Ford recently revealed various electric car delays, one of which being the eagerly anticipated three-row SUV. The car was slated to launch in 2019, but the company has postponed it until 2027, saying it will take advantage of the extra time to “take advantage of emerging battery technology.” According to Ford, steps would be taken to “mitigate the impact the launch delay will have on” the labour force in Canada. Code-named “T3,” the upcoming electric truck, will also not ship until late 2025 or early 2026.
The Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center assembly factory at the company’s BlueOval City complex is where it is being constructed, though Ford claims that the stamping equipment needed to make the truck’s sheet metal is only recently being installed.
Alongside these announcements, the company has revealed a new push for hybrid vehicles. It has stated it plans on offering hybrid powertrains across the entire Ford Blue lineup by 2030. Despite the aforementioned delays and the pivot toward hybrid vehicles, Ford says it remains committed to EVs and that it’s continuing construction of battery plants in Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky.
However, it’s no secret that the EV market is not quite as robust as companies once hoped it would be. Maybe it’s the high price of entry, the spotty charging infrastructure or the fact that some EVs do not qualify for the federal tax break. Heck, maybe consumers are simply turned off by a certain CEO who shall not be named.
In any event, the slowdown is real, though perhaps a bit overstated. Ford experienced a decline in EV sales of 11 percent in January, but the company says it bounced back and that sales have increased by 86 percent throughout the entire first quarter when compared to last year. However, the company’s EV offerings lost $4.7 billion in 2023.
“We are committed to scaling a profitable EV business”, said Jim Farley, Ford president and CEO. To that end, the company announced last year that it would be delaying or canceling $12 billion in planned spending on electric vehicles. It’s unclear how today’s announcements will impact Ford’s plans to ramp up production to 600,000 EVs per year. In any event, customers can now use Tesla Superchargers in the US and Canada, which should help assuage some of those infrastructure concerns.
