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Ford Will Unveil Chevrolet Bolt Competitor This Year

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hockeythug

Active Member
Jun 3, 2013
1,979
1,130
Minnesota
Ford will unveil a 200-plus-mile capable electric vehicle designed to compete with the Chevrolet Bolt later this year, AUTOMOBILE has learned. Scant details are available, and it is unclear whether Ford will bring a long-range full electric to market by 2017, the year General Motors plans to launch the Chevy Bolt. But the Ford competitor serves as reassurance that the age-old rivalry between the two mainstream American brands goes beyond pony cars and pickup trucks, and extends to green cars.

http://www.automobilemag.com/featur...l-unveil-chevrolet-bolt-competitor-this-year/


Article also says that their "source" mentions Apple providing battery technology for electric vehicles.
 
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This is great news. If GM and Ford are goading each other into making affordable, competent EVs to compete with the Model 3, that's a huge win for EVs in general and Tesla in particular. As more people realize how great EVs are, the market for Tesla's cars will increase.
 
I say to this the same thing I said in response to the news of the Bolt: This is great news for EV's in general.

Elon's goal with Tesla was not to be the only player, but to force the hand of the industry as a whole to move in the direction of compelling EV's.

A couple of short years ago that didn't seem at all likely, and Elon even expressed disappointment that the other manufacturers weren't picking up the mantle. The Gen3 looked like it might be all alone in trying to push affordable medium-range EV's down in to the market. Now we are looking at 2 of the 3 major players potentially in the same space within a short time frame of each other.

I'm sure folks will find all sorts of things to complain about as Ford reveals details as they did with the Bolt: styling, cost, build quality, charging options, disdain for the companies past efforts, size of the sun visors (oh, wait...), etc...

But I say: Bravo! There's room in this market segment for many players, and regardless of all the details being exactly what THIS group might want, this competition and choice is a win. I imagine such announcements make Elon smile.
 
Very interesting. I was actually just about to sell my Ford stock; maybe I'll hold on a bit longer.

As the others have said, I'm happy to see other manufacturers getting in the game.
 
This is indeed terrific news and a further endorsement of the notion that fuel cells and other alternate technologies are likely to fall away in favour of simple battery EVs. This was Tesla's stated goal all along. The EV competition will be an interesting one. If Ford, GM and others all go down Tesla's path, we could see some great innovation. The contest for a while will be Tesla's advanced battery/EV expertise vs. the big player's rich experience in making cars. Maybe not the best analogy, but what happened to Kodak when digital photography arrived on the scene makes me wonder about the future of some traditional car makers. If Apple and Google do decide to enter the space then just try to imagine how the landscape will change!
 
I say to this the same thing I said in response to the news of the Bolt: This is great news for EV's in general.

Elon's goal with Tesla was not to be the only player, but to force the hand of the industry as a whole to move in the direction of compelling EV's.

A couple of short years ago that didn't seem at all likely, and Elon even expressed disappointment that the other manufacturers weren't picking up the mantle. The Gen3 looked like it might be all alone in trying to push affordable medium-range EV's down in to the market. Now we are looking at 2 of the 3 major players potentially in the same space within a short time frame of each other.

I'm sure folks will find all sorts of things to complain about as Ford reveals details as they did with the Bolt: styling, cost, build quality, charging options, disdain for the companies past efforts, size of the sun visors (oh, wait...), etc...

But I say: Bravo! There's room in this market segment for many players, and regardless of all the details being exactly what THIS group might want, this competition and choice is a win. I imagine such announcements make Elon smile.

Agreed on all points!
 
http://www.automobilemag.com/featur...l-unveil-chevrolet-bolt-competitor-this-year/


Article also says that their "source" mentions Apple providing battery technology for electric vehicles.

So... I'm curious about what is driving this. Is this all about compliance cars? Or are the big 3 hedging their bets by announcing cheap to build concept cars with imaginary capabilities? Or do they also see a longer term trend developing, and are they legitimately investing?

I hope the third, but suspect the second and a bit of the first.
 
Ford could do the electric F-150 today. Have you ever seen one of these in the back of a pickup?

357002_location_HR.jpg

Run some quick math on how much space is in it and how many of these can fit(plenty).

EVTV Motor Verks Store: 1 CALB CAM80FI LiFePo4 Cell, Lithium Battery Cells, CAM80FI

An electric motor under the hood and a manual transmission. They could do direct drive or an auto if they want.

I think the real issue is the electric version is actually cheaper/simpler then the gas model. They don't know how to price it. An electric motor is CHEAP. Batteries are only the prices they currently are because they are done in small batches.

If someone would like to prototype one up; here is a stock of batteries on the ground in California:

Balqon Electric Vehicle Manufacturer

Here is the transmission to put in the truck to make it happen: D&D Performance Save the auto conversion for later.
 
So... I'm curious about what is driving this. Is this all about compliance cars? Or are the big 3 hedging their bets by announcing cheap to build concept cars with imaginary capabilities? Or do they also see a longer term trend developing, and are they legitimately investing?

I hope the third, but suspect the second and a bit of the first.

