In the past several years, Ford Motor Company has made numerous major commitments towards sustainability and carbon neutrality in all operations, and those efforts extend to the company’s production facilities. New locations such as the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan and BlueOval City in Kentucky are well underway and will be unique among other manufacturing plants, but Ford’s eco-friendly ambitions are not limited to the U.S. The Cologne Electric Vehicle Center will become Ford’s first carbon-neutral facility to open globally, a huge step towards achieving the goal of total carbon neutrality across Ford’s entire European footprint by 2035.
“Opening the Cologne EV Center is the start of a new generation of clean manufacturing and electric vehicles in Europe,” said Bill Ford, Executive Chair. “This facility will now be one of the most efficient and environmentally responsible plants in the entire industry. I am thrilled to continue working toward a zero emissions future for our children and grandchildren.”
The high-tech German facility will be located on the site of Ford’s historic plant in Niehl, Cologne, founded in 1930. The facility will be transformed into the new home of Ford’s next-generation European passenger vehicles with a $2 billion investment and is being equipped with new production line equipment, battery assembly facilities, and state-of-the-art tooling and automation, turning it into a highly efficient production center that will eventually reach an annual capacity of 250,000+ vehicles.
The Cologne Plant has been one of Ford’s most successful and efficient facilities for more than 90 years, producing upwards of 18 million cars in its lifespan. The coming upgrade will connect machines, vehicles and workers as Ford steps into a new era of automotive production, with tools like self-learning machines and autonomous transport systems to increase productivity and improve both product quality and the production process over time.
“The Cologne EV Center signals the start of a new era for Ford in Europe,” said Martin Sander, general manager of Ford Model e Europe. “We are once again redefining auto manufacturing, implementing advanced technologies to build fully connected, software-defined vehicles that meet our customers’ demand for zero emission mobility.”
Carbon neutrality is one of the main goals of the Cologne EV Center, and the facility will employ new processes, machinery, and technologies to help reduce waste and emissions. Once the facility is fully operational, it will be independently certified as carbon neutral, and the certification will be regularly audited and reconciled.
Interested in learning more about the Cologne Electric Vehicle Center or other carbon neutral Ford facilities? Keep reading our blog here at Haldeman Ford to keep up to date on all of the latest Ford news!
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