This is huge. To date, Tesla has been the only non-Chinese manufacturer talking iron. LFP is often touted for being cheaper than NMC, but given growing insecurity around battery-grade nickel supplies, using the far-more-prevalent iron and phosphate isn’t just about cheaper cars. It’s about having cars to sell in the first place.
With respect to range anxiety, pretty much every EV in the 200 to 300-mile range is sold out. (I was looking.) And Ford deploying LFP doesn’t mean it has to go 100% LFP in every vehicle. Just having the extra vehicles will win it market share.
(As to why now, the last of the patents in a critical suite expired in April [1]. Steve LeVine writes excellently to this topic [2].)
With respect to range anxiety, pretty much every EV in the 200 to 300-mile range is sold out. (I was looking.) And Ford deploying LFP doesn’t mean it has to go 100% LFP in every vehicle. Just having the extra vehicles will win it market share.
(As to why now, the last of the patents in a critical suite expired in April [1]. Steve LeVine writes excellently to this topic [2].)
[1] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1167178/000104746912...
[2] https://subscriptions.theinformation.com/newsletters/the-ele...