Ford doesn't sell compliance EVs. The Ford Focus EV is available in all 50 states. The plugin hybrid versions (Fusion Energi and Cmax Energi) are also pretty popular and available in 50 states. Note that means that Ford has three models that are electric powered. That is more than Nissan. I am actually pretty excited by this news, I really like the idea of having three American options for a 200 mile range EV.
 
Ford doesn't sell compliance EVs.

You claim this, but evidence suggests otherwise.

Average of 100 sold per month.
Components completely sourced from outside supplier (Magna).
Retrofit to existing vehicle without effort to optimize (battery in trunk).
Not available without special order from vast majority of dealers.
Sold only in US (and some parts of Canada), whereas most of their other products are worldwide.

I've owned and enjoyed many Ford's over the years.
My last one was traded in for an EV, and it wasn't made by Ford.
My next EV will be a Tesla.
 
Toyota?
Toyota?
Toyota?
Toyota?...... :smh:

Yeah, when Toyota gives up on fool cells, then we will know that Elon has succeeded completely! :wink:

Seriously, I think Ford is a pretty well-run company. They are a bit like Apple in that they do not feel they have to be first-mover to succeed. They may well surprise us all with a thoughtful and optimized BEV. I sincerely hope so.

- - - Updated - - -

Interesting that the article called it a Bolt competitor, not a Tesla competitor. A more reasonable comparison, to be sure.

Yes, they are working the traditional rivalry angle, so that could account for it.

But I do think that as the field of competitors fills in, people will finally realize that Tesla is NOT aiming to be all things to all drivers. They build premium BEV's. Their only true competitors (eventually, not now) will be the likes of BMW and Audi.
 
Ford doesn't sell compliance EVs. The Ford Focus EV is available in all 50 states. The plugin hybrid versions (Fusion Energi and Cmax Energi) are also pretty popular and available in 50 states. Note that means that Ford has three models that are electric powered. That is more than Nissan. I am actually pretty excited by this news, I really like the idea of having three American options for a 200 mile range EV.
Ford today is doing not much more than lip service. Yes, it's more than just compliance as they sell in all 50 states, but to state that they do more than Nissan seems to be a stretch.
All that said I'm super excited to see another serious entry by a mainstream car maker. The more choices, the more price points, the better.
 
You claim this, but evidence suggests otherwise.

Average of 100 sold per month.
Components completely sourced from outside supplier (Magna).
Retrofit to existing vehicle without effort to optimize (battery in trunk).
Not available without special order from vast majority of dealers.
Sold only in US (and some parts of Canada), whereas most of their other products are worldwide.

I've owned and enjoyed many Ford's over the years.
My last one was traded in for an EV, and it wasn't made by Ford.
My next EV will be a Tesla.

As an additional data point on this: Some neighbors of mine have a solar installation and I went and paid them a visit a couple of years ago before I first ordered my Tesla. It turns out they have a Ford Focus Electric.

I didn't even know Ford made such a thing... and neither did they. They ran across it in the back of some dealer's lot, and practically had to twist the salesdroid's arm to get him to sell it to them. It appears he actively discouraged them from attempting to buy it.

So while I don't know that it's Ford Corporate's stance on them, it appears at least at some dealer level that they are not being offered/presented in any serious way.
 
Interesting that the article called it a Bolt competitor, not a Tesla competitor. A more reasonable comparison, to be sure.

To be fair, the Model 3 is just vaporware at this point. Tesla says's its coming and I have no reason to doubt it, but we haven't even seen a sketch of it yet. There is a real life honest-to-god Bolt prototype out on the tour circuit right now.

The Model 3, by Elon's own admission, will be "downmarket" of the Model S and X. He was questioned about this at the 2013 TESLIVE event when someone asked why when other car makers moved from less expensive to more expensive models (Honda -> Acura, Nissan -> Infinity etc.) is Tesla going the other way around. He explained it fits in with his "secret plan" of using early adopters and expensive cars to drive the technology costs down to the mainstream market level (makes perfect sense).

I guess what I'm simply saying is that the Model 3 may very well be smack dab in the Bolt and this future Ford's snack bracket.
 
Ford doesn't sell compliance EVs. The Ford Focus EV is available in all 50 states. The plugin hybrid versions (Fusion Energi and Cmax Energi) are also pretty popular and available in 50 states. Note that means that Ford has three models that are electric powered. That is more than Nissan. I am actually pretty excited by this news, I really like the idea of having three American options for a 200 mile range EV.
I think you could argue that the Ford Focus Electric isn't a compliance car. That they started selling it in Norway at least proves that they are (or were) making money with each additional sale, as we don't have CARB credits, something which can't be said for all the compliance cars.

But the Ford definitly is definitely a compromised vehicle. No rapid charging, no cargo space, not particularly cheap. The price at which they launched the FFE in Norway was significantly higher than the Leaf, but it didn't take long before they had to drop the price by almost 15.000 USD, to bring the price in line with people's willingness to pay. I'm not sure if they're still selling them here. I can't find any new ones online, though they still list it on their website.