Ford "Really Committed" To Hybrid And Electric Vehicles

Ford CEO Alan Mulally took the stage today during the opening presentation of the company's Further with Ford conference and answered questions about going green and electric vehicles. As for what Ford has planned for its future, Mulally says that the company is "really committed" to electric and hybrid vehicles, as well as alternative fuels.

Of course, it may not be a huge surprise that Ford is dedicated to producing electric vehicles, but Mulally and company say that they're mostly focused on hybrids at the moment, since the cost of batteries are still a bit high, and the weight of these batteries are still a bit on the high side as well, which prevents Ford from building a lighter vehicle.

Mulally says that once the price and the weight of batteries go down, Ford will focus more on all-electric vehicles, but as it stands, the company really wants to push their hybrid offerings, including their C-MAX, Fusion, Escape, etc.

The Ford CEO also says that there's still a lot of room to improve on the internal combustion engine, whether that means improving its efficiency (internal combustion engines have around 30% efficiency, roughly), or finding new alternative fuels that make it cheaper to fill up (similar to the E-85 initiative).

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak also joined the stage to talk about electric vehicles. He says he's really excited about the future of electric cars, but as expected, there's still a lot of work to be done to make them more mainstream, as well as more efficient. Specifically, Woz says that "we have to change how we produce electricity" in the first place, since the making of electric cars in factories still uses up emissions. However, it seems Ford is looking forward to the future they have planned and have some big ideas on electric vehicles.