Ford Chairman Bill Ford speaks May 19, 2021 during the unveiling of the electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck outside the automaker’s world headquarters in Dearborn, Mich.
Ford
DETROIT – A decade ago, Ford Motor was positioning itself to be a leader in electrified vehicles with new global models such as the C-Max and Focus Electric.
Those “green” cars were to lead the automaker’s efforts to potentially electrify 25% of its fleet by 2020, Ford Chairman Bill Ford wrote in a May 2011 article for Fortune Magazine. They didn’t and Ford watched as a start-up, Tesla, emerged as the industry’s benchmark for zero-emissions vehicles, and crosstown rival General Motors became Wall Street’s top legacy automaker for EVs.
Ford’s newest CEO Jim Farley, who took the helm Oct. 1, quickly announced a harder pivot to EVs as the automaker released an all-electric Mustang crossover and an upcoming F-150. While the new electric vehicles have been well received, Ford has to fight for a leadership position amid a litany of old and new competitors.
It’s something Bill Ford, great grandson of the company’s founder, is well aware of. A greener automotive industry has always been a mission of his. As an environmentalist and the longest running chairperson of any automaker, he has acted as a rare champion, or conscience, of green practices in the industry.
It’s something that was historically taboo, even discouraged, in a business reliant on fossil fuels to power its products and large trucks to drive its profits.
But that’s changing. The promise of electric vehicles and Wall Street’s support of more sustainable companies has Ford believing his decades-long vision of a greener automotive industry and company are finally achievable. And investors have taken notice, sending shares of Ford up by about 50% in 2021.
“When I joined the company in 1979, I joined as somebody who cared deeply about the environment, and I was absolutely appalled that that view was not only not shared, but it was frankly scorned within the company,” he told CNBC during a video interview. “That’s all changed now. And, yes, it makes me really excited.”
Bill Ford admits that the company’s early “green cars” may have not been as successful as he wanted at that time. But he believes the industry and consumer acceptance of electric vehicles is changing and that his push for a more sustainable industry was right all along.
“They may not have been the right time, they might not have been quite ready for primetime when they came out, but directionally, it was absolutely the right thing to do,” Ford said.
Ford vs. Trump
Doing the “right thing” hasn’t always been easy for the 64-year-old automotive heir. His support for both the environment and the industry have always been at odds with one another and drawn criticism from supporters of both sides.
Most recently, former President Donald Trump publicly condemned Bill Ford and the company last year for agreeing with California on stricter fuel economy and emissions standards.
Ford was the only American automaker to do so at the time. Ford’s largest crosstown rival – General Motors – backed the Trump administration before changing its stance to support California following Joe Biden, a supporter of EVs and stricter vehicle emissions regulations, defeating Trump.
President Donald Trump wears a mask during a private viewing of three Ford GTs from over the years at the Ford Rawsonville plant.
NBC News
“It’s important to stand for things. We’ve taken stances on the environment that haven’t always been popular, and in many cases have gone against what the rest of our industry has done,” Ford, whose career now spans seven American presidents, said. “And that’s OK because it gives you a sense of who you are.”
Farley, who joined Ford in 2007, earlier this year described that sense as being “absolutely” imperative to the automaker and its future plans. The company is soon expected to release more on its sustainability plans and how they relate to its new Ford+ turnaround plan.
Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, said the company’s support of California’s emissions standards and the Paris Climate Agreement were two of the most recent examples of Bill Ford’s leadership in the industry.
“He’s been a leader,” Krupp, who has known Ford for 20 years, said during a phone interview. “I can’t think of another American auto executive that has done more to move the issue forward than Bill.”
EVs
Despite the chairman’s support for EVs and the environment, the automaker hasn’t said when it expects to convert its entire lineup to EVs, unlike rival GM which has said it plans to go all electric by 2035. Ford has said it expects 40% of its sales volume globally to be all-electric vehicle by 2030.
Bill Ford said it’s ultimately up to consumers to decide just how quickly EV adoption will occur, but more investment and new products will help. Ford’s current lineup includes plug-in hybrid electric vehicles with gasoline engines as well as the Mustang Mach-E crossover – its only EV.
“Our customers will really dictate how quickly it happens,” Ford said. “But I will tell you that we’ll be ready when that happens. We’re pushing incredibly hard. You’ll see more announcements from us in the near future.”
