The 118-year-old automaker’s vision to lead the EV market has a “no-brainer” component Elon Musk lacks: a vast base of business and government fleet customers.
, says Mary Nichols, CARB’s former long-time chair and co-chair of the newly formed Commission on the Future of Mobility.
Farley set a target for 40% of Ford’s global vehicle sales to be electric vehicles by 2030. And to ensure those products are both compelling for customers and cost-effective for Ford, it’s boosting spending on vehicle and battery development to $30 billion through 2025. Some of those funds will go for better lithium-ion batteries, lithium iron phosphate cells for commercial vehicles and next-generation solid-state batteries that could offer much greater range per charge and lower cost.
Ford estimates it has a 43% share of the U.S. market for full-size commercial vans and trucks, double that of its closest competitor, says RBC Capital analyst Joseph Spak. He upgraded his rating of Ford shares to Outperform this week, in part because of the company’s strategy to take advantage of its truck market position. “We see Ford increasingly catering to commercial fleets.