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Ford reveals plans to ramp European EV offering

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Ford has confirmed that it will launch a new generation of seven, all-electric, fully-connected passenger vehicles and vans by 2024, building on the recent creation of the Model e business unit tasked with the design, production and distribution of EVs.

Ford says expects its annual sales of electric vehicles in Europe to exceed 600,000 units in 2026, and also reaffirmed its intention to deliver a 6 per cent EBIT margin in Europe in 2023.

The acceleration in Europe supports Ford’s goal to sell more than 2 million EVs globally by 2026 and deliver company adjusted EBIT margin of 10 per cent.

The company also says the plans boost its global stratgey to significantly reduce carbon emissions. Ford is targeting zero emissions for all vehicle sales in Europe and carbon neutrality across its European footprint of facilities, logistics and suppliers by 2035.

“Our march toward an all-electric future is an absolute necessity for Ford to meet the mobility needs of customers across a transforming Europe,” said Stuart Rowley, chair, Ford of Europe. “It’s also about the pressing need for greater care of our planet, making a positive contribution to society and reducing emissions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement.”

“I am delighted to see the pace of change in Europe – challenging our entire industry to build better, cleaner and more digital vehicles. Ford is all-in and moving fast to meet the demand in Europe and around the globe,” said Jim Farley, Ford president and CEO. “This is why we have created Ford Model e – allowing us to move at the speed of a start-up to build electric vehicles that delight and offer connected services unique to Ford and that are built with Ford-grade engineering and safety.”

The seven new EVs follow the European introduction of the all-electric Mach-E in 2021 and Mach-E GT this year, plus the launch of the E-Transit in the next quarter.

Starting in 2023, Ford will begin production of an all-new electric passenger vehicle, a medium-sized crossover, built in Cologne with a second electric vehicle added to the Cologne production line-up in 2024. In addition, Ford’s top-selling passenger vehicle in Europe, the Ford Puma, will be available as an electric version made in Craiova, Romania, starting in 2024.

Ford’s Transit range will include four new electric models – the all-new Transit Custom one-tonne van and Tourneo Custom multi-purpose vehicle in 2023, and the smaller, next generation Transit Courier van and Tourneo Courier multi-purpose vehicle in 2024.

Ford confirmed that the first volume all-electric passenger vehicle to come out of the Ford Cologne Electrification Centre will be a five-seat, medium-sized crossover. In 2021, sports utilities and crossovers accounted for 58 percent of all Ford passenger vehicle sold in the continent, up nearly 20 percentage points from 2020.

The all-electric crossover breaks new boundaries for Ford. Capable of a 500km driving range on a single charge, the vehicle and its name will be revealed later in 2022, with production commencing in 2023.

Confirmation that a second, all-electric passenger vehicle – a sports crossover – will be built at the Ford Cologne Electrification Centre means that electric vehicle production at the facility will increase to 1.2 million vehicles over a six-year timeframe. Investment in the new electric passenger vehicles to be built in Cologne is expected to be $2 billion. The investment includes a new battery assembly facility scheduled to start operations in 2024.

To support Ford’s ambitious vehicle electrification plans, Ford, SK On Co., Ltd. and Koç Holding have signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding for a new, industry-leading joint venture business in Turkey. Subject to execution of a final agreement, the three partners plan to create one of the largest EV battery facilities in the European wider region.

The joint venture would be located near Ankara and will manufacture high Nickel NMC cells for assembly into battery array modules. Production is intended to start as early as mid-decade with an annual capacity likely to be in the range of 30 to 45 Gigawatt hours.

The investment the three partners are planning in the battery joint venture – including support from the Turkish Government – will directly benefit large and small commercial vehicle operators across Europe, reducing energy and running costs and providing a significant contribution to CO2 reduction.

Finally, Ford says its manufacturing plant in Craiova, Romania, will play a significant role in its electric and commercial vehicle growth plans in Europe.

From 2024, European customers will be able to purchase an all-electric version of the Ford Puma, Ford’s popular compact crossover. The Puma was Ford’s best-selling passenger vehicle in Europe in 2021, and the all-electric Puma will bring this successful new nameplate to an even wider group of European customers when it goes into production in Craiova in 2024.

Additionally, the all-new Transit Courier, the popular light commercial vehicle, and Tourneo Courier, a compact multi-purpose vehicle, will also be produced in Craiova from 2023, with all-electric versions coming in 2024.