Ford Motor Executive Chairman Bill Ford, left, and actor Idris Elba next to Ford’s all-electric Mustang Mach-E GT SUV at Jet Center Los Angeles in Hawthorne, California on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2019. Elba, who previously worked at Ford Motor Co. in the 1980s, helped introduce the vehicle to the public.
Ford
Ford has at least two additional EVs coming by mid-next year – a commercial van later this year and an electric version of the F-150 pickup called Lightning. The new EVs are part of Ford’s plans to invest more than $30 billion in electric vehicles through 2025, about $7 billion of which had already been invested before February.
Ford said he’s “very confident” that the automaker can be a leader in electric vehicles. He also believes there will be some consolidation in the automotive industry, as a barrage of new competitors attempt to entire the space.
“We are clearly an industry in the middle of change and I believe that if we were too fast forward 10 years from now, there will be clear winners and losers in this new world of EVs, [autonomous vehicles] and software,” he said. “I think that the winners may not be all the familiar faces that people would have thought of.
“I mean clearly look at a company like Tesla, which is a very young company, and they’ve done incredibly well. There will be others like that.”
Aside from its own investments in EVs, Ford is a minority investor in EV truck start-up Rivian, which filed for an initial public offering last week. The company is reportedly seeking a valuation of $80 billion – giving the young company a higher valuation than Ford at $51 billion and GM at $71 billion.
RJ Scaringe, Rivian founder and CEO, and Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford announce a $500 million Ford investment in Rivian.
Source: Ford Motor Co.
Achieving his vision
EVs aren’t the only part of Bill Ford’s vision for a greener future. He believes autonomous vehicles and reworking the industry’s manufacturing and supply chain need to happen as well.
He said more needs to be done regarding reducing the industry’s entire carbon footprint, including using more renewable energy to produce vehicles, as well as autonomous vehicles that can ease public transportation problems and global gridlock.
“We don’t have to be 100% in any one of those areas, but if I feel like we are well on our way in all of those areas, and I feel like it’s early days, but yes, we’re headed down all those roads. Yeah, then I’ll feel great,” he said.
While the shift to EVs is in its early days, Ford, 64, isn’t after a more than 40-year career with the automaker. However, he has no plans of stepping down from the company for the foreseeable future, even as a younger generation of Ford’s join the board. His daughter, Alexandra Ford English, and nephew, Henry Ford III, were both elected to the company’s board in May.
“I feel like I’m adding value to Ford today, maybe more than I ever have,” Ford said. “As long as I feel like I’m contributing and can work at the pace that the company needs me to work at, I’ll be here. Someday that won’t be the case and I think I’ll know when that happens.”
Ford Motor Company today announced that Alexandra Ford English and Henry Ford III have been nominated to stand for election to the company’s board of directors at its annual meeting of shareholders on May 13.
Inflation is back, with prices rising 2.7% compared to last year (and that doesn’t include food, fuel, or rent, which are up even more), which is objectively bad. But it’s not true that everything is getting more expensive. These inflation-busting EVs are heading into 2026 with prices that are lower than they were in 2025!
There’s plenty of reasons for prices to go up or down in a market – everything from tariffs and taxes and increased domestic production to changes in inflation or even just a manufacturerwillingness to take a smaller profit on per-unit sales in order to drive volume. There’s a little bit of all of that happening in the American EV market this year, especially in the face of the expiring Federal EV tax credit that kind of makes most EVs cost $7,500 more than they would have otherwise.
That said, as I was putting this list together, I realized there were plenty of ways for me to present these MY26 price cuts. “Best deals?” Too opinion-based. “Biggest discounts by percentage?” Too much math. In the end, I went with alphabetical order, by make. Enjoy!
Cadillac OPTIQ
Cadillac OPTIQ; via GM.
Cadillac is the industry’s luxury EV leader these days – and for good reason. Its electric crossovers are good-looking, have long range, great acceleration, and ultra-fast charging. Heck, they can even power your home in a pinch.
Silverado EV hauling a John Deere tractor; via GM.
Chevy is crushing it right now. After setting EV range records and surpassing Ford in EV sales this semmer, Chevy is now the fastest-growing domestic EV brand in the US – and they’re seemingly intent on keeping that momentum into 2026 with a more affordable WT trim level that starts at $54,895, compared to $57,095 for the ’25 WT Standard Range.
