No doubt you saw the news that the Jag will be fully electric by 2025. That’s in four years’ time, people! And the Land Rover will follow suit! And now Ford is saying that by mid-2026 all of its passenger vehicle range in Europe will be ‘zero-emissions capable, all-electric or plug-in hybrid’. Looking further ahead, Ford will be all-electric by 2030.
These are just the latest in a growing list of manufacturers leading the way with zero emissions and bidding a farewell to petrol, diesel, the ICE itself.
OK, this isn’t strictly new news (it happened a few days ago) but when you get the likes of Ford, Jag etc joining the green queue then you know the death knell is sounding for the internal combustion engine.
You, dear reader, where do you stand on this? Sad to bid farewell to the throb of the engine, the guttural roar of the v6, the scream of the twin carb?
Or are you more circumspect? Perhaps realising it’s time to give up on these things and to get real? Maybe the Petrolhead himself (nearly always a bloke) will soon be a museum piece? I’ve got to come clean. I can’t wait.
It’s entirely admirable that Jaguar Land Rover, the UK-based carmaker, will make its Jaguars electric-only by 2025. That’s one hell of a tight target date, though it’ll take a few more years for it to abandon petrol vehicles altogether.
We can also expect Land Rover to launch six new electric cars in the next five years.
This seems to be down to JLR’s brave new-ish chief executive, Thierry Bolloré, who is steering JLR towards a brand new future that will aim to meet the emissions targets of Governments around the world.
Over in Tokyo, Toshihiro Mibe, predicted to replace Takahiro Hachigo as next president of Honda, is emphasising the importance of growth through ecological and super-safe vehicles: “I am going to build a house that is the future of Honda on the foundation of businesses that Mr. Hachigo has worked so hard to create. And this building must have resilience, to withstand this once in a hundred years transformation,” Mibe has told reporters, pressing home the brand’s plans to develop electric vehicles.
Mibe is seen as one of the industry’s leading research and development experts, ideally placed to lead Honda as it shifts up a few gears into ecological vehicles.
Mibe insists that “the purpose of technology is to help people,” so the reduction of carbon emissions and reducing deaths from traffic accidents will be a twin focus. Honda has set the date for full carbon neutrality as 2050.
And over at Ford, its European products will be zero-emissions capable, all-electric or plug-in hybrid by 2024 and around two-thirds of commercial vehicle sales will be electric or plug-in hybrid by 2030.
It is expected that because Ford leads Europe’s commercial vehicle market new electric vans will feature heavily. The company is investing upwards of $22 billion globally in electrification, almost doubling its previous EV pledge.
Stuart Rowley, president of Ford in Europe, is leading the way: “We successfully restructured Ford of Europe and returned to profitability in the fourth quarter of 2020. Now we are charging into an all-electric future in Europe with expressive new vehicles and a world-class connected customer experience.”