Asian Tech Press (Nov 19) -- American automaker Ford Motor Co (F: NYSE), which is investing heavily in electric vehicles, reportedly plans to increase EV production to 600,000 units by 2023, double their initially planned output.

Automotive News reported Thursday that Ford CEO Jim Farley said the company plans to double production of electric cars by 2023, when he expects it to be the second-largest U.S. electric car maker behind Tesla Inc.

Ford plans to produce 600,000 electric vehicles, with capacity to be distributed among the Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning and E-Transit, three electric vehicles Ford has launched. And Ford's plant in Tennessee is expected to be in operation as well.

Farley said that the demand for electric vehicles far exceeded their expectations, which is a new experience for a large company trying to stay agile, and they need to take a different approach to planning for capacity than they have in the past.

It's unclear whether Ford can become the second-largest U.S. electric car maker behind Tesla in 2023 with multiple manufacturers investing heavily in electric vehicles, but 600,000 units will certainly not be enough to surpass Tesla's production in 2023.

Tesla produced 624,500 electric vehicles in the first three quarters of the year, according to its published quarterly production and deliveries. And Tesla's production capacity will increase further after its giga Berlin and giga Texas come on line.

Together with Tesla's Shanghai plant and Fremont plant, its production capacity is continuing to increase, thus Tesla's production of electric cars in 2023 will be much more than just 600,000 units.