As part of its mid-term plan to increase its annual EV production to more than two million EVs by 2026, Ford was planning a slew of new mass-market products, including a three-row SUV like the Expedition. However, the company has shelved plans to release the electric three-row SUV in response to changing market trends.
A Ford Expedition Electric could have been the perfect SUV for environmentally conscious big families with an active lifestyle. It was to be a radically different vehicle from the gas-powered Expedition or Explorer, one featuring a visibly more aerodynamic design and offering significantly more space and comfort.
On May 22, 2023, at the company’s capital markets day, Doug Field, Chief Advanced Product Development and Technology Officer, Ford Model e, Ford, described the three-row EV as “a seven-passenger SUV that’s like your own personal bullet train.” It’ll be “beautiful” and “unlike anything in the segment so far,” Field added. He also confirmed that the electric model will be longer, sleeker, and quieter but affordable. Ford aimed to engineer its battery and charging such that it could add 150 miles of range in less than ten minutes and travel long distances on the highway.
Ford planned to manufacture the Expedition-like electric three-row SUV in Oakville (Ontario), Canada, and launch it in 2025. Demand for three-row EVs was already minuscule, and following a prolonged slowdown in demand for EVs across segments, the company decided to postpone it. On April 4, 2024, the Blue Oval announced it was re-timing the release of the electric three-row SUV to 2027. Along with the demand for three-row EVs, it expected battery technology to improve by that time.
On August 21, 2024, Ford revealed it was calling quits on all-electric three-row SUVs. “The reality is that the market changed,” Ford Model e COO Marin Gjaja reasoned, in a conversation with Reuters the following day. “As we saw the growth and adoption rate fade, we were furiously trying to catch up,” Gjaja continued. Ford’s new electrification plan for three-row SUVs is adopting hybrid technologies. The reversal from pure-electric to hybrid will cost the company up to USD 1.9 billion.
On November 20, 2024, at the Barclays 15th Annual Global Auto & Mobility Tech Conference, John Lawler, Ford’s CFO, suggested that steep pricing is one of the reasons behind the decline in EV demand following the initial hype. “The one thing we do know that I’ll say with certainty is that consumers are not willing to pay much of a premium for EVs versus an ICE vehicle,” Lawler said. On the other hand, they are willing to shell out more for hybrid, he added.
Also See: Paris Motor Show 2024 Live: Ford Capri, America’s elusive electric SUV
Note: The featured image is a rendering of the Ford Expedition Electric that introduces Ford’s EV styling to the current SUV’s design. It is made for illustrative purposes.
International Automotive News Editor since 2014, covering global motor shows, industry events, and test-driving various vehicles, with a focus on hybrid and electric cars in recent years.
