Ford Abandons Electric
Vehicles
The Ford motor company’s abandonment of electric
cars effectively signals the end of the road for the technology, analysts
say.
General Motors and Honda ceased production of
battery-powered cars in 1999, to focus on fuel cell and hybrid electric gasoline
engines, which are more attractive to the consumer. Ford has now announced it
will do the same.
Three years ago, the company introduced the
Think City two-seater car and a golf cart called the THINK, or Think Neighbor It
hoped to sell 5,000 cars each year and 10,000 carts. But a lack of demand means
only about 1,000 of the cars have been produced, and less than 1,700 carts have
been sold so far in 2002.
"The bottom line is we don’t believe
that this is the future of environment transport for the mass market," Tim
Holmes of Ford Europe said on Friday. "We feel we have given electric our best
shot."
The Think City has a range of only about 55 miles and up
to a six-hour battery recharge time. General Motors’ EVI electric vehicle also
had a limited range, of about 100 miles.
The very expensive
batteries also mean electric cars cost much more than petrol-powered
alternatives. An electric Toyota RAV4 EV vehicle costs over $42,000 in the US,
compared with just $17,000 for the petrol version. Toyota and Nissan are, now
the only major auto manufacturers to produce electric vehicles.
"There is a feeling that battery electric has been given its chance. Ford
now has to move on with its hybrid program, and that is what we will be judging
them on," Roger Higman, a senior transport campaigner at UK Friends of the
Earth, told the Environment News Service.
Hybrid cars introduced
by Toyota and Honda in the past few years have sold well. Hybrid engines offer
greater mileage than petrol-only engines, and the batteries recharge themselves.
Ford says it thinks such vehicles will help it meet planned new guidelines on
vehicle emissions in the US.
However, it is not yet clear
exactly what those guidelines will permit. In June, General Motors and Daimler
Chrysler won a court injunction, delaying by two years Californian legislation
requiring car-makers to offer 100,000 zero-emission and other low-emission
vehicles in the state by 2003. Car manufacturers hope the legislation will be
rewritten to allow for more low-emission, rather than zero-emission,
vehicles. |
