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Ford Announces $4.5 Billion Investment In ‘Electrified’ Cars

Ford has recently announced they have allotted $4.5 billion dollars towards ‘electrified’ vehicles; an investment that will take place over the next five years. The auto manufacturer says the money will be used for battery research and the production of 13 new cars will be released from now, all the way up to 2020.

While Ford did not offer which cars will count toward the 13 total, using the term ‘electrified’ does indicate that not all the vehicles will be fully electric; which may mean that a sufficient portion of those 13 vehicles might be a new wave of hybrids and plug-ins, which may also include cars that have not been sold in United States market.

With the Ford Fusion sedan expected to be released as an updated 2017 model, set to debut during an upcoming auto show in Detroit with hybrid and “Energi” plug-in variations, that may mean two cars out of the expected 13 are off the list. Next on the Ford agenda? Potentially Europe’s C-Max could get revamped as a hybrid and plug-in hybrid; which would take another two cars of that list. Ford has also revealed that it will update its Focus EV fully electric at some point in 2016, providing DC fast-charging capability, with a 100-mile range for driving.

MSN reports that the potential for the other cars to fill in the additional spaces is plentiful. The company could also add the newly updated 2017 Lincoln MKZ hybrid to that list; and include a plug-in model. Ford could even add the Fusion hybrid’s powertrain into the Escape and go toe-to-toe with the new Toyota RAV4 hybrid crossover.

In doing so, this still leaves some spaces on that 13-car list for Ford models that are not hybrid vehicles to get an ‘electrified’ jolt. It also leaves room for a completely new model that could be fully electric. Only time will tell.

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