To further boost electric and commercial vehicle capacity, Ford announced that Ford Otosan will assume ownership of the Craiova plant and manufacturing business, subject to regulatory approval and consultation. Ford Otosan, a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and Koç Holding, is one of the longest running and most successful joint ventures in the global auto industry.

OPINION: Fleet Electrification concerns amid rise in EV sales

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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By André Dias, Founder and CTO, GoWithFlow

Sales of Electric Vehicles (EV) are booming in the UK, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders’ (SMMT) annual sales snapshot for 2021. Britons bought more electric cars in 2021 than in the previous five years combined, including a 27 percent rise in commercial van registrations.

In 2020 EV sales accounted for just 6.6 percent of new cars bought in Britain, yet December 2021 alone saw electric cars make up 26 percent of sales, a record for a single month. The SMMT said sales of battery electric vehicles were a bright spot for an industry badly impacted by supply chain issues caused by the global pandemic.

The data released by the SMMT paints a compelling and encouraging picture of the EV adoption curve in the UK. Across private and commercial drivers, 2021 marked a dramatic rise in the registration of electric vehicles. This new appetite is not just promising, it is also essential. With UK targets to end sales of combustion engine vehicles by 2030, the shift to electric vehicles is a necessity.

The fact that 27 percent of the recorded electric vehicles registered are vans is evidence of a shift in the way businesses think about transport. The advantages of transitioning to electric commercial vehicles are clear: as conscious consumerism becomes ever more important to the public, and as the 2030 deadline looms closer, fleet electrification is an essential transition.  Additionally, according to Deloitte’s 2020 outlook report EV sales are set to rocket from 2 million units in 2018 to 12 million in 2025, before growing to 21 million in 2030. However, concerns remain about the need for better charging infrastructure – something which critics say the UK government is giving mixed signals about. Grants for electric cars were cut in 2021, however, the UK government has drawn up plans to mandate a charger for every new home or office from 2022, meaning all newly built residential properties and offices must have electric car chargers installed to comply.

Furthermore, last year Shell and Ubitricity announced plans to install 50,000 on-street EV charging stations in the UK by the end of 2025, greatly improving access to charging for drivers in urban areas. Shell-owned Ubitricity has designed charging hardware that can fit into streetlight posts, providing charging access to cars parked on-street, without taking up any additional space. This is important because more than 60 percent of households in cities and urban areas don’t have access to off-street parking, which makes home charging virtually impossible.

The requirements for infrastructure improvements to make mass electric mobility possible remain a challenge. Without the relevant infrastructure in place, anxiety amongst enterprises and individuals about switching to Electric Vehicles will continue.

A survey from British Gas showed that one in every three respondents feel nervous about switching to EVs due to high charging costs. While uptake of EVs is rising in the UK there is a need to ensure the infrastructure, education, and management tools are in place to provide the smoothest transition towards a green mobility service. This is the only way of reassuring companies and individuals that this is the future of transport – away from fossil-fuel-based vehicles.

The British Gas survey also revealed that only 21 councils across England and Wales allow motorists to top up their batteries for free. With energy prices set to rise further in April, it is not ideal that Electric Vehicle users are already reporting that they are facing steep costs to charge their vehicle.

Over half of UK councils are yet to begin transitioning to EV fleets, according to research by consultancy Smart Cities Connections. Via Freedom of Information requests, it obtained responses from 295 local authorities across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland about their EV plans. Of these, it found 19 percent had no transition strategy planned at all, while a further 37 percent said they had strategies planned, but had not yet started.

Regardless of energy prices, EVs will continue to be expensive to operate if a roadside, on-demand fuel supply model is replicated and EVs are used in the same way that internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles are. This is particularly true for organisations with fleets of vehicles. They will need to look for more innovative ways to move both people and goods around.

Any transition towards electric vehicles, whether this is part of an overall ‘sustainability’ effort, or a standalone project, requires conscious, defined strategy and real commitment to carbon reduction.

Without this the steps required might be seen as too complex at this stage in industry and infrastructure development. The software that fleet managers and businesses use to manage their operations during and after their electric transition is just as essential in keeping their vehicles operational as the infrastructure.

This is where intelligent, data driven management software, such as GoWithFlow’s Mobility Change Platform (MCP), delivers clear benefits to fleets and businesses because it allows users to find and reserve available charging stations. And it presents a cohesive platform through which organisations can track, schedule, pay, and audit charging across their fleets.

So, as we continue to count down to the 2030 deadline and individuals and businesses transition across to EVs and fleets, it is worth noting that with the correct, data-driven approach, fleet electrification can be a seamless and valuable choice for any business, without compromising on either efficiency or costs.

