The transport sector is the largest CO2-polluter and the share of cars in this is approximately 60 percent. The biggest polluters are large pick-up trucks and SUVs. Almost a rarity on Dutch roads, but a problem worldwide.
This means we're talking about cars like the Ford F-150, Ford Expedition, GMC Canyon, Nissan Frontier, Nissan Titan, RAM 1500, Toyota Highlander and Toyota Tacoma. Of these models, which are popular in North America, you won't find a single one in the Dutch top-100 bestsellers.
20 miles per gallon
To give you an idea of the fuel consumption of these gas guzzlers: with the RAM 1500, you get ’20 miles per gallon’. That's 8.5 km on one litre of fuel. But one litre of petrol in the US only costs 0.62 euros. As a result, in the US, you can drive a RAM 1500 for the same price as a Peugeot 108 in Europe. Purely looking at fuel costs, that is.
Almost 200 million large cars in the US
In the US, where over 270 million vehicles are on the road, 71.5 percent of all vehicles are pickups, SUVs, vans, or crossovers. That's 195 million vehicles. If you think that sales of these types of models are declining, you'd be mistaken. These gas guzzlers are actually being sold more, giving them the largest share in global Increase from CO2 emissions.
Ford yet again pioneers
For car manufacturers where North America is the largest sales market, such as Ford and Toyota, the challenge lies in electrifying their large vehicles. Ford, General Motors, Tesla (with its futuristic Cybertruck), and several smaller start-ups are engaged in a fierce battle to be the first to bring a fully electric pick-up truck to market. Ford appears to have the best prospects. A fully electric version of the Ford F-150 is planned for 2021.
Explorer effent het pad
You can certainly call that a statement from Ford. Because the F-150 has been Ford's best-selling vehicle for 42 (!) years. Not just in the US, but worldwide. The Ford F-150 will also be available as a hybrid variant. Otherwise, the culture shock for the loyal Ford driver might be a bit too great. They can get used to the idea, as a fully electric Ford Explorer will be on the market even before the F-150. Also, by no means a small one.
How far does it go?
This naturally leaves the pressing question outstanding: what is the range of the all-electric F-150? Unfortunately, we cannot answer that for the time being. There will also be an all-electric Ford Mustang, with a range of almost 500 km. However, it is about half as heavy. So we cannot infer much from that.
Would you like to drive around in the beastly Ford F-150 guilt-free?
