Ford ups electric vehicle plans to US$11b by 2022: executive

[DETROIT] Ford Motor Co will increase significantly its planned investments in electric vehicles to US$11 billion by 2022, chairman Bill Ford told reporters on Sunday at the Detroit auto show.

This is up from a previously announced target of US$4.5 billion by 2020. The investments will be made in full electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

"We're all in on this and we're taking our mainstream vehicles, our most iconic vehicles, and we're electrifying them," Mr Ford said.

Competition is heating up between automakers to bring electric cars to market even as consumers in America are shifting toward traditional gasoline-burning pickup trucks and SUVs.

Rival Detroit automaker General Motors Co has announced plans to add 20 new battery electric and fuel cell vehicles to its global lineup by 2023, financed by robust profits from those very same traditional internal combustion engine vehicles in the United States and China.

GM chief executive Mary Barra has made a bold promise to investors that the Detroit automaker will make money selling electric cars by 2021.

Ford's head of global markets Jim Farley said on Sunday the automaker's investment in full electric and hybrid vehicles would effectively double from the levels previously planned.

The added investment reflects the costs of building a dedicated electric vehicle platform, and development of 40 electric and hybrid models, of which 16 will be battery electric models, Mr Farley said.

Mr Farley said Ford will bring a high performance electric utility vehicle to market by 2020. The company will begin production of a hybrid version of its popular F-150 truck at plant in Dearborn, Michigan, in 2020.

REUTERS