Ford Motor Co. displays a latest 2021 Ford F-150 pickup truck on the Rouge Complex in Dearborn, Michigan, Sept. 17, 2020.
Rebecca Cook | Reuters
Heads up, hybrid fans: Ford Motor is working on an entire bunch of latest hybrid models.
“You are going to see lots more hybrid systems from us,” CEO Jim Farley said Thursday after the corporate reported second-quarter earnings that exposed widening losses on its electric vehicles unit.
related investing news
The comments run barely counter to recent messaging from the Detroit automakers, which have touted the performance and recognition of all-electric favorites because the industry moves to satisfy EV targets. The hybrid hype, nevertheless, falls more closely according to global hybrid leader Toyota, which has faced criticism for what some saw as resistance to the EV transition.
To be clear, Ford is not turning away from its much-touted EV push, though it said Thursday that its EV ramp-up may take longer than it had previously anticipated.
But whilst it spends billions to ramp up EV production, it’s planning to bring more hybrid options to market, driven by the success of its current gasoline-electric options.
“We now have been surprised, frankly, at the recognition of hybrid systems for F-150,” Farley said during Ford’s second-quarter earnings call. Greater than 10% of F-150 pickup customers are choosing the hybrid model, Farley said, and that percentage has been increasing.
Ford also offers a hybrid version of its small Maverick pickup. That has been a fair greater success, Farley said, with greater than half of Maverick buyers — 56% — selecting the $1,500 optional hybrid powertrain over the usual four-cylinder engine.
But why double down on hybrids just because the industry is making an enormous push toward pure EVs?
“What the shopper really likes is after we take a hybrid system that is more efficient for certain duty cycles after which we add latest capabilities due to the batteries,” Farley said.
Amongst those latest capabilities: Ford’s “Pro Power Onboard” system, which provides customers the flexibility to tap the truck’s electricity via outlets within the pickup bed to power tools at a job site — or a refrigerator at a tailgate party — eliminating the necessity to carry a separate generator.
An available 7.2 kilowatt onboard generator that Ford is asking the “Pro Power Onboard” features 4 120V 20A outlets and one NEMA L14-30R 240V 30A on the 2021 Ford F-150.
Ford
“We’re seeing lots of customers like that combination of using the batteries for something beyond just moving the vehicle,” Farley said. “And so we’re just listening to the market.”
Ford has heavily promoted the capabilities of its battery-electric F-150 Lightning pickup, which offers the flexibility to power a complete house for several days.
It could be that in hearing from customers, Ford has determined the recognition of that capability is outrunning the willingness to go all electric. As executives noted Thursday, EV adoption is moving more slowly than expected.
So, within the meantime, Ford can offer power-hungry but EV-wary drivers an in-between option, with hybrid options across its internal-combustion lineup.
“But don’t consider them in the standard sense of an Escape hybrid or a [Toyota] Prius,” Farley said. “They’re probably going to return to light in another way than most individuals think.”
“And customers like that.”
