Month: August 2024
Projecting the 12-Team College Football Playoff Bracket
According to The Athletic’s model, these teams have the best odds of making the new expanded postseason.
According to The Athletic’s model, these teams have the best odds of making the new expanded postseason.
The N.B.A. Offseason’s Most Underrated Moves
Moving on from Klay Thompson has benefits for the Golden State Warriors, a columnist for The Athletic writes.
Moving on from Klay Thompson has benefits for the Golden State Warriors, a columnist for The Athletic writes.
Why Brett Gardner Won’t Attend the Yankees’ 2009 World Series Celebration
On a list of guests that includes Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and CC Sabathia, Gardner’s absence remains notable.
On a list of guests that includes Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and CC Sabathia, Gardner’s absence remains notable.
One of America’s Biggest Field Hockey Stars Wasn’t Playing at the Olympics
Erin Matson won four national titles with North Carolina before claiming another as its 24-year-old coach. Her absence from the U.S. team was complicated.
Erin Matson won four national titles with North Carolina before claiming another as its 24-year-old coach. Her absence from the U.S. team was complicated.
Could Bobby Witt Jr. Reach a Baseball Milestone Unseen in the Past Two Decades?
The Royals’ star shortstop is on track to be the first major leaguer in 20 years to bat .400 at home.
The Royals’ star shortstop is on track to be the first major leaguer in 20 years to bat .400 at home.
The Inside Story of How the Premier League’s Best Young Talent Was Discovered
The scout who unearthed Cole Palmer reveals how he always looked like a talent destined for the top.
The scout who unearthed Cole Palmer reveals how he always looked like a talent destined for the top.
Ford’s electric three-row SUV is dead
As part of a rethink of its EV strategy, Ford has canceled plans [PDF] to build an electric three-row SUV. It said earlier this year that it would delay the vehicle by two years until 2027 but now the automaker has scuttled that model entirely. It’s pivoting to using hybrid tech in its next three-row SUVs. Ford expects the decision to cost up to $1.9 billion in special charges and expenses.
In addition, Ford is delaying the rollout of a next-gen electric truck from 2026 until the second half of 2027. This model will build on what the company has learned from the F-150 Lightning and include “features and experiences never seen on any Ford truck.” Among those will be improved aerodynamics and an upgraded bi-directional charging capability. Ford says delaying the electric pickup will let it take advantage of lower-cost battery tech and other cost efficiencies. It will build this model, which was previously delayed from 2025, at a Tennessee plant.
Ford also plans to release a medium-sized electric pickup, the first production vehicle that’s based on a lower-cost platform designed by a skunkworks team, in 2027. According to The Wall Street Journal, Ford expects the EV platform to help it produce several profitable models. That could help it compete with Chinese electric vehicle makers, which Ford CEO Jim Farley claims benefit from a lower-cost supply chain. That said, the US has imposed a 100 percent tariff on imported EVs from China, which the White House says “will protect American manufacturers.”
Elsewhere, Ford plans to start producing a new electric commercial van in Ohio in 2026. A Tennessee factory will start making cells for the van and the next-gen electric pickup in late 2025.
The shift in strategy comes as Ford attempts to mitigate losses on its current electric models while ensuring EVs it makes in the future turn a profit. The EV division is on track to lose $5 billion this year (up from a $4.7 billion loss in 2023) amid lower-than-expected demand. Ford is also slashing capital spending on EVs from 40 percent of its budget to 30 percent.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/fords-electric-three-row-suv-is-dead-151528349.html?src=rss
As part of a rethink of its EV strategy, Ford has canceled plans [PDF] to build an electric three-row SUV. It said earlier this year that it would delay the vehicle by two years until 2027 but now the automaker has scuttled that model entirely. It’s pivoting to using hybrid tech in its next three-row SUVs. Ford expects the decision to cost up to $1.9 billion in special charges and expenses.
In addition, Ford is delaying the rollout of a next-gen electric truck from 2026 until the second half of 2027. This model will build on what the company has learned from the F-150 Lightning and include “features and experiences never seen on any Ford truck.” Among those will be improved aerodynamics and an upgraded bi-directional charging capability. Ford says delaying the electric pickup will let it take advantage of lower-cost battery tech and other cost efficiencies. It will build this model, which was previously delayed from 2025, at a Tennessee plant.
Ford also plans to release a medium-sized electric pickup, the first production vehicle that’s based on a lower-cost platform designed by a skunkworks team, in 2027. According to The Wall Street Journal, Ford expects the EV platform to help it produce several profitable models. That could help it compete with Chinese electric vehicle makers, which Ford CEO Jim Farley claims benefit from a lower-cost supply chain. That said, the US has imposed a 100 percent tariff on imported EVs from China, which the White House says “will protect American manufacturers.”
Elsewhere, Ford plans to start producing a new electric commercial van in Ohio in 2026. A Tennessee factory will start making cells for the van and the next-gen electric pickup in late 2025.
The shift in strategy comes as Ford attempts to mitigate losses on its current electric models while ensuring EVs it makes in the future turn a profit. The EV division is on track to lose $5 billion this year (up from a $4.7 billion loss in 2023) amid lower-than-expected demand. Ford is also slashing capital spending on EVs from 40 percent of its budget to 30 percent.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/fords-electric-three-row-suv-is-dead-151528349.html?src=rss
Ford rethinks EV strategy again—ditching 3-row SUVs, adding vans
The automaker plans some new pickups and smaller, cheaper EVs.
Enlarge / Ford hoped to build 600,000 EVs a year by now, a mix of Mustang Mach-E crossovers, E-Transit vans, and F-150 Lightning pickups. This year, sales are up 71 percent so far; by the end of June, Ford had sold almost 45,000 EVs. (credit: Ford)
Ford has scrapped plans to build some big three-row electric SUVs and is revising its North American electrification roadmap, the company announced this morning. The automaker, which comes in at a distant second to Tesla in the US electric vehicle sales charts, says the focus will now be on cheaper, more efficient EVs, including some new commercial vehicles. Those big SUVs will still show up at some time, but they’ll be hybrids, not fully electric.
Ford has never been afraid to tear up an existing plan, particularly when it comes to EVs. The Mustang Mach-E was supposed to be a much more boring compliance car until an internal skunkworks called Team Edison came up with the idea of a crossover that could only be a Ford in 2017.
But it also had big ambitions for its EVs. It created a new division, called “Model e,” to be responsible for EVs and announced it had locked up supplies for 600,000 EV batteries a year from 2023. In addition to the midsize Mach-E crossover, it created a fully electric version of its best-selling F-150 pickup truck and an electric E-Transit van.