For Ford (F), 2021 looks like the year that electric vehicle (EV) sales will really start to rise. The carmaker, which will launch its highly anticipated Mustang Mach E-electric crossover, says the year will be crucial in terms of EV sales in the US.
“We have already seen some signals indicating that we are going to see a real acceleration of consumer adoption and electric vehicles,” Ford CT, Ken Washington, told Yahoo Finance during the virtual CES 2021.
According to a report by Frost & Sullivan in November, US EV sales are forecast to fall to 1.6 million vehicles by 2020, before reaching 7 million vehicles by 2025.
‘I think what we are going to see is that costs will continue to fall, and as governments make policy changes … I think this will lead to an acceleration of the adoption that is already taking place in Europe, where we’ see that as many as one in ten vehicles is an electric vehicle, ‘Washington said. “We think the acceleration is really going to start … this year.”
Ford will sell the upcoming Mustang Mach-E electric crossover. The Mach-E is designed to tackle leader Tesla (TSLA)’s Model Y, starting at $ 42,895, or $ 35,395 after federal tax credits, while the Model Y starts at $ 41,990, or $ 35,690 after incentives and gas savings.
With the basic Mach-E, you get about 230 miles per charge, while Ford’s California Route 1 model charges 305 miles. The base model Y, meanwhile, gets 244 miles on a cost or 326 with the extended range package.
Ford will see a formidable competitor in Tesla, which became a favorite on Wall Street in 2020. The company’s share has soared 714% over the past twelve months from $ 103.70 per share on January 15, 2020 to $ 845 per share since the market closed on Jan. 14, 2021. Tesla’s market capitalization places it as the most valuable automaker in the world, despite selling a fraction of the vehicles of its competitors.
However, this is not just what Tesla Ford will be competing with. Other manufacturers are also delving deeper into the EV space, including BMW, Honda (HMC), Volkswagen and Toyota (TM). There’s even a fully electric Hummer on the horizon.
Self-driving vehicles coming in 2022
In addition to electric vehicles, Washington has presented its predictions for when drivers will see fully autonomous vehicles on the road.
‘We are moving to the 2022 timeline, which is not very different from what we originally said, because we have always known that it will be difficult, ”he said.
Tesla currently offers a full self-driving package as well as an autopilot feature, though both do not offer nearly the experience you would expect with something called ‘Full Self-Driving Capacity’. Instead, the option is an advanced driver assistance package that still requires driver oversight.
According to Washington, Ford’s first autonomous vehicles are likely to be taxi services or delivery vehicles rather than consumer vehicles. The rollout will also take time, depending on the market, he said.
“It’s important for everyone to understand that accepting the scaling up of this technology is going to be relatively modest, because it has to go market by market,” Washington said.
Self-driving cars are far from the pipe dream they used to be. With every carmaker pushing into space and building their own self-driving vehicles, technology seems to be anything but a foregone conclusion.
Which company first gets truly autonomous vehicles on the road will be incredibly consequential, and Ford is stuck in the race.
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