Ford appears to be set to unveil a plug-in vehicle at the Detroit Auto show next month as evidenced by recent pictures (see above) posted to Twitter by WSJ’s Detroit Bureau Chief John Stoll.

As a Twitter user pointed out, it looks like the vehicle could be an updated version of Ford’s plug-in hybrid ‘Fusion Energi’. It’s very unlike to be an entirely new model, but it could possibly be a fully electric version of the Fusion.

Ford currently offers the Fusion with 3 different drivetrain options:

Completely gas-powered Fusion with Ecoboost engine (ICE)

Fusion Hybrid with 1.4 kWh battery pack (HEV)

Fusion Energi Plug-In Hybrid with 7.6 kWh battery pack (PHEV)

A fully electric (BEV) with at least a 30 kWh battery pack, hopefully bigger, would most certainly be welcomed by the EV community. Interestingly, Hyundai recently announced that it will be the first automaker to offer a vehicle with 3 different electric drivetrain options on the same vehicle. If our suspicion turns out to be true, Ford would be cutting the ground under Hyundai’s feet with 3 electric drivetrain options plus a fully gas-powered one for the Fusion.

Here are Stoll’s tweets:

Appears @Ford has something to announce at the Detroit auto show next month. It plugs in to the wall pic.twitter.com/Bz52AZTBtb — John Stoll (@johndstoll) December 10, 2015

This is another view of @ford's plug-in gizmo planned for Detroit auto show pic.twitter.com/IAnVXCgpwG — John Stoll (@johndstoll) December 10, 2015

Ford also announced today the expansion of its global battery research and development footprint for electrified vehicles. The company is opening a new $9 million battery lab at the University of Michigan and moving its electric powertrain team into its own dedicated facility called Ford Engineering Laboratory.

The company released this video of the new battery lab:

Pictures: John Stoll via Twitter

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.