SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Ford announced that it would be investing some $4.5 billion over the next five years toward its goal of building better "electrified vehicle solutions" and bringing electrification to 40% of its vehicle lineup by 2020. Seeing as transportation is a key climate issue, it's only fitting to learn about Ford's sharpened focus on EVs as a solution. According to the company, it will be adding 13 new electrified vehicles to its portfolio by 2020, which could offer more options for the potential EV customers who aren't currently able to drive electric, either because of price or driving range or size.
The most significant news in the near future of Ford's electric vehicle lineup is the rollout of the new Focus Electric next year, which will feature a 100-mile range and a DC fast-charging system that is claimed to give the vehicle an 80% charge in 30 minutes, a full two hours faster than the current model. No announcement was made about the price of the new Focus Electric, but based on last year's model prices, it would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000. That's not exactly an entry-level car purchase, but it's a lot more affordable than a Tesla at the moment, and if a pure EV fits your driving habits, it could slash your fuel bills for years and be a cleaner transport option than a fuel-efficient gas car.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by TrumpetPower! on Monday December 14 2015, @10:16PM
The first major manufacturer to release an electric version of its pony car (Ford's Mustang, Chevy's Camaro, etc.) will be seen as revolutionary and will mop the floor with the competition until they catch up. Such a car will significantly outperform any gasoline-powered option from the competition and cost somewhere in the middle of the price range. Once that happens, a lot of the testosterone-poisoned market will start to think of gasoline as old-and-busted, with electric the new hawtness. And the "wife approval factor" of such cars will be phenomenal.
There'll always be nostalgia for the roar of the V8 and all the rest...but those who care about the numbers on the timeslips will go all electric about as fast as the manufacturers can crank out the cars.
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Monday December 14 2015, @10:39PM
If the idiots living in my area are anything to go by, those EVs need a second battery just to power some kind of "look at me, dammit" speaker system to replace the engine roar.
Whether it's on Harleys or with V8/10/12s, too many Americans, right in the target demographic you speak of, believe they ain't cool if you don't hear them from a couple miles away.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday December 15 2015, @06:36PM
A bunch of modern cars (including Mustangs I believe) already play a fake engine noise over the stereo so that the 4-cylinder or V6 sounds like a V8 to the driver.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 14 2015, @10:43PM
The problem is that the high-end pony cars are so over priced. The margins must be freaking enormous.
Top end 2016 mustang is $37,000 [truecar.com] (shelby mustangs are much higher)
Top end 2016 camaro is $43,000 [truecar.com] (z models not priced yet, but 2015s were $60K-$75K)
Any (successful) electric pony car is going to cannibalize the most lucrative part of their own model line-up. Detroit has a very strong history of short-sightedly avoiding that kind of internal competition. It seems unlikely that it will happen voluntarily. It will probably take the equivalent of an electric datsun 240z to push detroit into action.