Ford Says Half Its Lineup Will Be Electrified by 2030: 'This Is a Customer-Driven Shift'

The automotive industry is always trying to find the high and low watermarks of customer demand. Most automakers were aggressively pursuing electric vehicles just a few years ago, but consumer costs, infrastructure improvement needs, and the current political climate dictated a need for a change in strategy.

With that, Ford is massively scaling back its pure EV ambitions in favor of a mixed-fuel strategy that will include far more hybrid options in the lineup. While hybrid and electric vehicles currently account for 17 percent of Ford’s global product sales volume, by 2023, the automaker aims to reach 50 percent. This expansion will ride on the back of the upcoming Universal EV Platform as well as a greater number of hybrid and extended-range EV offerings.

Ford’s next-generation EV platform aims to deliver efficient, affordable electric vehicles. The first to arrive will be a mid-size electric pickup truck, which is scheduled to enter production in 2027. But equally as important will be vehicles like the just announced F-150 Lightning EREV, which will boast an estimated 700-mile driving range.

These moves are part of revisions to the Ford+ plan. The automaker is looking to reduce the number of products with low returns while investing more heavily in those that actually generate revenue.

Larger electric vehicles, such as the current-generation Lighting and e-Transit, don’t generate enough demand. The business case simply isn’t there. So Ford will instead pivot its production focus to vehicles that can move the sales volume needle.

Instead of introducing a new electric commercial van, Ford will offer a less-expensive van offered with a choice of gas or hybrid powertrains. In fact, Ford says that it will launch five new affordable vehicles by the end of the decade. The existing product lineup will feature gas, hybrid, and extended-range electric options for nearly every vehicle on the lot.

Ford will bolster its business by entering the energy storage solutions market. As the automaker isn’t meeting its planned needs for large-scale battery development, it will repurpose some of its battery manufacturing capacity to offer storage systems for data centers and the overall infrastructure.

This plan also involves storage system solutions for residential energy needs. Perhaps Ford sees a business case for a rival to Tesla’s Powerwall? Regardless, this new business, as well as the production shift to a fully multi-fuel lineup, align with Ford’s goals to become carbon neutral by 2050.

The immediate goal, of course, is to go greener as soon as possible. Any by green, I mean flush with cash courtesy of a lineup that appeals to a large swath of the car-buying public.