Ford is taking batteries very seriously and it won’t spend more than necessary on them.
What that means, Ford product development director and CTO Doug Field explained at Capital Markets Day earlier this week, which is redesigning its next-generation electric vehicle to save weight. , reduced complexity, lower rolling resistance, consistent ride height, and great attention to aerodynamics—not mimicking existing ICE products but creating completely different products. And that will keep the battery packs from getting bigger than they need to be, and hopefully bring the price down.
Ford SUV 3 rows of seats 2025 –
As detailed earlier this week, that means there won’t be an Expedition Lightning, but instead a Three-row electric SUV with a range of 350 miles from a 100 kWh battery pack, coming in 2025.
Later, in a Q&A session with analysts, Ford CEO Jim Farley added some color to this new focus on optimizing efficiency and not overusing the battery.
“I don’t know what’s going on in the industry right now,” said Farley, apparently then seizing the opportunity to poke a finger at GM, which the same day announced a The Escalade IQ runs entirely on electricity that can carry the Hummer EV’s massive 205 kwh battery pack.
Ford Gen 2 electric SUV after efficiency improvements
Massive EV batteries won’t make money?
“All I hear is all the announcements about 450 mile range, 500 mile range, another announcement today about a three-row crossover, it will be electric,” he said. . “These batteries are huge; if you have those batteries, you won’t make any money.”
“We’re not going to go to 600 miles,” Farley added. “We are trying to make the battery as small as possible for the competitive range.”
“I don’t understand why people are so obsessed with battery size,” the CEO continued. “Right now, it’s like, what range can you achieve? But the next question is… what battery size do you need for a competitive range? The second question is better than the first. So the size of the battery in the second generation really matters for the cost.”
The talk about efficiency is not unprecedented and, well, not fixed on range alone has been a core aspect of Green Car Reports’ electric car buying advice for years. Tesla has long held an efficiency advantage on most if not all of its models, and that has helped create an advantage in charging accessibility while on the road.
Lucid said from the beginning efficiency is much more important than range—though at the same time it blew the competition away from its Air sedan, offering up to 516 miles on a 112 kWh battery pack and an EPA-rated range 425 miles from 92 kwh.
Ford EV platform for mid-decade, introduced by Hau Thai-Tang
Some still promote range and a super size pack
That said, it’s good that Ford got involved with the idea, and the automakers seem fixated on a high range figure, at the expense of a full-size battery pack. Chevrolet earlier this week confirmed that a version of the Chevy Silverado EV 2024 can achieve an estimated 450-mile range, while not disclosing its battery size. And 2025 Ram 1500 REPLACEMENT has a target range of 500 miles with the huge 229-kwh pack.
To date, no three-row electric SUV has achieved the EPA’s 350-mile range—not even the latest models like Mercedes EQS . SUV (305 miles per 108 kwh) or coming KIA EV9 (300 miles on about 100 kwh).
The Tesla Model X come close today, however, at an EPA-rated 348 miles from a pack of about 100 kWh. And Rivian R1S Expected 340 miles with the 135 kWh Big Pack in the upcoming Dual Engine version—with the 180 kWh Max Pack coming soon and allowing for an estimated 390 miles.
Ford’s future electric vehicle – propulsion performance
“The obsession with efficiency wasn’t in the first year of the program,” said Field, after he noted that 350-mile range and super-fast charging were the starting points. “It just keeps going, finding every little change you can get to aerodynamics, a mile here, a mile there, so we’re not going to stop.”
