New York (CNN Business)Ford is doubling down on electric vehicle development, announcing Wednesday it will invest $30 billion in electrification efforts by 2025. The automaker also pledged that 40% of its vehicles sold by 2030 will be electric.
Ford had previously announced plans to spend $22 billion on electrification efforts and had recently revealed plans to build two new battery factories in a joint venture with Korean battery maker SK innovation. Last week, Ford also unveiled plans for an all-electric version of the F-150 pickup, the best selling vehicle from any US automaker. It has already started selling an electric SUV under its iconic Mustang name, the Mustang Mach-E.But Ford is still playing catchup with all-electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA) and also with traditional automakers, such as its alliance partner Volkswagen (VLKAF) and domestic rival General Motors (GM). Both have more extensive EV offerings and more aggressive electrification targets. GM says it is aiming to sell only emission-free vehicles by 2035.
Virtually all automakers are ramping up production plans for electric vehicles to meet increasingly tougher environmental regulations and growing demand from car buyers. Electric cars have fewer moving parts than gas-powered vehicles, and therefore can be cheaper to build because they require less labor.
And investors are more interested in backing automakers with ambitious EV plans rather than traditional automakers. Tesla is by far the most valuable car company, despite having a fraction of the sales and profits of traditional automakers. Tesla’s market value is roughly equal to that of the value of the five largest global automakers combined. Shares of Ford (F) rose 2% in premarket trading on its EV announcement.
Source: edition.cnn.com
