Ford F-150

Two years ago, Ford outlined its plans for 40 so-called electrified vehicles in its global lineup by 2022. The company said 16 would be purely electric, and the rest would be plug-in hybrids – with a focus on its most iconic, mainstream vehicles. News is starting to trickle out about the plug-in hybrid version of the ultra-iconic F-150 pickup, with Car and Driver reporting that it will only offer around 10 miles of all-electric range.

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Last weekend, I published an article arguing that the US auto industry needs a push to transition its biggest segment, trucks, to being powered by batteries and Tesla unveiling its all-electric pickup truck could be that needed push.

Interestingly, a few days later, Ford made a rare comment on a possible all-electric pickup truck.
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Today Ford announced a big strategic expansion into electric and electrified vehicles, announcing 7 coming “electrified” vehicle models with 6 more to be announced in the near future.  Among the announced vehicles are a hybrid Mustang and F-150, a hybrid autonomous rideshare vehicle, a plug-in hybrid Transit, and a fully electric SUV.

These are welcome steps from Ford and signal a pretty significant strategic shift towards “electrified vehicles,” which they see overtaking gas vehicles within 15 years, but I, as usual, think they fall short in terms of aggressiveness.  Check beneath the jump for some analysis of today’s announcements.

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