For years all the Tesla haters would talk about how EV competition was coming for Tesla. Now Ford is cancelling the F-150 Lightning and it will be replaced with an extended range hybrid.
Ford CEO Jim Farley: “Instead of plowing billions into the future knowing these large EVs will never make money, we are pivoting.” Ford has announced it expects to take a massive $19.5 billion write-down related to its EV investments. The sum is among the largest impairments ever taken by a company. Ford, which has lost $13B on its EV business since 2023. They will add more gas-powered vehicles and shift to a hybrid extended electrical range.
Ford EV losses and the writedown totals $32.5 billion.
“Instead of plowing billions into the future knowing these large EVs will never make money, we are pivoting,” Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley said in an interview.
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It seems to me the most best way to do hybrids is a series architecture. The vehicle should have a large enough battery to allow the heat engine to operate at full load long enough to run at full operating temperature for some time, before shutting down. This size battery would also make overnight charging a plug in hybrid worth while.
The frequent cycling on/off in parallel hybrids leads to water, and fuel diluting the engine oil, and excessive time in conditions of poor combustion/fuel efficiency until operating temperature is reached. The complexity of the parallel drive train leads to increased cost of manufacture, and increased repair costs.
The engine could be designed for both high thermal efficiency, and high output since it could operate at one engine speed, and should never need to idle. Something like the Mazda skyactiv-Z spark controlled compression ignition engine which should reach a thermal efficiency around 50% once at operating temperature. This is achieved by using a fuel air mixture much more lean than any prior engine. This lean mixture, and choosing the rpm, and load of the engine also lowers NOx, CO, and unburned hydrocarbon emissions, possibly making a catalytic aftertreatment unnecessary. Operation at near constant engine speed would make the spark controlled compression ignition cycle much easier, to control, and cheaper to implement.
In extremely cold conditions, the series hybrid could use the electrical output, and waste heat of the engine at the beginning of a trip to operate the drive train, while warming the batteries, and heating the cabin. Once the batteries are warmed, and the engine has operated at temperature long enough to dry out the oil, the engine could be shut down until needed. This operational regime should result in very long engine life, and minimal service being needed. Service intervals would be determined not my mileage, but by hours of engine operation. You’d probably want to operate the engine perhaps once per month, the way home generators need to be “exercised”, and fuel stabilizers might need to be used if the engine is not used much, particularly for gasoline engines.
Particularly in areas with very cold winters, a special muffler/heat exchanger capable of recovering exhaust heat for heating batteries, and cabin might be an option consumers might pay for.
Prepare for the ‘competition is coming’ narrative to return in the autonomous vehicle area. Officially started with the Rivian announcement, more to follow.
It’s a smart move for Ford. Hybrids are a solid way to compete with all electric as you get the best of both worlds. So, IMO, this is not a win for Tesla, it would have been better for Tesla if Ford had continued down the all electric path.
Ford and potentially other companies not realizing that they could compete, what with the supposed newer battery technology coming down the pipeline. But nah, it’s cool, give in to a monopoly.
Things aren’t going to go very well for companies or for governments if the only eventual cars available are either ride-sharing or cars connected to a network that can be remotely shut off. Freedom of travel and personal ownership of non-networked vehicles must remain paramount for freedom and privacy to flourish, whether anyone likes it or not.