is still out on this statement. We’ve yet to see the impact that millions of huge lithium battery packs will have when those batteries will no longer take a charge and must be disposed of. It’s kinda like saying that nuclear energy is clean. The experts still don’t have a way to dispose of the waste fuel from nuclear power plants. The huge bulk of spent nuclear fuel is still sitting in cooling pools at the plants where it was used. Their best solution at this time is to bury the waste. The problem with that is how do you keep someone in fifty or a hundred thousand years from now, from accidentally digging it up? All of the current languages of the World will have long ago become dead in that amount of time.
Do some research my man. Definitions matter Zero emission as a mobile source. No one said it’s net zero emission. Take in the entire supply chain ….EV, because it has less parts and less distributed supply chain , is automatically less emission intensive to out to gather. After that it has no emission as a mobile device, so cities are healthier. Emission is pushed to source like a power plant which controls emission much better than million cars. Battery recycling is yet to take off but is starting . So rest with the tired argument of people who don’t really do any good faith research.
You apparently don’t live in Texas. Which has its own grid built to substandard regulations and is on the verge of collapse daily.