The carmaker Ford is committing to 40% of its global vehicle volume being all-electric by 2030, and is raising planned electrification spending to $30+ billion (£21.25 billion) by 2025.

It says this investment includes development of IonBoost solid state batteries while it plans for growth and value creation based on ‘always-on’ customer relationships and leadership in connected services.

The company is creating Ford Ion Park, what it calls a global centre of battery excellence comprising more than 150 experts in battery chemistries, testing, manufacturing and value-chain management who will boost battery range and lower costs to customers.

With connected vehicles, Ford says it will have about a million vehicles that are capable of receiving over-the-air system updates on the road by the end of this year, exceeding Tesla’s volume by July 2022, and scaling to
33 million OTA-enabled Ford and Lincoln vehicles by 2028. It says it will strengthen customer relationships with digitally enabled tools simplifying financing and renewal options, vehicle pick-up and delivery, and mobile repairs. It will integrate technology from companies such as Apple, Amazon and Google, as well as speeding detection and resolution of quality issues using connected data – helping to raise customer satisfaction and lower warranty costs.

(Picture – Ford)

Deploying distinctive connected functions like Ford’s BlueCruise driver-assist technologies, new features and upgraded software content, and EV charging to improve the user experience – and capitalize on what is projected to be a $20 billion market for such services by 2030.