Ford Motor Company, which sits in a distant second for U.S. electric vehicle sales, has some long-term goals that involve more sustainable and thoughtful processes.
After competing in EV price wars to entice new buyers over to its brand, Ford may be taking its foot off the "gas" for a while. In October 2023, Ford announced that it would be scaling back the production of next-gen EVs and pausing $12 billion in spending to refocus its initiatives, according to The Verge.
Lisa Drake, the company's vice president of EV programs and energy supply chain, recently provided some insight into those plans, as Automotive News reported.
Addressing the Automotive News Leading Women Conference, Drake said that electrification "is the cleanest way and the least expensive way to move people" but that recycling will play a growing role in the sustainability of the industry. Ford's 2021 partnership with Redwood Materials, a leading battery materials company, will be key to that future.
The two companies continue their pledge to build out battery recycling and a supply chain for EVs in the U.S. JB Straubel, CEO of Redwood Materials and former chief technology officer at Tesla, sees all the battery packs in devices being used as a strategic stockpile.
"We need the technology and the industrial base to refine those things," he said at the SAFe Summit in Washington, D.C., earlier this year.
Drake told Automotive News she believes that 90% of those battery packs are recyclable and essential for the future of the industry.
"We can get all the nickel back, the cobalt back, and then you can put that right back in the system," Drake said. "As adoption increases, recycling is going to be absolutely critical, and it will be the way that we build our batteries in the future."
In the meantime, Ford plans to focus on smaller and more affordable EVs, with a $25,000 compact SUV scheduled to arrive in late 2026, per Car and Driver. In addition, the company will lean into hybrid vehicles to bridge the gap.
According to a report by Rick Wainschel of Cloud Theory, major players in the automotive industry could be reacting to changes in the political landscape.
"Regulatory requirements and dates have eased, with the Biden Administration slashing EV adoption targets from 67% to 35% by 2032," Wainschel said in a news release. "With that shift, OEMs have pulled back on their investments and reduced their EV scale and scope."
The price of hybrids shouldn't be too much of a worry, though. According to Drake: "The technology cost has come down dramatically. Year over year, you can take 20 to 30% of the cost out of a hybrid architecture."
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