Ford to Invest Additional $450M in Michigan for Hybrid and Plug-in Vehicle Production; Battery System Design and Development to Be In-House Core Competency
11 January 2010
Ford Motor Company will invest an additional $450 million in its electric vehicle plan, paving the way to build its next-generation hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicle vehicles in Michigan beginning in 2012. Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford made the announcement at the end of the first day of the media preview of the Detroit Auto Show.
The new investment is in addition to Ford’s already announced plans to invest $550 million to transform Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich. from a large SUV factory to build the all-new Focus starting in 2010 and Focus Electric pure battery electric vehicle in 2011. With the additional investment, Michigan Assembly will be the production site of next-generation hybrid, plug-in hybrid and full battery electric vehicles, all of which will be built off the company’s new global C-car platform.
| “We are creating a center of excellence in Michigan for electric transportation...Battery system design and development should be a core competency for Ford.” |
—Bill Ford |
In addition, Ford said it is bringing battery system design and development in-house. Ford will design advanced lithium-ion battery systems in-house for the next-generation hybrid in Michigan and move production of the battery packs from Mexico to Michigan. The production site will be announced at a later date.
Ford has also announced it will produce hybrid transaxles at its Van Dyke Transmission facility in Sterling Heights, Mich., beginning in 2012.
Partnering with the state of Michigan has been critical to the acceleration of the electric vehicle plan, Bill Ford said. The Michigan Economic Growth Authority board approved a package of incentives and tax credits totaling $188 million. The package includes job credits, brownfield site credits and battery pack assembly credits recently approved by the Michigan legislature.
This investment underscores how serious we are about delivering a range of electrified vehicles to customers—including hybrids, plug-in hybrids and pure electric vehicles. Our industry is at the intersection of three critical global issues—the economy, energy and the environment. The winning companies will be those that address these issues with vehicles that are also exciting and fun to drive, without compromises.
—Bill Ford
As part of its aggressive electrification plan, Ford in 2009 doubled the number and volume of its hybrid electric vehicles to include the award-winning Ford Fusion and Escape hybrids and Mercury Milan and Mariner hybrids. Going forward, Ford plans to bring the following electrified vehicles to market over the next three years:
Ford Transit Connect battery electric vehicle commercial van in 2010. Transit Connect Electric will have a targeted range of up to 80 miles per full charge and zero tailpipe emissions. With Azure Dynamics serving as upfitter, the first units will enter the market later this year.
Ford Focus Electric passenger car in 2011. Focus Electric will have a targeted range of up to 100 miles per full charge with zero tailpipe emissions.
Next-generation hybrid based on C-car platform in 2012.
Plug-in hybrid based on C-car platform in 2012.
Many good decisions by Ford.
Building smaller more efficient ICE units while moving on to electrified vehicles will pay off.
Posted by: HarveyD | 11 January 2010 at 04:45 PM
Have Ford, Nissan, Mitz,.. decided on ~100 mile range EV's because because this was the EV range leased in LA in the 1990's?
Posted by: kelly | 11 January 2010 at 05:00 PM
No its the range of ev needed to get a certain amount of cal credits and they need a certain amount of credits total to avoid a huge fine.
Posted by: wintermane2000 | 11 January 2010 at 05:09 PM
I hope Ford does well with their EVs. There have been some good comments about the Fusion and Milan hybrids online. People traded foreign cars for them and are very glad that they did.
Posted by: SJC | 11 January 2010 at 06:20 PM
When a big company has a capable CEO, results follow. The current CEO of Ford was criticized after his nomination has having no track of records in the car industry, well common sense and unbiased view seems to be more productive than experience in the industry...
Posted by: Treehugger | 11 January 2010 at 06:37 PM
Their CEO was from Boeing, where they bet the company several times on new models. Ford hocked everything years ago in an all or nothing bet and it is panning out. I would say he was well qualified.
Posted by: SJC | 11 January 2010 at 10:28 PM
Kelly
The 100 miles is picked because it is enough for the families that buy an EV as their second or third household vehicle. This market is the hot spot of the high volume EV market for the next few years.
Technically it is not a problem to do a 200 plus miles EV but it will add about 10,000 USD to the price of the car and it will make it 240 kg heavier and several seconds slower in the 0 to 60 mph performance.
I found a rather credible source (Nissan’s charging station supplier) saying that the coming Ford Focus EV will be priced at 15,000 USD without the battery. To quote “Ford and Magna, for example, are
joining forces to produce the Ford Focus EV, a zero-emission BEV slated for 2011 delivery with a
sticker price of less than $15,000 after tax rebates.” (1)
If this price holds water then it can explain why Ford invest another half billion in EV production. There will be huge demand for such an EV either with a rented battery at 15,000 USD or including the battery and a sticker price of 25,000 USD.
1) http://www.avinc.com/downloads/EVs_The_Next_Big_Thing_V2.pdf
Posted by: Account Deleted | 12 January 2010 at 05:34 AM
Coming from aerospace gives Al Mulally some practical experience in building large scale commercial products. It is good to see that Exec Chairman Bill Ford Jr. is finally getting onboard the electrification movement.
A $25k 100mi AER is just about right for now. That positions them about 4k under where the EREV Volt will be.
To think that a mere three years ago there was little or no hope for "green cars." Yet here we are on the virtual cusp of electrification of transport on Earth.
Now, about the residential power units generating energy from solar panel derived H2? Or, more practically, from NG. I think ai is interested. More should be. Offloading one third the grid demand will benefit nations in a multitude of ways. Including national security, conservation, and sustainability.
Posted by: sulleny | 12 January 2010 at 07:39 AM
A 100 miles range BEV could quickly become a 300 miles BEV when batteries energy density goes from 100 Wh/Kg to over 300 Wh/Kg in the next 2 or 3 years.
In the mid-term, the same BEV could have 500 miles range with 500+ Wh/Kg batteries in 2015+.
Posted by: HarveyD | 12 January 2010 at 10:43 AM
Bill Ford was the guy behind the Escape hybrid before 2004, they could have easily come out with the Fusion hybrid a few years later and beat Toyota Camry hybrid and Nissan Altima hybrid to market.
I am just glad that they are doing it now. GM is so far behind after saying that hybrids were just a fad and Chrysler is not even on the radar screen with anything credible. The PNGV program showed them the way, but they walked away when the previous administration would not back the EPA supporting the CARB ZEV program.
Posted by: SJC | 12 January 2010 at 01:04 PM
Good use for an SUV factory
Posted by: Will S | 13 January 2010 at 05:47 AM
The plug-in-hybrid has been proven to work years ago by CALCARS the full electric car with large expensive or even large cheap and heavy battery is an engineering mistake. ..HG..
Posted by: Henry Gibson | 13 January 2010 at 08:39 PM