DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. captured the attention of the Biden administration early on.
The Dearborn automaker has proven to be a company that will not pivot with the political winds but, instead, stays the course on a clearly defined mission to help save the planet, a top federal official told the Free Press.
As a result, Ford has inspired confidence it can be trusted at its word when it comes to being an industry advocate and committing to building products that pollute less.
Now the company is playing a key role in helping inform the nation's top regulatory official — Michael Regan, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — who is working with President Joe Biden to shape public policy designed to reduce vehicle emissions and improve air quality.
Ford has essentially become an ambassador for the auto industry.
Ford earned the trust of policymakers in Washington today by choosing to stand with California in its consistent fight for tough air quality regulations rather than side with the Trump administration in an attempt to weaken emissions requirements. Meanwhile, General Motors, then-Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Toyota and others chose to challenge California, then pivoted after Biden was elected.
Bill Ford, executive chairman of the company, has long advocated for sustainability and support of the Paris Climate Agreement. It is this record of commitment that influenced a decision by Regan to visit the Ford Dearborn Development Center on Thursday.
Regan spent hours in Dearborn talking with engineers and company officials about what's possible when it comes to making innovative new vehicles and what's needed to assist the American public in getting access to charging stations that may one day replace traditional gas station fuel pumps. They talked technology and workforce impact.
All of it.
"Ford and some of the others stepped out during the Trump Administration and kept moving that needle," Regan told the Free Press during an interview at the Dearborn Inn after his meetings.
Ford, Honda, BMW and Volkswagen stood with California, which backed tougher gas mileage and emissions standards. No administration had ever revoked a state’s authority to regulate its own air quality, and Trump used Twitter to defend his position at the time.
"We want to be sure that we put regulations in place that actually reward and capture the innovation and courage that they demonstrated the past four years," he said. "We want to couple that with what the president is pushing, which is this bipartisan infrastructure framework that puts $15 billion into electric vehicle infrastructure charging stations all across the country; 500,000 charging stations. We want to have a public private partnership that invests in the infrastructure that is ready to meet the moment for these products that Ford and others are putting out."
This is all part of a global effort to cut pollution that contributes to climate change that scientists say is leading to extreme and devastating weather shifts globally. Ford CEO Jim Farley has earned recognition internationally for leadership on the issue.
"We spent some time in the facility looking at the future of how the F-150 Lightning will be produced and the technology wrapped around that process and the environmental sustainability in terms of just building the vehicle will be impressive," Regan said.
Ford extended the invitation to Regan to visit and see for himself.
"I haven’t had the opportunity as of late to visit any of the other (competitors') facilities. This is my first. What I’ve seen and read, this is absolutely pushing the envelope and cutting edge," he said. "Looking at what Ford is thinking about for their workforce and the ergonomics and the future, it’s just a beautiful process, actually, to see. And to push out a product that we know will be protecting public health, protecting the planet."
The F-Series pickup trucks sit in more driveways in the U.S. than any other vehicle sold. So the idea of making an affordable truck that looks and feels like a vehicle consumers already love is potentially a game changer because it's just about moving people into a familiar vehicle that's powered differently. Ford sees it as comparable to the Model T, which was adopted quickly and transformed the mobility of a nation.
Regan is the third public official allowed to drive the Lightning, following Biden and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who has sponsored a series of legislative measures to protect and support the auto industry.
He noted the agility of the pickup and the experience he said he never expected.
"The staff-to-staff relationship with the automotive industry and EPA is longstanding. But the great working relationships between the EPA and Ford goes back many years," he said.
"Our staffs are really having very technical conversations about these products. These conversations are not about what the market is ready for, or economics, it’s about what technologies we have available today at our fingertips to push the envelope to fight climate (change)," Regan said.
These discussions guide the president on "the realm of possibility" for emissions reduction, he said.
The visit included driving the Mustang Mach-E and the Lightning, and checking out the E-Transit Van. Regan talked with Linda Zhang, chief engineer of the all-electric F-150, and Kumar Galhotra, president of the Ford Americas & International Markets Group.
When Biden came into office, Regan said, Ford and a handful of other automakers were "leaning in at a time when the federal government was absent, to continue to push the envelope."
The EPA’s role, at the end of the day, is to set standards "to be sure we meet the moment," he said. "There are a lot of people that talk about a lot of things but at the end of the day, the agency’s obligation is to set emission standards for vehicles for the foreseeable future."
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At the moment, federal officials are looking specifically at the 2022-26 time period to "capture the moment and what's available now" and then look beyond, Regan said.
"We’ve been having really good conversations with a lot of the automotive companies — BMW, GM, Chrysler, Honda, Stellantis ... Toyota," Regan said. "This visit to Ford, for me as a policymaker and someone having conversations with the president, just makes it that much more real. Because it’s really more than just an electric vehicle. It's really a great evolution of technology and transportation, in general. What I take back is the notion that the products can be ready to meet the moment. We have to have strict or stringent emissions standards that sets a framework to continue to encourage this innovation. We don’t want to punish it."
Federal regulation will focus on the light duty vehicle class for more stringent emissions, Regan said. "And we’re looking at heavy duty vehicles as well. So, from EPA’s perspective, we want to cover it all. We want to set standards that, again, continue to spur the innovation that we know that’s out there."
One group Regan acknowledged is rural residents and people who live long distances from city centers that may house vast numbers of charging stations. Those people in the Upper Peninsula and other remote areas nationally cannot be left behind or overlooked, he said.
"They are a priority," Regan said. "In my conversations with a lot of rural electric cooperatives, they see a really pivotal opportunity ... When you plug and play with the larger grid, the electrification opportunities available for society, it’s really transformational.”
A North Carolina native, he has said his longtime commitment to the environment was influenced by hunting and fishing with his father and grandfather.
While regulation is always a source of anxiety for any industry, Bob Holycross, vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering, said the automaker is unafraid of what's to come.
Ford has established goals that are in line with the president and EPA administrator’s objectives for a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 from a 2005 base, Holycross said. "We need these milestones in place if we’re going to get to the ultimate goals we want to accomplish."
Everyone must start rowing in the same direction when it comes to public policy and consumer products, he said. "It just helps further reinforce all the different ways that we get to the same goals that we share."
Getting regulation aligned in the U.S. helps global companies that must compete with tough regulations all over the world.
"As long as we stick to our goals, we have consistency, we match our ambitions with action," said Holycross, who sat for an interview with the Free Press with Regan. "We know we have to do these actions in the short term and in the long term. It can’t just be something we keep putting off."
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