WhichEV releases its Guide to Public Charging 2022

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By James Morris, WhichEV

Experienced EV drivers find the whole charging process relatively simple, but it can be daunting for those new to electric vehicles. WhichEV has created an updated guide to charging that helps to demystify the process and explain some of the more important terms.

Knowing where to find the latest high-powered public charging hubs from industry leaders like Osprey can be really useful when you need a quick, reliable charge during business hours.

WhichEV also covers street charging, that can offer a low cost overnight solution for those without a driveway – as well as public destination charging and the options you’re likely to find at motorway service stations. Finally, the guide covers the kind of charges you’re likely to pay and the kind of etiquette that will make you popular with other EV users.

Click here to read more.

The key EV challenges facing the fleet industry

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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With less than a decade to go until the sales of all new petrol and diesel cars, vans, and pickups are banned in the UK, the pressure is very much on for fleet operators to make a start in transitioning their fleets to electric vehicles (EVs).

Planning and preparing for the adoption of electric vehicles within a fleet is not without its challenges. It’s a complex issue with wide-ranging implications, from fleet finance and maintenance to national infrastructure and supply chains.

With this in mind, Lightfoot set about identifying the key challenges facing UK fleets when it comes to switching to EVs by launching a survey where fleet operators could share their thoughts.

To discover the biggest concerns, read the full story at Lightfoot.co.uk

Quarter of car sales in December 2021 were electric

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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By WhichEV

Pure electric cars outsold hybrids for the first time on record in December, jumping to second place in the list of most popular fuel types in the UK, according to data from New AutoMotive.

The transport research organisation said that there were 25,676 pure electric vehicles sold in December 2021 up from 21,019 registered in December 2020.

This represents a 25.8% share of the December 2021 market.

The share of petrol cars fell below 50% of the market for the first time since 2016.

Breaking this down by region, Oxford was an EV hotspot in December taking a 40% share of new car sales. Newcastle came second with 31% and Kent was third with 30%.

To read the full story, hop over to WhichEV.net.

COVID stalls 2021 UK new car market but EV sales strong

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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2021 new car registrations grew by just 1% on a pandemic-ravaged 2020, as 1.65 million new cars entered the UK market, according to figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

The figures underline the ongoing impact of Covid and the semiconductor shortage on the industry, with the market down -28.7% on pre-pandemic 2019, representing the second worst year since 1992.

There was some good news, however, with 2021 the most successful year in history for electric vehicle uptake as more new battery electric vehicles (BEVs) were registered than over the previous five years combined.3  190,727 new BEVs joined Britain’s roads, along with 114,554 plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), meaning 18.5% of all new cars registered in 2021 can be plugged in. This is in addition to the 147,246 hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) registered which took a further 8.9% market share in a bumper year for electrified car registrations, with 27.5% of the total market now electrified in some form.

Following billions of pounds of investment into new technology by manufacturers, more than 40% of models are now available as plug-ins. Indeed, the shift in customer preference for these new technologies continues apace, with December seeing BEVs take a record market share in a non-locked down trading month, accounting for 25.5% of all new registrations.

The UK finished 2021 as the third largest European market for new car registrations but the second largest by volume for plug-in vehicles and the second largest for BEVs. It is only in ninth position overall, however, in Europe for BEVs by market share, underlining the progress still to be made, despite the UK having among the most ambitious targets of all major markets with the end of sale of new petrol and diesel cars scheduled for 2030.

Recent announcements, including cuts to both purchase incentives and grants for home chargers, put the achievement of industry’s and government’s net zero ambitions at risk. Furthermore, the slow pace of growth in on-street public charging – where, on average, 16 cars potentially share one standard on-street charger – could put the brake on EV demand and undermine the UK’s attractiveness as a place to sell electric cars.4

Petrol-powered vehicles, including mild hybrids (MHEVs), remain Britain’s most popular powertrain, accounting for 58.3% of all new cars registered in 2021, with diesel-powered cars including MHEVs making up 14.2% of the market, followed by BEVs at 11.6%, HEVs at 8.9% and PHEVs at 7.0%.

Registrations by private buyers increased by a moderate 7.4%, while those by businesses and large fleets fell by -4.4% and -4.7% respectively, in part due to supply shortages. Superminis remained Britain’s most popular cars, with 514,024 registrations, followed by the lower medium (449,631) and dual purpose (443,632) segments.

Looking ahead, the latest forecast for 2022 – published in October, before the rise of the Omicron variant – is for 1.96 million new car registrations.

