Latest News
Ford Reveals the Maverick LoboFord Delays Electric Vehicle Plans & Shifts Focus Towards Hybrids
Ford’s electrification roadmap is taking a detour. Find out which EV plans are being delayed and which EVs are being scrapped.
Ford Puts the Brakes on Electrification Plans
As electric vehicle (EV) competition ramps up, Ford has decided to shift their focus away from ramping up their fully electric production. Ford recently announced some changes to their electrification roadmap that will delay upcoming releases and even outright drop certain electric models for the time being. Although, the brand still plans to reduce their carbon emissions impact and provide more hybrid options to their customers.
These changes come in response to the heightened competition in the fully electric segment. With brands like Tesla already having a substantial foothold in the market and more affordable options like the Chinese BYD brand expanding globally, it isn’t getting any easier for Ford to keep their EV market share stateside and internationally. There’s also the matter of profitability, which Ford is not right now. Gas-powered vehicles and fleet sales are doing fine. Ford is even the number two electric vehicle brand in the United States, but EV profits and development spending dragged their profitability down to a reported a $2.46 billion loss for the first half of this year alone.
Ford Pivots to Hybrid Powertrains
Normally, three-row SUVs are a profitable and easy sell in the automotive market, so an EV one should be a sales success – right? Well, Ford has already explored the idea of a fully electric three-row SUV and had the new model in development, but the company has decided to cancel the project. Ford found that producing a large electric vehicle is challenging currently as they have to offer effective performance in an already weighty vehicle, produce an acceptable range, and include extensive customer value options. Finding the right balance of those items and selling them at an even an approachable price doesn’t make for a profitable vehicle with the current state of EV technology.
Instead, Ford plans to pivot their large vehicles to provide more hybrid options. Hybrid powertrains produce similar profits to strictly gas-powered models and the underlying architecture is easier to incorporate into their lineup. Ford has plans in the pipeline to offer a three-row extended-range hybrid SUV in similar fashion to Ram’s 1500 Ramcharger hybrid. Ford also hinted at plans to offer more “propulsion options” for the F-series Super Duty Pickups, which could mean a hybrid or plug-in hybrid option. The F-150 and Maverick already offer hybrid powertrains, but we could see further hybridized updates to those models as well.
Electric Vehicle Plans Delayed
Ford isn’t completely dropping their other EVs in development, but EV spending has been cut and the timelines have been shifted out for upcoming models. A next-generation electric pickup truck code-named “Project T3” has been moved from 2025 out to 2027. The new truck was planned to take everything that Ford had learned from the F-150 Lightning and expand upon the model with items like upgraded bi-directional charging capability and advanced aerodynamic updates. By moving out production, the company hopes to utilize lower-cost battery tech and further profit from industry breakthroughs as the EV segment continues to develop.
Ford Realigns Battery Sourcing & EV Production
Ford is also making moves to reduce costs on their current EV production. Ford and LG Energy Solutions are looking to move some of their Mustang Mach-E battery production from Polland to Michigan in 2025 to qualify for the Inflation Reduction Act which invests in domestic energy production. The BlueOval SK joint venture’s Kentucky 1 plant is aiming to manufacture cells for the E-Transit and F-150 Lighting starting sometime in the middle of next year.
The BlueOval SK at BlueOval City in Tennessee is also looking to produce cells in late 2025 for an upcoming all-electric commercial van. Those same cells will also be utilized later in the aforementioned next-generation “Project T3” electric truck. The BlueOval Battery Park Michigan location is on truck to begin lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery production in 2026. This will be the first automaker-backed LFP battery plant in America. The localization of battery production coupled with the further qualification for the Inflation Reduction Act benefits leads to a lower-cost battery in American EVs.
