Ford has announced that every car in its European line-up will feature an EV or plug-in hybrid powertrain by 2026, ahead of the firm switching its entire range of cars to fully electric by 2030.

In an announcement made today, the American carmaker also committed to ensuring that its entire commercial vehicle range would be zero-emissions capable – either through fully electric or plug-in hybrid powertrains – by 2024. It also said that it expects two-thirds of its commercial vehicle sales to be electric or plug-in hybrid by 2030.

It comes as Ford plans to invest ‘at least’ $22 billion (£15.86bn) in electrification through to 2025 – close to twice what the company had previously planned to invest in electric vehicle development.

A new $1bn (£721m) investment in its Cologne, Germany, vehicle assembly facility is at the core of Ford’s plans. The modernisation of this plant will transform the existing vehicle assembly operations into the newly-titled Ford Cologne Electrification Centre, which will be home to the firm’s first European-built electric passenger vehicle. It’s due to start production in 2023, though Ford is already considering the creation of a secondary electric vehicle at the facility.

Guest post from Belfast Telegraph