Ford and Schneider Collaborate on EV Chargers

Ford Motors and Schneider Electric are teaming up to increase the presence of electric chargers for the upcoming Ford Electric Focus as electric vehicles continue battle for global market share.

The American car manufacturer announced at the Paris Motor show they will provide Schneider Electric’s EVLINK charging stations across Europe for homes and businesses. The price will be announced at a later date. The new EVLINK chargers will be located in all European countries in which Ford plug-in and all Ford electric vehicles are available for sale.

The machines should match most other plugs from electric vehicles, the article noted. A full charge is approximately three hours and reaches a range of 162 kilometres (101 miles) for the Ford Focus.

"Through this partnership we will offer simple, efficient and sustainable EV charging solutions to every Ford customer," said executive vice president of Global Operations at Schneider Electric Julio Rodriguez, in a statement.

"This collaboration will help foster the development of the electric vehicle market in Europe," he said.

Ford also suggested consumers will be able to buy electricity from green certified energy outlets.

However, no specific date was given for when the chargers would be available to the public. The date will be announced closer to launch of Fords electric vehicle, according to a Ford representative in the article.

The announcement comes at a time where the electric vehicle market is still maturing across the world in a challenging economic climate.

Toyota is limiting its production of their EV, the eQ, which will limit its sales to 1,100 U.S. customers of their vehicle, the Fit EV, according to an Economic Times article.

Meanwhile, Chevy Volt Sales have been far below the U.S. Department of Energy predictions of 45,000, based on a 2011 report. There have been a total of 16,348 Chevy Volts sold total.

To add to some of the frustration that may be going on for EV retailers, a study in July of this year noted that only 410,000 plug-in electric vehicles (PEV's) would be sold between 2011 to 2015 in the United States, sales would not reach a million until 2017.

However, later this decade PEV sales should pick up as yearly global sales are expected to triple between 2012 to 2014, said John Gartner, research director of Pike Research who conducted the study.

Pike also concluded global yearly PEV sales should exceed 1 million by 2017, while 1.7 million PEVs will be sold by 2020.

Gartner is also optimistic that EVs are not a fad and are the real deal in the automotive world.

Automotive companies have made a strong commitment to electric vehicles, and their viability as a transportation platform is no longer in doubt.

Another report pointed to having 130 million electric vehicles on the global roadway by 2025.

Whether there will be 130 million EVs on the roads of the world’s highways by 2025 remains to be seen. Yet, given the right policies and vision as seen by Ford and Schneider with their work, the electric vehicle market could become very strong as it finds a place in automotive marketplace.

Source: Business Green

Image Credit: Ford Focus Via Wikipedia