Ford doubles down on its EV plans as electric carmakers race to meet electrified demand any way they can
Sparks are (still) flying… Despite production delays, EV investment isn’t going anywhere. This week Ford doubled down on its electrification plans. Supply shortages (think: chips, lithium) have eaten into sales across the industry, but Ford has fared better than its rivals:
- Lightning strikes again: Ford plans to invest $3.7B and add over 6K union jobs at three US plants to boost electric F-150 Lightning production. FYI: last week Ford delivered its first Lightning — to a buyer who reportedly got tired of waiting for his Tesla Cybertruck.
- Savvy strategy: Industry-wide, car sales slipped 30% in May from last year. But Ford sales fell just 5% after it shifted resources to its F-Series and Mustang Mach-E (whose sales both jumped).
Your e-truck’s on back order… but you can still buy a charger. EV sales hit nearly 7M last year, tripling their market share from two years ago. Because automakers can’t crank out EVs fast enough, they’ve found other ways to invest in an electric future:
The electric revolution is underway… but the road ahead is long (and probably won’t have enough charging stations). Although demand for electric cars is growing faster than expected — $6 gas will do that — EV production could lag behind for years on prolonged chip and material shortages, plus slow infrastructure development (think: few chargers). Since automakers can’t manufacture EVs any faster, they’ve shifted their focus to manufacturing future EV customers, by creating convenient charging stations and battery options.