Ford To Invest USD 4.5 Billion To Develop Electric Vehicles

Ford is to invest USD 4.5 billion to develop electric vehicles over the next five years to update its product range to make cleaner cars. The carmaker is to launch 13 eco-friendly vehicles by 2020, which will make 40 percent of Ford's models electric.

Ford's move to concentrate on electric cars comes due to pressure from US regulatory to make cleaner cars in terms of emission and technology companies like Google and Apple coming up with cars. Also, ownership of cars in cities are seeing a change in trend as more people are opting to share rides, or use public transport.

One amjor reason as to why there is pressure on carmakers to build cleaner vehicles is due to Volkswagen's Diesel Gate Scandal. The cars used a device to illegally pass emission tests.

Ford's investment will be to offer both, hybrid as well as pure electric cars. The Ford Focus Electric is to launch next year, which will have the capacity to charge upto 80 percent in just 30 minutes, and can travel around 100 miles with a full battery.