An All-Electric Europe by 2030 is “Too Ambitious,” says Ford
Ford has shelved plans to only sell electric vehicles in Europe by the start of the next decade. The Blue Oval is backtracking on a promise it made in 2021 to stop offering combustion cars from 2030, and instead will continue to sell hybrids in its showrooms for as long as buyers want them.
Marin Gjaja, chief operating officer of Ford’s Model E electrification division, told Autocar, “We don’t see that going all-electric by 2030 is a good choice for our business or, especially, for our customers.”
A loss of government incentives for electric vehicles in Europe and uncertainty over exactly when an ICE ban will be implemented have seriously impacted EV sales. “I think customers have voted, and they told us that was too ambitious, is what I would say—and I think everyone in the industry has found that out the hard way… reality has a way of making you adjust your plans.” he added.
Instead of 2030 being a hard stop for combustion cars, hybrid vehicles including the Puma, Focus and Kuga will remain in the game beyond their planned sell-by dates.
Meanwhile, Ford will continue to expand its electric line-up adding EV versions of the Puma and Tourneo Courier van in 2025 to the Mustang Mach-E, Explorer and newly-announced Capri.
The U.K. is still likely to throw a spanner in the works, however, as the new Labour government pledged to move its combustion car ban forward from 2035 to 2030, although the legislation was notably absent from Labour’s inaugural King’s Speech in Parliament. No wonder consumers are confused.
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An all electric anyplace right now is too ambitious.
There remains much more work to do for range, charge times and costs. Then the infrastructure is another issue unto itself.
It took 120 years to get the ICE to where it is at today and we have had a good 20 years on EV. They need more time and the earth is not going to over heat or flood out in the next 20 years plus.
Ford also is fighting this as the cost is damaging to them. Their stock prices are still way low and they just can’t afford it all without a dance partner.
The UK just elected a government that wants to go further than the previous on pushing out ICE as soon as possible. But people are not paying attention to that who you elect will make a difference on this issue.
I suspect reality will get their attention.
The problem is these folks are pushing agendas not logic or reality.
We try not to “talk politics” here, we really do, but it’s getting harder and harder.
Hybrids are not the answer. They will continue to cause the same damage as ICE vehicles for decades to come while creating an expensive, complex nightmare for owners and mechanics. Full EVs are amazing to drive and reliable and maintenance free. The people who know are already driving them. The rest need to learn.
Dave, you insult a lot of people here, while ignoring the fact that, for many of us in rural areas, there isn’t any charging ecosystems. My town of 8k people has one charging station in the town, and it is not public (it is at a hotel and reserved for their guests only). The round trip to my family’s cabin and back (not counting any extraneous driving) is over the range of many EV’s on the market, and there are exactly zero charging stations on any of the 3 routes to get there. Furthermore, my max budget for a vehicle is well under the price of any EV out there that meets my needs for range and capability, even counting for tax breaks. So, rather than insult our intelligence, oh high and mighty one, pray tell us how great a vehicle that doesn’t meet my routine needs is, that has no local infrastructure, and costs way too much (I need a mid-sized pickup truck, even cheap EV pickups cost 20-30K more than my ICE one does new and offer less capability for that price). Just for some perspective, the nearest shopping mall to my location is a 180 mile round trip, excluding any stops. A trip to take my kids to an amusement park or water park is 6 hours of round trip driving. To the half of the population that lives in places like I do, EV’s are useless. I will however gladly drive a hybrid.
It’s unfortunate you feel insulted. But there are infact a lot of people who won’t even try to learn about EVs. Don’t you have home charging capability available? What about a Tesla? I know they’re expensive, but there’s no place they can’t go thanks to the superb Tesla Supercharger network. Have you ever driven one or any other EV?
You have not mentioned how totally inadequate any EV is in the northern USA winter climate. An upper peninsula Michigan winter driving season is not even a possibility for state-of-the-art EV’s.
I think it was on Jimmy Fallon the other night. He showed a picture, an all electric Nascar racer. His line I liked, “Yeah, pull into the pits for a recharge, then eight hours later rejoin the race!”
Someone is completely out of touch with reality—-and it isn’t Jacob or Loren. The idea of EVs is great, the infrastructure, raw materials sources, recycling environment, and many other factors—let alone the consumers, are not ready for “only EVs”. I have studied EVs extensively and they do not meet my needs nor the realities of the world. Yes—you insult us.
AMEN!
While EVs are not for everyone (at least not yet) he might want to take note that the best selling car in the world last year was an EV. They are the future. Just a matter of time.