Earlier this year, news that Ford is planning hybrid versions of the Mustang and the F-150 might have overshadowed what, to electric-vehicle fans, was a bombshell announcement from the automaker: It is aiming for a range of more than 300 miles for an all-electric crossover due in showrooms by 2020.
While that range number came as a surprise, another new piece of information about the upcoming crossover EV is less shocking: Ford is targeting affordability with the compact model. Ford chief technical officer Raj Nair, in an interview with Business Insider, confirmed that to get the volume of electrified vehicles up, ?We have to make sure we make the affordability targets, or otherwise they are going to stay as a niche item or a pure luxury item.? Increasing sales volume is essential to drive down the costs of battery packs, which can account for 50 percent of the vehicle price, according to Goldman Sachs. However, EVs are now expected to hit parity with internal-combustion-engined vehicles in Europe as soon as next year, UBS predicts, with parity in China in 2023 and the U.S. in 2025.
Even considering the upward creep of what affordability means?the average new-vehicle transaction price today has soared past $34,000 by several estimates?it seems likely that the new Ford would be priced in the same sub-$40k territory now occupied by the Chevrolet Bolt EV (which, for the record, GM marketing touts as a crossover, although we saw it as a hatchback when it landed on our 20...