In a blog post yesterday, Ford’s product development director for electric cars said, “We are being tasked to set the future trajectory of the company.” That’s a big assignment for Darren Palmer and his co-workers at Ford Team Edison, the company’s dedicated EV group located in new digs in an old factory in the heart of Corktown, Detroit’s oldest neighborhood.

CNN last week declared that 2018 will be “the year of the electric car.” This proclamation happens nearly every year—despite the fact that electric cars remain about 1 percent of the new-car market. CNN rightly states, “Americans (in 2018) will finally be able to buy reasonably affordable and widely available electric cars that can hold enough power to breeze through their daily routines with no worries.” Perhaps the news organization is pointing to the new breed of longer-range EVs. But other signs indicate that we are more likely to see steady growth rather than a quantum leap in EV adoption.

The all-electric version of the 2017 Honda Clarity started arriving in dealerships in the past few weeks. The full-size sedan, which is only available in California and Oregon, leases for $269 a month for 36 months with $1,999 due at signing. The all-electric Clarity can travel 89 miles on a single charge. That puts Honda in the unfortunate position of introducing an EV with a driving range significantly lower than the new generation of electric cars.

Why do some consumers who want an electric car not go forward with the purchase? Surveys consistently indicate that cost is the prohibitive factor. But what if you could buy a capable battery-powered car—one with plenty of driving range for nearly all your commuting needs—for less than $10,000? That’s highly possible if you consider buying a five-year-old electric car.

Ford Motor Co. announced sweeping plans this week about its work on “vehicle electrification” in the coming years. Among those plans,Ford promised to produce a pure EV sport utility vehicle, with a driving range of 300 miles, by 2020.

Volkswagen will introduce a new electric car—about the size of the Golf and able to go more than 200 miles on a single charge—by 2019. Meanwhile, according to a new report in Automotive News, Ford is planning to launch its own 200-plus-mile electric car in early 2019. Ford is expected to use “Model E” as the brand name for a family of compact cars using hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery-electric powertrains.

When you combine monthly sales of its Fusion and C-Max plug-in hybrids—with a few units of the all-electric Focus EV thrown in—Ford should be viewed as one of the leaders in the emerging electric market. Yet, Ford’s approach is decidedly incremental, as opposed to its competitors that are trying to push the limits of battery-powered driving range.

Revisions to the 2015 Ford Focus are aimed at the entire platform, rather than the electric model. While the style of the 2015 model, including the battery-powered version, was updated with a bolder look, there weren’t any tweaks to the electric powertrain or charging system.

Ford is committed to vehicle electrification. But the company’s course for plug-in cars will be slow and steady, with an emphasis on plug-in hybrids over pure electric cars.

A few weeks after releasing a faulty update to its iPhone MyFord Mobile EV app, Ford has written to owners warning them about an upcoming temporary outage to its service, and the removal of key features. In a letter addressed to owners of its Focus Electric hatchback, Ford warned that it would temporarily suspend its MyFord Mobile service for up to eight hours tomorrow as part of a planned maintenance.