Ford to Build Electric Ranger for California : Autos: The $30,000 vehicle is aimed at meeting the state’s 1998 zero-emissions mandate.
Ford Motor Co. announced Monday that it will offer a $30,000 electric version of its Ranger pickup truck to California consumers under the state’s 1998 deadline to market the first mass-produced zero-emission vehicles.
The auto maker picked the light-duty truck over a passenger car or other vehicle because it expects its first customers to be fleet users, not ordinary drivers. The high cost and low range of electric vehicles make them more suitable for government and utility fleets, according to a Ford executive.
“The Ranger comes closest to meeting the needs and requirements of fleet customers,” according to Mike McCabe, manager of Ford electric vehicle marketing and sales. The pickup will have a range of 50 miles between charges.
Ford sees an early market in fleets because a separate federal law requires that 30% of new vehicles bought by government and energy utilities run on alternative fuels. The law takes effect in 1996 unless a utility chooses electric vehicles, which delays the requirement until 1998.
Southern California Edison Co. plans to add up to 750 electric vehicles to its existing fleet of 51 by the year 2000, according to an Edison spokeswoman.
“There is a reasonable-sized market for utility fleet vehicles,” said John Wallace, Ford director of electric vehicles. “And a lot of utility vehicles are pickups.”
Wallace said Ford will build more than 4,000 electric Rangers to meet the California deadline, but he said he could not predict how many might be sold to utility fleets.
Some electric vehicle proponents complained that Ford’s estimated price is unrealistically high--nearly triple the cost of the gasoline-powered Ranger.
The trucks in Monday’s announcement will be built at Ford plants. Under a separate program, Ford will also sell “gliders”--the vehicle without the engine--to smaller companies that will convert them to run on electric batteries.
One Burbank-based company, Battery Automated Transportation International Inc., has already sold more than a dozen converted Ford Rangers at just under $26,000 each. A BAT spokesman said Monday that if his company is able to buy gliders, that price could drop by as much as $4,000.
Chrysler Corp. has said it will meet the California mandate with an electric version of existing minivans. GM, which developed its Impact electric vehicle from the ground up, has yet to decide on which vehicle it will market in 1998.
