Ford Settles It: Electric Vehicle Gloom & Doom Was Premature – CleanTechnica

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google NewsWhen the Ford Motor Company announced a cutback in its electric vehicle plans last year, it added another drop of misery to the pall of anxiety settling over the zero emission mobility industry. Well, that was then. As the EV sales data for 2024 comes rolling in, Ford is among the automakers clapping back at the EV doubters. The company has adopted a cautionary approach that seems aimed at managing expectations for the near term. Still, the mysterious “skunkworks” low-cost electric vehicle project remains in play over the longer term, raising the possibility of a Model-T scale acceleration in EV adoption.The Electric Vehicle Crash That Wasn’tFord and other automakers reported disappointing electric vehicle sales last year, though in hindsight it turned out to be more a case of misdirected expectations than an actual drop in demand for zero emission cars. “Ford Motor said on Friday it would reduce production of its F-150 Lightning pickup truck, as demand for electric vehicles (EVs) has been lower than expected,” Reuters reported on January 19.Adjustments to the US tax code also had an impact on EV sales figures in January of this year. In addition, a poor first-quarter 2024 showing by Tesla contributed to the appearance of an industrywide slump. The company continues to dominate electric vehicle sales by volume, enabling it to wield an outsized influence on aggregated global automotive data. In contrast, CleanTechnica editor Zach Shahan points out that at least two comparable brands, Audi and BMW, saw their US sales of electric vehicles

skyrocket year-over-year.A more nuanced picture of the global electric vehicle market emerged after the January 2024 sales figures came in. In February, CleanTechnica received an email from the research firm Rho Motion, letting us know that their number-crunchers totaled up 660,000 electric vehicles sold globally in January of 2023. That set a new record, but January 2024 set an even more new record.“This year’s January EV sales blew past that mark by 69% for a total of more than 1 million,” we observed.The Electric Vehicle Name Game: What Works, What Doesn’tFord introduced the F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck in 2021 with great expectations in mind, based on the success of its hugely popular F-150 nameplate. That didn’t turn out as planned. In a similar vein, Ford also also introduced the Mach-E electric car under the Mustang nameplate, only to run into another wall of soft demand.One electric vehicle venture that has panned out for Ford is the electric E-Transit van, which is an electric riff on the company’s top-selling Transit commercial van. Ford unveiled the E-Transit in 2021 without much notice, as much of the automotive press was distracted by the latest news about electric pickups, luxury cars and other areas of excitement.CleanTechnica noticed the E-Transit, and we’ve been following the van ever since. In a recap a few weeks ago, we noted that the ICE version of the Transit has been “a fixture of commercial transport in Europe since the 1960s.”“The Transit was a best-kept secret across the pond until Ford introduced it to the US in 2014,” we added. “Ford must have like what it saw, because not

too long after that, in 2021, the company tapped the Transit nameplate to shoulder some responsibility for the transportation electrification movement.”Ford issued a press release in March of this year to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the ICE Transit’s launch in the US. The release also underscored the latest enhancements to the E-Transit brand. Evidently Ford is anticipating that the ICE Transit’s reputation for reliability and longevity will rub off on the electric version.“We’ve assembled more than 1.2 million Transit vans in the last 10 years, and 99% of Transits are still on the road, working hard for customers today,” stated Tim Baughman, the general manager of the company’s Ford Pro Division.“E-Transit has quickly become the electric van of choice in America, Canada, and Europe, thanks to its versatility,” Ford adds.The US Postal Service is among those getting the message. USPS featured the E-Transit front and center in a publicity event earlier this year, aimed at highlighting its revamped plans for mail delivery van electrification and charging stations.Chip in a few dollars a month to help support independent cleantech coverage that helps to accelerate the cleantech revolution!The Future Is Electric, & Hybrid, & Gas (For Now)Ford’s latest electrification plan indicates that the company is not depending on a torrent of prospective electric vehicle buyers to all of a sudden descend on its dealers. Earlier today the company announced that it will continue to offer ICE vehicles while expanding its hybrid offerings throughout its North American “Ford Blue” roster.The focus on hy