Leader & Laggard of the Week: Ford & Germany

A large part of our role in the media is to highlight cleantech leaders, and another large part is to bring to light climate and cleantech laggards. With that in mind, we’re starting a new series — a weekly look at a company, person, organization, or country that stood out in a good way and a look at one that stood out in a not-so-good way.

Leader: Ford

The first one was an obvious choice for me. Ford has just updated us on the development of its EV-focused BlueOval City, announced a cool new electric truck, and revealed a new electric Explorer (not for the US market, unfortunately). Furthermore, Ford is splitting out its EV business (which is losing money right now, but you have to start somewhere) when reporting its finances and corporate developments. Ford will now be reporting its finances “by Ford Blue (iconic gas, hybrid vehicles), Ford Model e (breakthrough EVs) and Ford Pro (commercial products, services), not by regional markets.” This may not sound like a big deal, but it’s a huge step in shifting the company to a fully electric vehicle company (eventually).

You can read more CleanTechnica stories about Ford’s EV moves this week here:

• Ford Teases 2nd Electric Truck, Shows BlueOval City Progress
• Ford Explorer First To Use Volkswagen MEB Platform
• Ford Announces Electric Explorer Will Only Be For Europe, But That’s OK
• ‘Refounded’ Ford To Show How Customer-Focused Segments Will Ddrive Value And Growth, Changes In Financial Reporting

Honorable mentions: There were a few companies that seemed to deserve honorable mention. Those companies are 7-Eleven, BYD, and Volvo Trucks. Here’s why:

• 7-Eleven’s 7Charge App Works Very Well
• 7-Eleven Now In EV Charging Business With 7Charge
• BYD Launches Dolphin In Thailand At Price Parity With Popular ICE Vehicles!
• BYD Launches Han BEV, Song PLUS DM-I, And Destroyer 05 PHEV In Uzbekistan
• Volvo Trucks Delivers Its 1st Electric Heavy-Duty Truck In Africa

Laggard: Germany

Unfortunately, and surprisingly, the entity that jumped out to me as laggard of the week was Germany. Germany? Really? Why? Because Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany, is trying to push e-fuels on the European Union rather than simply sticking with the clear cleantech solution of electric vehicles.  “The German Chancellor is in a stand-off with the EU over his insistence that cars powered by e-fuel are allowed to be sold after a 2035 phase-out date for combustion engines,” Transport & Environment writes.

Alex Keynes, clean vehicles manager at T&E, added: “Chancellor Scholz is threatening to pull the rug from under the European Green Deal for the sake of saving polluting combustion engines. The higher cost of e-fuels will mean that only the wealthy could afford them while everyone else could be pushed into getting around the rules and using fossil petrol instead. Motorists and the climate will be the losers.” Not cool.

We intend to make “Leader & Laggard of the Week” a regular feature here on CleanTechnica. Let us know if you ever have any suggestions for either of these distinctions.