Ford Motor plans to extend its manufacturing capability of electrical automobiles to 600,000 models globally by 2023, which CEO Jim Farley expects would make the corporate the second-largest U.S.-based producer of EVs behind Tesla.

Farley mentioned the rise is double what the corporate initially anticipated to do over the subsequent 24 months, in accordance with a report Thursday from Automotive Information. That manufacturing is anticipated to be unfold throughout Ford’s first three new EVs: the Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning and E-Transit. It might come earlier than manufacturing is anticipated to start at a newly introduced EV meeting plant in Tennessee, in accordance with the Detroit-based publication.

“The demand is a lot greater than we anticipated,” Farley mentioned. “It is a actually new expertise for this large firm, making an attempt to be agile. We needed to strategy it very in a different way than we have carried out capability planning.”

It is unclear if 600,000 would place it second behind Tesla. Common Motors plans to promote 1 million electrical automobiles globally by 2025. Tesla mentioned in its third-quarter investor replace that the put in annual capability at its Fremont, California car meeting plant stands at 600,000, and in Shanghai at greater than 450,000 vehicles per yr. And the corporate is constructing new factories close to Berlin, and Austin, Texas.

A GM spokesman mentioned the automaker was approaching 300,000 EV gross sales globally by the primary 9 months of this yr, largely in China. GM additionally plans to transform a minimum of 4 North American vegetation at present producing automobiles with inner combustion engines to be able to producing EVs within the coming years, along with vegetation in China and Michigan that already produce such automobiles.

In connection to the rise in EV capability, Farley mentioned Ford plans to transform greater than 80% of reservation holders for its upcoming F-150 Lightning EV into homeowners. Ford says greater than 160,000 reservations that require a $100 absolutely refundable deposit have been positioned for the car forward of its arrival in dealerships by mid-next yr.

– CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.