Ford chief futurist: The F-150 Lightning 'started to change our expectations about what a vehicle can do'

Ford Chief Futurist Sheryl Connelly joined Yahoo Finance Live to discuss how new Ford F-150 Lightning vehicles helped generate power for homes during the recent winter storms in Texas.

Video Transcript

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- So who doesn't love that new car smell? When you take a look at the future, especially when it comes to the automobile industry, that new car smell is going to include a little bit of oxidation from all the electric components. There's so much more coming down the pike. And to help us understand the future because it is here now, Sheryl Connelly, Ford's chief futurist, along with our chief producer, Pras Subramanian, who, Pras, set this up for us because the future is upon us.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: That's right, Adam. You know, I know Ford is in their 10th year putting out their trends report. And Sheryl, I wanted to drill down into some of these in particular, but let's just first start with the top three. When you say, Sheryl, the top three trends in your mind that came out of this report.

SHERYL CONNELLY: So, it's really climate versus climate, climate, climate. We have been doing this report for a number of years. And what we found is that in recent years, 67% of people that we speak to, even before COVID, were telling us that they were overwhelmed by changes taking place in the world.

And I think that's part of it. But we have to remember that we had polarized politics, we had wildfires moving across the country from different parts of the world. So consumers have been living with this low level of anxiety. I call it a low grade fever of worry, if you will.

But for 2022, we started to say like, what is your biggest concern about the future when you think about your children? And 81% of people from 15 different countries said climate change was their top concern.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: You know, Cheryl, the thing with climate change, a big part of that is the transition to EVs. And EV infrastructure in particular. One thing that stood out to me was the fact that a lot of respondents were sort of seeing the number of EV Chargers outnumbering gas chargers way into the future, 2030 that is. And then also, that's a small percentages. What do you think is the biggest hurdle to get you buyers to overcome that and go EV full on?

SHERYL CONNELLY: Yeah, I think that's a fair question. So there are a couple of things. What you're talking about really is infrastructure. And we did ask people around the world, when do you think charging stations will outnumber the number of petrol stations in the world? 13% of Americans said it'll happen by 2030.

And to your point, that's a really low number. But if you look at a place like Germany, 34% of the people said it'll happen by the end of the decade. And I think when you try to ask why such a big difference, A lot of it has to do with the government's commitment to the infrastructure.

When COVID hit Germany and they're trying to figure out how to do their economic stimulus package, one of the things they did is they dedicated a large amount of money to convert gas stations into charging stations. And so literally by one policy shift, you have 15,000 outlets that are going to be dedicated to having charging offerings to the buying public.

So I think that'll happen. I think the other thing that's going to really shift it though, is that products like the Mustang Mach-E, the Ford F-150 Lightning, our E Transit van, are showing consumers that you can have an electric vehicle and have it delivered the same way a V6, a V8, any other vehicle would deliver. That there is no trade off. You can have mileage and muscle.

- Sheryl, and you've got the muscle and vehicle lineup at Ford. But some of us, my Granny in Florida, had a 1973 Gran Torino with a VA. That was a sick car. I got to drive that when I was a teenager, it was fun. But when you look at this trend that consumers 60% of us in the United States care about the environment, we may care, but how many people actually put their money where their mouth is and purchase one of the new EV offerings?

SHERYL CONNELLY: Well it is tricky. And what we do know is that in recent years, we've been tracking this. And we had, I think in 2021, 70% of people worldwide told us that they were actively changing the behavior to fight climate change.

But when we talk a little bit deeper, a couple of years back, we found that only 48% of Americans were willing to take on sustainability initiatives if the inconvenience to them was small or nonexistent.

And I think that's really the biggest key here is that people want to do their part, but they want to make it convenient. They want to make sure that they're not worried about the duration of the charge, the charging range that they'll get, that there'll be opportunities for them to charge.

So we see a lot of retail outlets putting charging stations in front of their stores, a lot of employers are doing it, Ford Motor Company. So our best parking happens to be for the people who are charging their vehicles.

And I think as these signals start to be more readily apparent, we'll see more people get on the bandwagon. So much so that we expect by 2030, 40% to 50% of our total volume will be electric.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Hey Sheryl, people that are buying the Mach-E, people that are pre-ordering the Ford Lightning, are you seeing any interesting consumer behavior behind them? Or is it like sports car people buying the Mach-E's? It is a work truck people pre-ordering the F-150 Lightning? Is there any interesting tidbits from that?

SHERYL CONNELLY: So I just think that it is a little bit surprising because when it comes to the Mach-E and even F-150 Lightning, I think we're getting a lot of conquest customers. So what we mean by that is that people that are new to the Ford brand are really intrigued by what it has to offer.

And I think that the Lightning has some really good PR throughout Texas when they lost their power because of a weather winter storm that came through. And the F-150 has its own kind of generator. So we dispatched, our local dealers dispatched F-150 Lightnings into the community to help people get power back into their homes. And I think those signals really start to change your expectations about what a vehicle can do for you.

- When you talk about 40% of the product makes, maybe even 50% by 2030 being electric, why not faster? Is it the infrastructure? Or is it adoption by us, the consumer?

SHERYL CONNELLY: So I think it's an ecosystem question there. We are going to spend about $30 billion between now and 2025 on our electric portfolio as well as other sustainability initiatives. But it is, it's the infrastructure, making sure that we have the batteries that we need, consumer awareness. There are several different elements that I think will cause us to not move as quickly as we might otherwise.

- I've been a Ford fan for a long time. And it goes back to my grandfather in Maine, not the Floridian who had a junkyard, used to sell Fords used. But Granny's Torino, that was a fun car to drive, I got to tell you. Sheryl, all the best to you. Sheryl Connlley, Ford's Chief Futurist. Pras Subramanian, you'll give me grief at the post-meeting after the show. Thank you very much.