Ford CEO says people have "charging anxiety", aren't willing to pay a premium for EVs

Ford CEO Jim Farley thinks "mass consumers" have "a lot of charging anxiety" regarding EVs. He revealed these thoughts in an interview with Fox. Farley went on to clarify that "they don't have range anxiety, they have charging anxiety" - just in case you were confused by his initial statement.

Weirdly enough, he didn't actually explain what he means by "charging anxiety" and how it differs from "range anxiety", a term that got quite popular in recent years. And yet it seems like these days that soundbite is being replaced, at least at Ford HQ, with the new, shinier, and improved "charging anxiety".

We can't tell you what's different between these two, aside from the fact that one of them has been in circulation for a longer period of time. They seem to refer to the same consequence - adding an indefinite amount of time to a road trip due to the need to stop and charge - in different ways.

EVs with ranges of 1,000 miles would definitely alleviate both, as would ubiquitous fast chargers that would be able to take an EV with decent range from zero to full in 10 minutes. And by "ubiquitous" we mean enough that you won't need to wait for one to become free.

Anyway, Farley also thinks that the aforementioned mass consumers are "not willing to pay a premium" for EVs compared to ICE vehicles, despite the fact that more and more EVs are now available to purchase.

He says Ford will "offer customers a choice". "We're going to have a growth story for all three of our businesses, including our pro-business, and we'll have the customer choose" is the full quote, and that sure sounds like he's saying they are going to hedge their bets and continue to make ICE vehicles as well - without actually saying any of that directly.

Farley revealed that the F-150 Lightning is the best selling electric pickup in the US, perhaps unsurprisingly considering that the F-150 has been the best selling vehicle in the country for 41 years.

Ford's EV business has so far lost $1.8 billion this year and is projected to lose $4.5 billion by the time the year ends. But Farley is still optimistic, hoping for a future where EVs make up 30, 40, or even 50% of Ford's business. To make that happen, production capacity will grow to 600,000 EVs per year from 2024.

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