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Ford's electric SUV to have 500km range

Posted on 23 May, 2017

Ford has announced further details of its first long-range EV, which is set to be released in 2020. The electric crossover vehicle was first announced at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in January. Executive vice president and chief technical officer Raj Nair has confirmed to journalists that the car will have an affordable price. “Our plan is for it to be an affordable vehicle, a mainstream model,” Nair told Business Insider. “To get electrification volumes where we would all like them to be, 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.” Nair also said the car would have a driving range of approximately 500km. "We think we have a technology path that will get us a 300-plus miles range and an affordable crossover utility that will be fully competitive,” he said. This puts the future Ford EV ahead of the Chevrolet Bolt, which has a range of 383km, and the Tesla Model 3, which has a 350km range. A number of car makers have announced upcoming all-electric SUVs. Tesla’s Model Y, a compact SUV, is due for release in late 2019 or 2020. Volkswagen and Volvo also aim to have small electric SUVs on the market at the same time. But Nair sees the potentially crowded electric SUV market as a positive for the industry. “We always welcome the competition,” he said.  “There are some aspects of the economics of battery-electric vehicles that are helped by scale. The more penetration we get, all of us are helped by the economies of scale.”