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Ford Beefs Up Its Battery Engineering
Ford Motor Co. says it is investing $135 million through next year to double its battery-testing capability and strengthen its ability to develop its own advanced batteries and electric powertrain components.
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Ford Motor Co. says it is investing $135 million through next year to double its battery-testing capability and strengthen its ability to develop its own advanced batteries and electric powertrain components.
The company has more than 1,000 engineers assigned to battery research and plans to hire dozens more this year. The staff is housed at the 285,000-sq-ft Ford Advanced Electrification Center formerly the Advanced Engineering Center in the company's Dearborn, Mich., technical campus.
The hybrids Ford introduced eight years ago relied heavily on purchased powertrain components. The company says its latest system costs 30% less, in part because it includes components developed in-house.
Ford also says that performing more of its own battery testing helps it complete projects at least 25% faster.
The company has said it expects electric, hybrid and plug-in models to account for about 25% of its vehicle lineup by 2020, up from less than 3% last year. Ford will have five electrified models in production by the end of this year: the Focus Electric small car and hybrid and plug-in versions of the C-Max MPV and Fusion sedan.
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