Ford has announced the launch of a new sustainable charging program for battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle owners in California. The initiative will allow users to opt into carbon-neutral charging at home, thus reducing their carbon footprint from energy used to power their cars.
By aligning themselves with the California Air Resource Board (CARB), the carmaker will offer its customers a way to contribute to the environment by matching the use of electricity used to charge their vehicles at home, with 100 percent local renewable energy.
This program is eligible only for California-based owners of current Ford electrified vehicles, such as the Mustang Mach-E, E-Transit, Escape Plug-in Hybrid, and will be available for the F-150 Lightning next year.
Here’s how it works: if you’re the owner of an eligible plug-in electric vehicle, you can opt into the program via your FordPass app. Once you sign up, the app then tracks the amount of electricity used while charging at home. This in turn will allow Ford to generate (or buy) an equivalent amount of California-sourced Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), an EPA-recognized program that records how much green energy is being generated and used.
The final step is Ford sending the evidence of the matching amounts to CARB, thus ensuring that all home plug-in charging activities have been matched with zero-carbon electricity.
“Ford’s electric vehicle customers are beginning to realize all the possibilities associated with their vehicles and sustainable energy management,” said Ford charging and energy services exec, Matt Stover. “By working with regulators, utilities and customers for home integration services, we’re enabling EV drivers to lower their carbon footprints, potentially save money and help protect the grid, all through their smartphones.”
In the grand scheme of things, Ford is looking to invest more than $30 billion in electric vehicles and batteries through 2025, targeting carbon neutrality no later than 2050. Also, the carmaker expects 40 to 50 percent of its global sales volume to be fully electric by the end of this decade.
This program is eligible only for California-based owners of current Ford electrified vehicles, such as the Mustang Mach-E, E-Transit, Escape Plug-in Hybrid, and will be available for the F-150 Lightning next year.
Here’s how it works: if you’re the owner of an eligible plug-in electric vehicle, you can opt into the program via your FordPass app. Once you sign up, the app then tracks the amount of electricity used while charging at home. This in turn will allow Ford to generate (or buy) an equivalent amount of California-sourced Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), an EPA-recognized program that records how much green energy is being generated and used.
The final step is Ford sending the evidence of the matching amounts to CARB, thus ensuring that all home plug-in charging activities have been matched with zero-carbon electricity.
“Ford’s electric vehicle customers are beginning to realize all the possibilities associated with their vehicles and sustainable energy management,” said Ford charging and energy services exec, Matt Stover. “By working with regulators, utilities and customers for home integration services, we’re enabling EV drivers to lower their carbon footprints, potentially save money and help protect the grid, all through their smartphones.”
In the grand scheme of things, Ford is looking to invest more than $30 billion in electric vehicles and batteries through 2025, targeting carbon neutrality no later than 2050. Also, the carmaker expects 40 to 50 percent of its global sales volume to be fully electric by the end of this decade.