$90 Billion Says Electric Cars Are the Future

At the Detroit Auto Show this week, electricity is at the top of the agenda.

Huge money: The BBC reports that Ford will invest $11 billion in electric cars, to have 40 hybrids and all-electrics in its range by 2022. Bill Ford says that the firm is "all in" on electrification.

Global trend: Reuters estimates that auto makers have now committed a global total of at least $90 billion to building electric cars, $19 billion of it from U.S. firms. Much of that cash will first head to China, where tough electric-car quotas kick in in 2019. 

A big question: "Will the customers be there with us?" asked Ford. "We think they will."

But: Bloomberg notes that other barriers must also be overcome. The projections for electric cars are driving up the cost of cobalt for batteries: prices for the metal have more than doubled in just over a year.