Ford May End Effort to Design Electric Vehicle : Autos: The company is considering postponing development until a better battery is available.
Ford Motor Co. may cancel its program to build an electric vehicle from the ground up, its director said Tuesday, calling the effort financially wasteful until more advanced battery and related technology is developed.
Such a step would increase pressure on California to relax its mandate requiring auto makers to sell zero-emission vehicles in the state beginning in 1998. Car makers worldwide want the mandate repealed.
A delay of Ford’s new electric vehicle program would leave the company likely to rely on the conversion of existing internal-combustion engine vehicles if it is to meet California’s regulations. The company will continue testing its prototype Ecostar, which is essentially an electric conversion of its European Escort van.
“We are reassessing the appropriateness of spending money on a ground-up vehicle,” Dennis Wilke, director of Ford’s electric vehicle programs, acknowledged after a speech to the World Automotive Congress. “If the battery and powertrain technology are not there, it’s a waste of money.”
Wilke said Ford has spent more than $100 million on electric vehicle development in the past two years. The company is now considering whether such spending should be directed more at technology advancement rather than product development, Wilke said.
The reassessment comes just two months after Alexander Trotman was named chairman and chief executive of Ford. Publicly, Trotman is more pessimistic and outspoken about electric vehicles than his predecessor, Harold Poling.
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At the Detroit auto show last week, Trotman told reporters that Ford hopes to persuade the California Air Resources Board to drop its mandate in favor of proposals that would rely on alternative fuels and other measures.
“We think we can achieve the Clean Air Act objectives without a mandate,” Trotman said. “There are other feasible alternatives.”
Ford officials said Tuesday that they will soon present a plan to California officials showing how federal pollution standards can be met without requiring zero-emission vehicles.
Electric power is the only viable option in the near term for meeting the state’s rules.
The proposal will call for a mix of vehicles fueled by compressed natural gas, methanol and other alternative fuels. It will also advocate a stronger smog check system--currently a matter of conflict between the state and federal governments--and a program to remove high-polluting clunkers from California roads.
The Big Three began a lobbying push last fall aimed at persuading California to relax the electric vehicle mandate. The auto makers argue that they are unable to produce a vehicle with sufficient range and a low enough cost to attract buyers. The main obstacle: the lack of a good battery.
Detroit sees 1994 as a key year in the electric vehicle debate. The ARB will review its emissions regulations this year, and the companies say they must make production decisions soon.
While Detroit appears increasingly optimistic that a rollback will occur, electric car proponents in California say the state will not readily fold.
“At this point, we have no reason to believe the mandate won’t hold,” said Diane Wittenberg, manager of electric transportation for Southern California Edison, a strong supporter of electric cars.
Indeed, Jacqueline Schafer, the ARB’s new chairwoman, said at the Los Angeles Auto Show last week that the agency had no plans to kill or delay the zero-emissions regulation.
In the meantime, the auto makers continue to conduct advanced battery research in tandem with the federal government and the electric utility industry. The auto companies are also pursuing electric car development.
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To date, only General Motors Corp. has unveiled a ground-up electric vehicle--the two-seat Impact--but the company has backed away from a promised 1995 rollout.
Ford has been more secretive about its electric vehicle programs. Trade publications indicate that Ford is working on a small, four-passenger commuter car. There has also been speculation that the company would build an electric-powered family van developed in Europe.
