Mygreenwheels

Finally Ford has jumped into the race to build electric cars. At the Detroit auto show it announced plans to offer a pure battery-powered commercial van by 2010 and a small car by 2011, most likely based on the Focus. It was only 6 months ago Ford said it would only invest in developing such a vehicle if there was proven demand, yet in some reports it claims to have been working on this model for just that time.

Group Vice President Sue Cischke says in an interview that Ford will overcome the “challenge” of building a profitable electric auto. “We have to make money on everything we sell.”

Well, that should make a change as they surely haven't been making it on anything lately and that's a big part of the problem. The big auto makers don't make margin on new cars - they make it on the after-sales service and accessories and warranties and so on.

Do they know that EVs don't need all that servicing and warranty stuff? GM's Volt will at least need servicing as it still has an internal combustion engine as well as its electric motor, but the first Ford model is apparently to be a pure EV with a range of about 100 miles per charge. After that they're planning to convert some current models into hybrids. As a strategy it sounds a bit uncertain to say the least. In the background I can just hear Corp Jones of Dad's Army shouting "Don't panic!!!"

I confess I find it strange that after all this time Ford moves straight to the pure BEV model while Lotus, which has been designing EVs for years now, is going into the market with an extended range version rather than pure BEV. While other players are getting agitated about the need for infrastructure (Shai Agassi's favourite refrain), the extended range models will quietly start to penetrate the markets where EV fans can't wait to get driving.

Isn't it too bad that Ford sold the Think back to Norway, as it could have had a head start in the EV market if it had held on to that one. Now Think's in administration and Ford is strapped for cash, so that marriage isn't going to happen. What a shame - I was really hoping to see the Think OX on my driveway one day.