Ford vows to produce only electric passenger vehicles in Europe by 2030

Ford announced Wednesday that it would aim to have all of its cars that are sold in Europe be electric vehicles by 2030.

The Associated Press reported that Ford Europe President Stuart Rowley said Ford plans to spend $1 billion to update its factory in Cologne, Germany, in order to manufacture battery powered cars using mechanical framework from Volkswagen.

Rowley said, “We are going all in on electric vehicles,” during an online news conference.

The new electric car from Ford is expected to hit the market by 2023, the AP reports, with a second car possibly to follow. The agreement with Volkswagen will allow Ford to take advantage of the investments that the German automaker has already made into electric vehicles.

According to Rowley, the investment by Ford “underlines our commitment to Europe and a modern future.”

Ford’s announcement comes just weeks after General Motors announced its own plans to shift to an all-electric light-duty fleet by 2035. Jaguar also announced this week that 100 percent of its new vehicle sales would be electric by 2025.

Several governments around the world have recently committed to limiting the sale of new cars to only electric vehicles in the near future. States such as California, Massachusetts and Washington have all proposed or passed new legislation that would require all new car sales to be electric within the next few decades.