Top Stories
Ford’s EV guru Field talks bottlenecks and opportunities
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
By Paul Lienert
(Reuters) – An inadequate charging network and insufficient access to battery raw materials are critical bottlenecks that could shackle demand for electric vehicles, according to Ford Motor Co’s chief electrification executive on Monday.
“Infrastructure is the biggest thing that really has to be nailed for widespread adoption” of EVs, Doug Field said at an EV conference in London. “A lot of coordination is going to be required to get the right levels of compatibility, capability, reliability in that charging network so people just don’t have to worry about it.”
Field, who is chief advanced product development and technology officer for Ford’s Model e, said vertical integration could be the key to solving potential shortages of battery raw materials.
Vertical integration is company founder Henry Ford’s pioneering concept, revived in recent years by Tesla Inc, of controlling as much of the industrial value chain as possible.
“The companies that go very, very far upstream, capture the materials years ahead of time, lock them up and build a clear strategy around the battery supply chain will win,” said Field, a former Tesla and Apple Inc executive who started his career 35 years ago at Ford.
“This type of change is going to push companies to vertically integrate in ways that they haven’t been used to in many, many decades.”
Field sketched a vision of future Ford vehicles “doing things your phone can’t do,” including an immersive augmented reality (AR) experience while moving.
The automaker is continuing to develop hands-free driving, or “conditional autonomy,” and a more sophisticated user interface enabled by software and strategically placed cameras and speakers, Field said.
This will give Ford the opportunity to create “an experience that will blow people away and (make them) feel like they’re in a science fiction movie,” he said.
(Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit; Editing by Richard Chang)
Vertical integration is a business strategy where a company controls multiple stages of production or supply chain, aiming to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
Electric vehicle infrastructure refers to the network of charging stations and related services that support the use of electric vehicles.
Battery raw materials are the essential components used in the production of batteries, such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel, crucial for electric vehicle performance.
Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that overlays digital information, such as images or sounds, onto the real world, enhancing user experiences.
Conditional autonomy refers to a level of vehicle automation where the car can handle certain driving tasks but still requires human intervention in specific situations.
Explore more articles in the Top Stories category
