Ford joins the charge towards electrification 

F

ord is the latest global automaker to commit to a bold electrification strategy.

The US company has announced that, by mid-2026, all of its models sold in Europe will be capable of zero-emissions driving using either battery-electric or hybrid electric powertrains. Doubling down on the shift away from combustion engines, the automaker goes on to say that, by 2030, all its vehicles sold in Europe will be fully electric.

In addition, the company’s popular range of commercial vehicles will all be capable of zero-emissions driving by 2024, with Ford saying it expects two-thirds of commercial vehicle sales by 2030 to be either fully electric or plug-in hybrid.

To ensure it has the production network necessary to fulfil its ambitious plans, Ford will lean on its European production base in Cologne, Germany. It plans to invest at least $1bn into the facility to equip it to manufacture electric vehicles.

This investment is part of a wider commitment to spend around $22bn globally by 2025 to realise Ford’s electrification ambitions – twice the amount the company had previously committed to the project.

Europe is a logical choice for Ford to begin accelerating its electrification plans. While it has begun to launch its EV strategy in North America with products including the Mustang Mach-E and upcoming electric F-150 pickup, that market is still dominated by combustion-powered pickup trucks and SUVs – a particularly robust line of profit for the automaker considering the F-150 is the US’s best-selling light vehicle – that market is not expected to adopt electrified vehicles as quickly as Europe, which favours smaller vehicles for shorter journeys, playing to the strengths of EVs.

Ford’s decision is driven by the auto industry’s increasing rate of acceleration away from combustion power and towards electrification. Governments are beginning to commit to timeframes for the ban on sales of combustion-powered light vehicles – the UK will ban the sale of all non-plug-in models by 2030, while Norway and France will ban the sale of combustion-powered vehicles by 2025 and 2040 respectively.

– By Mike Vousden