Recently, Ford Motor announced a series of power battery and related raw material supply and cooperation progress, and said that this is a solid step for the company towards the annual production capacity target of 600,000 electric vehicles in 2023 and 2 million electric vehicles in 2026.
As part of the Ford+ business development plan, Ford Motor detailed a global product plan to support this capacity goal. From this year to 2026, Ford expects its global EVs to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 90 percent, which would be more than double the expected average annual growth rate for the industry’s EVs.
Ford will invest more than $50 billion in electric vehicles by 2026.
At the same time, Ford reaffirmed its commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, and emphasized that it will continue to adhere to the concept of sustainability in the development of electric vehicles and power battery supply chains.
It is understood that Ford plans to achieve an annual production capacity of 600,000 electric vehicles globally by 2023, which will be powered by the smart pure electric SUV Mustang Mach-E, 270,000 Mustang Mach-E, and 150,000 F-150 Lightning pure electric pickup trucks , 150,000 E-Transit units and 30,000 new pure electric SUVs for the European market. It is expected that the production capacity will achieve a significant increase in 2024.
Not only that, as part of its power battery capacity expansion plan, in addition to the current ternary lithium battery, Ford will add a lithium iron phosphate battery solution to its electric vehicle product line, thereby further boosting the production capacity of hot-selling products and providing Consumers bring more choices. The lithium iron phosphate solution will also reduce the dependence on rare metal raw materials such as nickel, and bring as much as 10-15% room for material cost reduction compared to ternary lithium batteries.
As an important part of helping the global electric vehicle production capacity target of 600,000 units in 2023, Ford has locked 100% of its required 60GWh power battery production capacity through cooperation with the world's leading battery suppliers.
Ford also announced that from next year, CATL will provide lithium iron phosphate battery packs for the Mustang Mach-E sold in the North American market, and from early 2024, it will provide lithium iron phosphate battery packs for the F-150 Lightning sold in the North American market. The flexibility of Ford's electric vehicle architecture ensures the efficient integration of CATL's lithium iron phosphate CTP battery technology with Ford's products, enabling rapid increases in production capacity.
In addition, Ford will further meet its 2023 power battery capacity target through long-term supplier LG New Energy and battery strategic partner SK On.
Ford's long-term supplier, LG New Energy's Wroclaw plant in Poland, has greatly increased the production capacity of ternary lithium batteries, which can better support the capacity growth plans of Mustang Mach-E and E-Transit.
At the same time, in order to support the rapid growth of the F-150 Lightning pure electric pickup truck and pure electric Transit in 2023, SK On has also increased the production capacity of ternary lithium batteries, and the production capacity of ternary lithium batteries at its Atlanta plant has exceeded the previous plan. , its Hungarian plant will also provide Ford with new battery capacity.
In addition to promoting the annual production capacity of 600,000 electric vehicles next year, Ford is also moving towards the annual production capacity target of 2 million electric vehicles in 2026, and has completed 70% of the matching power battery designation.
Ford also signed another non-binding memorandum of understanding with CATL, the world's largest power battery manufacturer, on global battery supply cooperation - CATL will provide Ford's future electric models in China, Europe and North America. Power Battery.
Ford Motor also announced that, as a strong supplement to the previously announced power battery plan, Ford will increase 40GWh of lithium iron phosphate battery production capacity in North America starting in 2026.
As Ford reshapes its new electric vehicle supply chain, consumers have responded enthusiastically to its first-generation electric models. At the same time, demand for electric vehicles continues to rise, and the potential consumer market continues to expand.
According to the survey data, electric vehicles have become the first choice for most consumers to buy a car in the future. Most consumers who plan to buy a car in the next two years tend to choose pure electric or hybrid models. This data has increased by 11% compared with last year. In 2020, it will increase by 22%, and the growth is mainly concentrated in pure electric models.
Among commercial vehicle customers, 60 percent of U.S. fleet managers said in a Ford Pro survey that they plan to incorporate electric vehicles into their daily fleet operations within two years.
The F-150 Lightning all-electric pickup truck and Mustang Mach-E received enthusiastic market response and brought more new customers to Ford. A study by Ford in the first quarter showed that the Mustang Mach-E ranked first in its class in favor of prospective car buyers, and the F-150 Lightning was second only to the gasoline version of the F-150 in favor.
In order to further stimulate demand, Ford is making every effort to popularize electric vehicles, and to further address car-buying concerns such as charging and cost, so as to improve the car-buying experience for EV customers.
