Ford sees clearly that EV is the key to future competition. Jim Farley, CEO of Ford said in an interview with Automotive News, that demand for EVs could double or even triple what was expected.
Because of this, Ford is doubling its EV projections, to 600,000 units per year globally by 2023. According to Blue Ovale, the number is not yet ideal, it should be more than that, but the company is faced with the reality regarding battery availability.
“The demand is far from the 160,000 units we have today. Our orders are close to 200,000 units now and it’s getting bigger,” said Farley.
One of the contributors to the need for EVs comes from the pickup. Ford is currently starting to sell the F-150 Lightning EV, which is based on the Ford F-Series. And going forward Ford felt the need to create a new, large EV pickup that was not developed in the F-Series model.
This plan is set to happen in 2025, so it’s still relatively long, but this is like Ford’s answer to Tesla or GMC and the Chevrolet Silverado EV which does use a purely EV design.
Jim Farley gave a strong hint that the F-Series EV will be sold in very large volumes.