Shortly after Ford declared their intentions to introduce more than two dozen EVs to their lineup, Reuters reports that BYD announces plans to supply Ford with EV batteries and power management systems. BYD, a Chinese automaker backed by investor Warren Buffett, has been making electric trucks, cars, buses, bicycles and EV batteries in China for over two decades. After a quarter of the company was bought by investor Buffett, the company has grown substantially, though this is the firm’s first major battery supply deal with the American automaker.
BYD has also partnered with Toyota in the past to build electric cars. Their deal with Ford, however, is the company’s first battery supply deal with a major car manufacturer.
Ford’s plans for the future
Over the coming years, Ford is more than eager to take their share of the growing EV market. While the company already has some plug-in hybrid or fully-electric models for sale in the U.S., it still has ambitions to further expand its zero-emission. As of right now, Ford’s alternative fuel specialties are only two hybrid-electric vehicles: the full-sized Fusion (though that’s going out of production), and the new Escape. In China, the company’s second largest automotive market after North America, they plan on producing over 30 new or redesigned vehicles. Of those, over a third will be electric.
In the U.S., Ford will soon sell the all-electric Mustang Mach-E, and an electric version of the F-150 (a prototype of which pulled one million pounds), as well as an electric Transit van sometime by next year.
We have more on electric vehicles and tackling the challenges they pose in the latest TFL Talkin’ Trucks podcast, shown below:
