Ford EV to come at affordable price with 300 mile range
Ford's first all-electric vehicle is to be released in 2020, and company executives have now indicated that the model will be mass-produced and affordable. To increase the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs), the automaker will "have to make sure we make the affordability targets or otherwise they are going to stay as a niche item or a pure luxury item,” CTO Raj Nair told Business Insider. The company has also promised that its EV will be able to drive some 300 miles on a single charge.
The only all-electric cars that Ford currently sells are compliance cars built on existing gas-powered platforms. Earlier this year, the automaker announced that its first all-electric car built to be electric from the ground up will come out in 2020.

Raj Nair, Ford’s Chief Technology Officer, now says that the vehicle will be mass-produced, hinting that it will not be a compliance car, and priced affordably.

There’s no doubt that Ford is late to market when it comes to long-range electric vehicles. Its biggest competitor, GM, already has the Chevy Bolt EV, but where Ford could differentiate itself is with a high-volume electric car – something the Bolt EV is not.

In an interview with Business Insider this week, the CTO emphasized that the vehicle will be “mainstream”:

“To get electrification volumes where we would all like them to be we have to make sure we make the affordability targets or otherwise they are going to stay as a niche item or a pure luxury item,”

The all-electric crossover utility vehicle (CUV) is expected to be available in 2020. While it is not expected to be the only mass-market all-electric vehicle at that time, several other automakers are still only planning low-volumes for EVs on the same timeline.

Also differentiating itself from other EVs, Nair is promising a longer range than the current competition:

“We think we have a technology path that will get us a 300 plus miles range and an affordable crossover utility that will be fully competitive,”

In the crossover/small SUV space, Tesla is also planning an entry in the segment around the same time: Tesla Model Y.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said earlier this month that the vehicle is planned for 2019-2020 and that it will be built on the automaker’s next-generation platform.

When Ford announced the electric CUV, it also confirmed that it has other electric vehicles in the work, but most of them are hybrids or plug-in hybrids. They also said that there are some that remain unannounced and therefore, EV enthusiasts hope for possible good surprises on the all-electric front.

In the meantime, the CUV is planned to enter production at Ford’s Flat Rock plant in 2020 and to become available in North America, Europe and Asia.