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said: “It’s been another desperately disappointing year for the car industry as Covid continues to cast a pall over any recovery. Manufacturers continue to battle myriad challenges, with tougher trading arrangements, accelerating technology shifts and, above all, the global semiconductor shortage which is decimating supply.

“Despite the challenges, the undeniable bright spot is the growth in electric car uptake. A record-breaking year for the cleanest, greenest vehicles is testament to the investment made by the industry over the past decade and the inherent attractiveness of the technology.  The models are there, with two of every five new car models now able to be plugged in, drivers have the widest choice ever and industry is working hard to overcome Covid-related supply constraints.

“The biggest obstacle to our shared net zero ambitions is not product availability, however, but cost and charging infrastructure. Recent cuts to incentives and home charging grants should be reversed and we need to boost the roll out of public on-street charging with mandated targets, providing every driver, wherever they live, with the assurance they can charge where they want and when they want.”

University of Michigan makes EV battery breakthrough

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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A new biologically inspired battery membrane has enabled a battery with five times the capacity of the industry-standard lithium ion design to run for the thousand-plus cycles needed to power an electric car.

A network of aramid nanofibers, recycled from Kevlar, can enable lithium-sulfur batteries to overcome their Achilles heel of cycle life—the number of times it can be charged and discharged—a University of Michigan team has shown.

“There are a number of reports claiming several hundred cycles for lithium-sulfur batteries, but it is achieved at the expense of other parameters—capacity, charging rate, resilience and safety. The challenge nowadays is to make a battery that increases the cycling rate from the former 10 cycles to hundreds of cycles and satisfies multiple other requirements including cost,” said Nicholas Kotov, the Irving Langmuir Distinguished University Professor of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, who led the research.

“Biomimetic engineering of these batteries integrated two scales—molecular and nanoscale. For the first time, we integrated ionic selectivity of cell membranes and toughness of cartilage. Our integrated system approach enabled us to address the overarching challenges of lithium-sulfur batteries.”

Previously, his team had relied on networks of aramid nanofibers infused with an electrolyte gel to stop one of the main causes of short cycle-life: dendrites that grow from one electrode to the other, piercing the membrane. The toughness of aramid fibers stops the dendrites.

But lithium sulfur batteries have another problem: small molecules of lithium and sulfur form and flow to the lithium, attaching themselves and reducing the battery’s capacity. The membrane needed to allow lithium ions to flow from the lithium to the sulfur and back—and to block the lithium and sulfur particles, known as lithium polysulfides. This ability is called ion selectivity.

“Inspired by biological ion channels, we engineered highways for lithium ions where lithium polysulfides cannot pass the tolls,” said Ahmet Emre, a postdoctoral researcher in chemical engineering and co-first author of the paper in Nature Communications.

The lithium ions and lithium polysulfides are similar in size, so it wasn’t enough to block the lithium polysulfides by making small channels. Mimicking pores in biological membranes, the U-M researchers added an electrical charge to the pores in the battery membrane.

They did this by harnessing the lithium polysulfides themselves: They stuck to the aramid nanofibers, and their negative charges repelled the lithium polysulfide ions that continued to form at the sulfur electrode. Positively charged lithium ions, however, could pass freely.

“Achieving record levels for multiple parameters for multiple materials properties is what is needed now for car batteries,” Kotov said. “It is a bit similar to gymnastics for the Olympics—you have to be perfect all around including the sustainability of their production.”

As a battery, Kotov says that the design is “nearly perfect,” with its capacity and efficiency approaching the theoretical limits. It can also handle the temperature extremes of automotive life, from the heat of charging in full sun to the chill of winter. However, the real-world cycle life may be shorter with fast charging, more like 1,000 cycles, he says. This is considered a ten-year lifespan.

Along with the higher capacity, lithium-sulfur batteries have sustainability advantages over other lithium-ion batteries. Sulfur is much more abundant than the cobalt of lithium-ion electrodes. In addition, the aramid fibers of the battery membrane can be recycled from old bulletproof vests.

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense. The team studied the membrane at the Michigan Center for Materials Characterization. The University of Michigan has patented the membrane and Kotov is developing a company to bring it to market.

EV sales skyrocket: More EVs registered in 2021 than previous decade

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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By Ben Hubbard, WhichEV

According to the latest data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), more electric vehicles will be registered in 2021, than in the whole of the previous decade.

Between 2010 and 2019, a total of 271,962 BEVs and PHEVs were registered, while in 2021 alone the SMMT forecasts that closer to 300,000 of the latest plug-in vehicles will be sold.

