BERLIN -- $Ford Motor(F.US)$ said Monday it plans to invest $2 billion in the production of two new fully electric vehicles in Germany and build an electric-car battery plant in Turkey as part of its drive to produce solely electric vehicles in Europe by 2035.

The announcement comes after Ford said earlier this month it was splitting its auto-making business into two parts, one to continue making conventional vehicles with internal combustion engines and another to produce electric vehicles. Ford expects electric vehicles to account for half of global sales by 2030.

The transition of production to electric vehicles will move faster in Europe than in the U.S. Ford's European business plans to phase out production of vehicles that run only on combustion engines and produce solely electric cars and vans by 2035.

Stuart Rowley, president of Ford's European business, told reporters that the company would launch seven new fully electric vehicles by 2024 that would all be produced in Europe, and that the company had to respond to growing demand for fully electric vehicles in the region.

Our path towards a fully electric future is an absolute necessity for Ford to meet the changing mobility needs of our customers in Europe

-Mr. Rowley said in a statement.

The first new EV is set to go into production at Ford's plant in the German city of Cologne next year. The vehicle will be a sport crossover model with a planned range of 500 kilometers, or 311 miles, on a single charge. A second fully electric model is also planned at the facility, but Ford provided no details.

Both vehicles would be built using technology that Ford licenses from Volkswagen AG. The plan would double the number of electric vehicles to be produced in Europe as part of their alliance to 1.2 million.

Ford also said a fully electric version of its popular Puma model, a compact crossover, would go into production at Ford's plant in Craiova, Romania, in 2024. Ford also plans to begin production there in 2023 of fully electric versions of its Transit Courier and Tourneo Courier multipurpose vans.

Mr. Rowley said Ford had signed a declaration of intent to build a battery plant in Turkey with SK On Co. Ltd., a battery manufacturer owned by South Korea's SK Innovation Co., and Turkish industrial conglomerate Koc Holding AS. The joint venture is to be based near Ankara, the Turkish capital.

Mr. Rowley said Ford could build additional battery capacity in Europe through further joint ventures or secure supply from third parties as demand rises.

"This will not be the end of the journey," he told reporters on a conference call.