Automakers Fueling Greening of Vehicles: EVs, Hybrids & Fuel-Cells Coming: Ford, GM, VW & Bolli

Major automakers announced their EV and green vehicle plans.  Both Ford and General Motors are planning many electric vehicles.

Ford Electric with Team Edison

Ford plans on a 300-mile range EV crossover in 2018 as well as forming a team called “Team Edison” to research and develop electric vehicles, hybrid and plug-in hybrid models. Ford expects to deliver thirteen electric vehicles over the next five years. Ford is also going two work with partners and my buy “Lucid Motors.”

GM Expands Volt, Bolt to More

General Motors announced that in the next 18 months, GM will introduce two new all-electric vehicles based  from the Chevrolet Bolt EV research. They will be the first of at least 20 new all-electric vehicles that will launch by 2023.

Ford is working on a two-pronged approach to electrification — battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell electric depending on the unique requirements.

GM also introduced SURUS — the Silent Utility Rover Universal Superstructure — a fuel cell powered, four-wheel steer concept vehicle on a heavy-duty truck frame that’s driven by two electric motors. With its capability and flexible architecture, SURUS could be used as a delivery vehicle, truck or even an ambulance — all emissions free.

Volkswagen’s Roadmap E

Previously at Frankfurt IAA, Volkswagen Group announced its electrification initiative through “Roadmap E”: Volkswagen will have electrified its entire model portfolio by 2030 at the latest. This means that, by then, there will be at least one electrified version of each of the 300 or so Group models across all brands and markets. The Group will need more than 150 gigawatt hours of battery capacity annually by 2025 for its own e-fleet alone. This is equivalent to at least four gigafactories for battery cells. The Group brands will bring a total of over 80 new electrified models to customers by 2025, including some 50 purely battery-powered vehicles and 30 plug-in hybrids.

Volvo Cars  announced in July, that every Volvo it launches from 2019 will have an electric motor, marking the historic end of cars that only have an internal combustion engine (ICE) and placing electrification at the core of its future business.

Bollinger Preorders Total 10K

Bollinger Motors announced  that they surpassed 10,000 reservations for their B1 all-electric sport utility truck over the weekend. The mark was eclipsed in 60 days by taking pre-orders from interested individuals on the bollingermotors.com website. These pre-orders represent hundreds of millions of dollars in potential revenue for the company from eventual vehicles sales. Fleet orders are not included in that number as those are not being taken until pricing is announced.