The same forecast also predicts that BEV registrations will outsell diesel cars by the end of next year.

So far this year, plug-in vehicles account for 16.6% of all new car registrations and hybrid EVs account for 9.1% meaning that more than a quarter of all new cars sold are now electrified.

“Our latest outlook shows the UK experiencing a surge in plug-in vehicle uptake. Massive investment by industry as well as longstanding government incentives have seen us go from just 188 new plug-in cars in 2010, to almost 300,000 in 2021,” says SMMT’s chief executive Mike Hawes.

This increase in interest in electric vehicles comes against a backdrop where overall car registrations plummeted in October.

Overall, new car registrations last month fell by -24.6% to 106,265 units compared to October 2020, making this the worst October month since 1991.

Most of this decline was driven by large fleets as their demand fell by -40.4% whereas private decline was just -3.3%.

A detailed analysis is available over on WhichEV… https://www.whichev.net/2021/11/11/plug-in-vehicle-registrations-in-2021-on-track-to-exceed-whole-of-last-decade-despite-overall-market-decline/

At the same time, a damning new report shows that for every 52 plug-in cars registered in 2021, just a single public charger was installed.

While the UK government has pledged £620m of zero-emission grants in its Net Zero strategy, and the Government’s Rapid Charging Fund is investing £950m to expand the number of rapid and ultra-rapid charge points, this is insufficient to keep up with consumer demand.

Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: “Recent Government funding for infrastructure was welcome but more private sector investment in public charge points is needed across the country. The UK therefore needs a framework of regulation that makes it easier to fund, build and operate electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Consequently, we need commensurate and binding targets for charge point rollout and reliability so that all those without a driveway or designated parking can be confident of finding a convenient charger, and one that works.”

At the end of 2019, 11 BEVs and PHEVs shared a public charging point on average, but by the end of 2020, that ratio had dropped to one charger for every 16 plug-ins.

While many people making the switch to an EV will be able to charge their car at home, on a driveway or designated parking bay, there are still those that rely on on-street parking, and so charging infrastructure has to cater for all needs if we are to achieve net-zero.

Britain’s ratio of plug-in vehicles on the road to standard public charge points is now one of the worst among the top 10 global electric vehicle markets at 16:1 in 2020.

Some of the countries offering EV drivers better charging coverage, include South Korea (3:1), the Netherlands (5:1), China (9:1), France (10:1), Belgium and Japan (both 13:1).

There are also regional disparities in the number of charge points around the UK. London has the best ratio at 10:1 while the east of England has the worst at 49:1.

Energy Storage Systems to support rapid EV charging on motorways

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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The challenge of finding somewhere to rapidly charge electric vehicles on a long journey may be eased slightly thanks to a multi-million-pound investment from National Highways.

The government-owned organisation plans to invest in Energy Storage Systems – essentially giant battery packs – for service stations where the grid supply is not enough for rapid charging infrastructure.

The announcement comes following Transport Day at COP26, which focused on the global transition to zero emission transport, an aim of both the government and National Highways. It’s hoped the move will bring an end to ‘range anxiety’ by improving the network of charge points for EV drivers using England’s motorways and major A-roads.

These rapid chargers are part of Government’s vision for the rapid charge point network in England which set the goal of around 6,000 high powered chargers on the motorway network by 2035.

Malcolm Wilkinson, Head of Energy for National Highways, said: “We are working differently and innovating to support the switch to zero emission journeys. Whilst we have limited control over the number of petrol and diesel cars on the network, by supporting the expansion of the rapid charge points network, we hope to increase EV drivers’ confidence for all types of journeys, both long and short.

“These new Energy Storage Systems and the rapid chargers they supply will ensure that motorists are unlikely to be caught without somewhere to charge, which is a fantastic move for drivers and the environment accelerating the speed in which we transition to new electric vehicles.

Transport Minister Trudy Harrison said: “Our vision is to have one of the best electric vehicle infrastructure networks in the world and we want charging to be quick and easy for all drivers. This additional investment will ease drivers’ range anxiety as we continue to power up the green revolution.”

ULEZ expansion: Fines could top £864m in first six months

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By Ben Hubbard, WhichEV

With the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) that came into effect on Monday, London’s non-compliant drivers are predicted to be fined up to £864m in the first six months, according to vehicle management app Caura.

With the ULEZ impacting one in 4.6 London cars, Caura’s research show that there are 565,000 pre-2005 petrol or pre-2016 diesel vehicles on the roads, which are not compliant with the new zone’s emissions standards.

Click here for the full story.