Ford’s electric vehicle division loses $1.1 billion, or $50,000 per vehicle

Electric vehicles will account for only 4% of Ford’s total vehicle sales in the first half of 2024

Ford is investing billions of dollars into electric vehicles, but like many other automakers doing the same, it’s finding that it’s not easy to build electric cars without losing huge amounts of money.

Ford’s second-quarter financial information shows that the Ford Model E electric vehicle division lost $1.1 billion. During this period, the company sold 23,957 electric vehicles in the United States, which means that Ford E lost $47,600 for each electric vehicle sold. Taking into account the poor performance in the first quarter, Ford E has lost $2.5 billion this year and is expected to lose $5 billion to $5.5 billion by the end of the year.

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Ford sold 536,050 vehicles in its home market in the second quarter, up less than 1%. In the first half of the year, sales rose 3.6% to more than 1 million vehicles. Importantly, demand for the automaker’s electric vehicles surged in the second quarter, jumping 61% to 23,957 vehicles. Electric vehicles still only account for a small portion of Ford’s total sales, equivalent to about 4% in the first half of 2024.

Ford hybrid deliveries also grew significantly, with sales reaching a record 53,822 units, up 56 percent, largely due to increased interest in the Maverick, while the Mustang Mach-E proved to be the brand’s best-performing electric vehicle.

Ford split its ICE and EV divisions in early 2022, resulting in the creation of Ford Blue and Ford Model e. In May, it was reported that Ford’s electric vehicle sales were lower than expected, prompting the manufacturer to reduce the number of batteries ordered from suppliers such as SK On Co., LG Energy Solutions Ltd. and CATL. While it is unclear how much Ford will reduce its orders, it will retain contracts with the three suppliers.

While Ford technically lost nearly $50,000 on every electric vehicle it sold in the second quarter, that number doesn’t tell the whole story. The company is investing huge amounts of money in developing new, innovative electric vehicle powertrains, and those investments won’t be repeated year after year. Furthermore, such investments will benefit future electric vehicles, so dividing its losses by units sold isn’t entirely fair.