Ford’s facility in Cologne, Germany, photographed in February 2021.
Oliver Berg | AFP | Getty Images
Ford has laid out plans to roll out three new electric passenger cars and four new commercial electric cars in Europe by 2024, with the company saying it expects to sell more than 600,000 electric vehicles annually in the region by 2026.
The auto giant also wants all car sales in Europe to be zero-emissions by 2035.
In a statement on Monday, Ford said the ramp-up will begin with production of a mid-size electric crossover in Cologne, Germany, in 2023.
After that, another electric car will begin to be manufactured in Cologne in 2024, while an electric version of the Ford Puma, produced in Romania, will be available in the same year.
Ford said planned electric vehicle production in Cologne is now set to reach 1.2 million vehicles over a six-year period. The investment in electric vehicles planned for Cologne will reach $2 billion.
On the commercial vehicle front, four new electric versions will also be produced in Ford’s Transit range, starting in 2023.
In remarks on Monday, Ford Europe President, Stuart Rowley, said electricity represented “the most transformative change in our industry in more than 100 years.”
Ford also said it has signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with South Korea’s SK On. and the Turkish Koç Holding Company. The MoU relates to the establishment of a joint venture centered on the development of a commercial facility for electric vehicle batteries near the Turkish capital, Ankara.
If all goes as planned, it is hoped that production will start at the plant by the middle of this decade. Ford said the joint venture has the support of the Turkish government and will have a capacity of 30 to 45 gigawatt-hours per year.
All of the above comes at a time when the European Union is looking to reduce the environmental impact of transport.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 100% from cars and trucks by 2035. Turkey, where the battery facility will be set up, is not part of the European Union.
The UK, which left the European Union at the end of January 2020, wants to stop selling diesel and petrol cars and vans by 2030. From 2035 it will require all zero-emission cars and vans.
Monday’s announcement follows Ford’s announcement last week that it will separate its electric and internal combustion engine business into different units.
Ford is one of several major auto companies trying to expand their electric vehicle offerings and challenge Elon Musk’s Tesla.
In March 2021, Volvo Cars said it planned to become an “all-electric car company” by 2030. Elsewhere, the BMW Group said it wanted all-electric cars to account for at least 50% of deliveries by 2030.
in February. In 2022, Nissan’s chief operating officer, Ashwani Gupta, explained that his company had decided to move away from developing new internal combustion engines in Europe once a more stringent set of emissions standards, known as Euro 7, came into force.