Ford CEO: The Future is Electric

Ford invited AllCarsElectric.com and a select group of journalists to Dearborn yesterday to preview some of the secrets that will be released at the 2009 NAIAS. President and CEO Alan Mulally took a minute to talk one-on-one with us about the future of electric cars at Ford.

The Ford boss wasn't shy about where automotive technology is heading. "I think that the future is going to move beyond petroleum." Mulally said. "And I think that further electrification of the vehicle is that future."

The green technology push at the event was overt. Half of our time in Dearborn was dedicated to briefings and driving exercises with the new hybrid technology in the 2010 Mercury Milan, which we'll review in coming days.

Although the program was centered on car technology that is being released today, Mulally spoke in the interview about a much bigger picture in regard to greening American energy policy. "My vision is an electrical system which generates clean electricity, and then we use electricity that is clean - a closed system." Mulally said. "I'm most excited that we as a country, and countries around the world will adopt energy policies that will help create this future."

The message control of the group was impressive, with all Ford reps from several different levels of management giving identical talking points: We love green technology. We see a lot of impressive things on the horizon. And look at the great things we are doing TODAY. Mulally echoed the sentiment, saying that the green solution in the near term is to "improve the internal combustion system, reduce CO2, improve fuel efficiency as we are doing across all of our vehicles and make that (technology) affordable, moving into hybrids, and move into electric vehicles."