Despite being objectively capable, technologically-advanced, and supremely luxurious long-range electric vehicles, the Mercedes EQS and EQS SUVs were saddled with a somewhat anonymous, jellybean-like styling language that’s seen the flagship EVs struggle to find a foothold in the ultra-luxury segment they inhabit.
Even with those upgrades, the new and improved 2026 Toyota bZ is cheaper than the outgoing bZ4X, starting at $34,900 – or $2,170 less than the outgoing model.
Disclaimer: the prices above were sourced from CarsDirect, Motor1, and a number OEM websites. All offers were current as of 07SEP2025, and all links provided are from trusted affiliates. These prices may not be available in every market, with every discount, or for every buyer (the standard “with approved credit” fine print should be considered implied). Check with your local dealer(s) for more information.
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Sennebogen’s new 824 G Electro Battery material handler is being put through its paces at a recycling site in Munich’s Aubing district. And, thanks to its innovative grid-connected/battery system, it never has to stop to recharge!
With its emphasis on the recycling of stainless steel, ferroalloys, and superalloys, CRONIMET Alpha’s recycling operations are loud, and adding the ceaseless drone of diesel engines straining against the mass of all that metal as it’s sorted and fed into bailing presses. That’s why the company was so excited to test out Sennebogen’s new, all-electric 824 G Electro Battery material handler during an extensive trial at its Munich site.
So far, CRONIMET’s operators have been impressed with the new Sennebogen. “The battery-powered machine drives just like a diesel-powered one,” explains equipment operator Zoran Alexsic. “You don’t notice any difference in power – only that everything runs much more smoothly and quietly … you don’t have to take breaks to escape the noise.”
Quiet, but powerful
824 G Electro Battery; via Sennebogen.
The Sennebogen 824 G comes standard with a 98 kWh battery, but operators can install up to four modular packs for a total of 392 kWh and roughly eight hours of runtime. Even with a single pack—good for 1.5 to 3 hours—the machine can keep CRONIMET’s operations running almost nonstop, thanks to its built-in dual power mode.
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Sennebogen’s dual power mode enables the 824 G to run on battery while drawing power from the grid at the same time. When connected to grid power, the machine can recharge its batteries as it works, eliminating the downtime other BEVs need for charging and giving operators the freedom to reposition the machine on battery power, then plug back in when convenient.
Beyond flexibility, the electric handler is also cleaner, quieter, and more cost-effective than the diesel models it’s designed to replace. By seamlessly cycling between battery and grid power, it reduces both noise on the job site and energy costs during peak hours.
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MINI has partnered with lifestyle brand, Deus Ex Machina, to develop this. It’s called the Skeg, and it’s a high-performance, racing-inspired electric concept car that’s sure to lighten the mood – by shedding fully 15% of its mass in the quest for speed.
One of a pair of exclusive, one-off concepts based on MINI’s John Cooper Works cars. The Deus Ex Machina Skeg celebrates MINI’s storied racing history with what the company calls, “a clean, minimal, and quiet rebellion,” that draws on materials, technologies, and philosophies from the world of surfing.
The electric MINI JCW Skeg is stripped to its essentials, with much of the steel and aluminum bits replaced with lightweight fiberglass to maximize acceleration while driving the minimalist aesthetic home. The end result weighs 15% less than the standard car – but makes the same stout 190 kW (258 hp) as the production car.
Surf’s up
MINI Skeg concept interior; via BMW.
The interior is stripped back to the barest essentials, reflecting BMW’s vision of a surf culture that prioritizes function over form. MINI claims the end result resembles a mobile surf shop, with fiberglass trays for wetsuits, specially shaped bins, neoprene seats, and other touches that “bring the surf culture into the interior.”
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For their part, the BMW and MINI styling team seems pretty proud of its minimalistic electric endeavor. “In this extraordinary collaboration … every single detail has been crafted with artisanal precision and expertise,” says Holger Hampf, Head of MINI Design. “This has resulted in unique characters that are clearly perceived as belonging together through their distinctive design language and use of graphics.”
The concept retains the production version’s 54.2 kWh li-ion battery pack, up to 250 of WLTP range with the production aero kit, sprints from 0-100 km (62 mph) in just 5.9 seconds. With 15% less mass, though, that should jump to more than 255 miles, with 0-60 times dropping below 5.5 seconds.
I dig it – but I’d skip the surf bits and just appreciate the raw composite, minimalist interior look for what it is. Take a look at the image gallery, below, then let us know what you think of MINI’s Skeg concept in the comments.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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