Ford Motor on Wednesday said its car lineup in Europe will be all-electric by 2030 as the U.S. automaker moves forward to get ahead of CO2 emissions targets and increasing bans in some countries on fossil fuel vehicles.
The automaker will invest $1 billion during the next 30 months to convert its vehicle assembly plant in Cologne, Germany, to become the U.S. automaker’s first electric vehicle facility in Europe.
“This reinforces our commitment to the European region,” said Stuart Rowley, the head of Ford’s European operations.
Ford said its first European-built, all-electric passenger vehicle will be produced at the facility from 2023 and is thinking about building a second model there.
The automaker has a strategic alliance with Volkswagen, under which Ford will use Volkswagen’s MEB electric vehicle platform to build some models. Rowley said the model out of Cologne will be the first to utilize Volkswagen’s MEB platform.
Ford said that by 2026 it will have electric versions of all its passenger cars on sale in Europe and that by 2030 two-thirds of its commercial vehicle sales in Europe will be entirely electric or plug-in hybrids.
The automaker said it will have plug-in hybrid or fully-electric versions of its whole commercial vehicle range available by 2024.
Ford presently dominates the U.S. and European markets for gasoline-powered commercial vehicles with shares of 40% and nearly 15%, respectively.
