Ford mass plug-ins at least 5 years away

By Nichola Groom

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co is at least five years away from manufacturing big numbers of plug-in electric vehicles for the mass market, an executive said on Tuesday.

"We're clearly at least five years away from starting what I would call the ramp from very small volumes to substantial volumes," Nancy Gioia, Ford's director of sustainable mobility technologies and hybrid vehicle programs, said in an interview.

"This is really a system that has to come together and it's not just, 'Throw some product out there.'"

Gioia declined to say whether a Ford mass market plug-in would be a small or large vehicle.

The timeline echoes comments by Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally, who said a year ago the company would sell plug-ins in five to 10 years.

Unlike gasoline-electric models such as Toyota Motor Corp's Prius, which run on a system that twins battery power and a combustion engine, plug-ins will be powered entirely by an electric motor and have a battery that can be charged through an ordinary power socket.

Ford is moving more slowly with its plug-in strategy than rival General Motors Corp, which plans to launch its heavily-touted Chevrolet Volt plug-in electric car in 2010.

Increased interest in electric cars comes as U.S. auto manufacturers reel financially from sinking sales of gas- guzzling sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks, with domestic gasoline prices topping $4 a gallon in some areas.