Photo: Jim Farley
Ford Motor Co. is planning a major shift to electric vehicle (EV) production at its factories as part of a restructuring to better focus on electrification — reports Bloomberg.
The plans could see the veteran automaker spend as much as $20 billion USD over the next 10 years, with efforts led by former Tesla and Apple executive Doug Field.
Field previously served as the head of Apple’s car project, before which he was a top executive at Tesla who contributed to the Model 3.
Ford will spend an additional $10 billion to $20 billion over the next five to 10 years to convert factories across the world over to EV production from manufacturing internal combustion engine-powered cars, said people familiar with the matter.
The investment is designed to further Ford CEO Jim Farley’s ambitions to rival and ultimately surpass Tesla in the EV space, step one of which involves doubling EV production to 600,000 units per year by 2024 and becoming the highest-volume electric car brand behind Tesla.
According to one of the sources, the company is also considering the prospect of spinning off a small portion of its EV business to cash in on investor interest in electric carmakers and focus on lower-volume models while Ford dedicates its resources to mass-market EVs.
The plans will also see Ford shake its organizational chart up and hire an unspecified number of engineers specializing in EV-centric disciplines like battery chemistry, Artificial Intelligence, and EV software.
“We are executing our Ford Plus plan to transform the company and thrive in this new era of electric and connected vehicles. We would not comment on speculation,” Mark Truby, Chief Communications Officer at Ford, told Bloomberg.
This new investment would be on top of the $30 billion Farley has already committed to EVs through 2025.
Farley is constantly pushing the company to fast-track EV plans, tripling production goals for the company’s highly successful all-electric Mustang Mach-E and doubling production targets for the F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck launching this fall.
Ford has also partnered with South Korea’s SK Innovation to invest $11.4 billion in three battery factories and an EV truck plant in the U.S.
