Ford To Invest $11 Billion in Electric Cars
The Ford Motor Company has revealed plans to invest over $11 billion dollars in the development and production of electric cars by 2022. The announcement was made public at the Detroit Motor Show.
The American carmaker plans to produce 16 fully battery-driven vehicles and 24 hybrid cars by 2022. At the moment the Focus is the only Ford car that can be driven by batteries alone.
Apart from producing electric-driven cars for the North American market, Ford also aims at increasing sales to China, the largest growing car market in the world. In addition, it wants to become the world's leader in fuel-efficient trucks. The car producer also plans to bring a battery-driven SUV on the market by 2020.
Instead of creating completely new electric vehicles from scratch, Ford wants to electrify cars that are already popular because people will know what they get and buy more easily.
Automobile manufacturers around the world are under pressure to develop electric cars because many large countries, including China, India, France and the U.K. have said they would phase out vehicles powered by internal combustion engines within the next two decades. They also face fierce competition from companies like Tesla, a car-maker that specialises in innovative technologies.
As battery costs are going down rapidly, carmakers may find it easier to produce electric cars with higher mileage and at cheaper prices.
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Words
- aim = target , plan
- announcement = official statement
- apart from = other than
- battery-driven = run by a battery
- billion = a thousand million
- competition = trying to be more successful than other companies
- decade = ten years
- development = working on a new product
- electrify = make electric
- fierce = here: strong
- from scratch = to start something from the beginning without using anything that has existed before
- fuel-efficient = car that burns fuel in a more effective way than usual; it does not need as much fuel as others do
- fully = completely
- higher mileage = here: to make an electric car that can travel more miles or kilometres before you have to recharge it
- hybrid car = a car that has both a petrol or diesel engine and an electric motor
- in addition = also
- innovative = new way of doing something; often better than existing methods
- instead of = in something's place
- internal combustion engine = engine that produces power by burning petrol or diesel; it is used in most cars
- invest = spend money on ...
- make public = to say something for everyone to hear
- manufacturer = producer
- phase out = to slowly stop using or producing something
- popular = well-known and liked by many people
- production = here: making cars
- rapidly = quickly
- reveal = announce to many people
- sales = selling cars
- SUV = sport-utility vehicle = car that is bigger and is made for travelling over rough ground; mostly with a 4-wheel drive
- under pressure = to make someone do something by using arguments and threats
- vehicle = a machine with a motor that is used to take people or things from one place to another