With the adoption of increasingly strict emissions laws, automakers are turning to electrified vehicles to push emissions down and increase fuel efficiency.
According to the recent Corporate Average Fuel Economy [CAFE] laws passed in November, automakers will have to be producing vehicles that emit no more than 163g/mi of carbon dioxide. If this were to be achieved by fuel economy alone, the average fuel economy for all vehicles by 2025 will have to be around 54.5mpg.
Other methods of carbon reduction are sure to be devised, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA] is estimating that automakers will have to achieve an average of 49.7mpg by 2025 in order to meet with the carbon emissions regulations.
Electrified vehicles, including hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and pure electric vehicles is one good way to increase fuel economy. Ford Motor Company estimates that, by 2020, electrified vehicle sales will comprise up to 25% of sales.
Ford will start to focus on electrifying platforms, on which multiple vehicles are based, instead of electrifying only certain models. One example of this could be the Ford Global C Platform, on which the Ford Focus, C-Max, Transit and Escape are built. Electrifying a platform effectively electrifies a whole series of vehicles, which also makes it easier to manufacture and sell.
