Despite the impending loss of federal rebates, Ford plans to give US EV production a huge boost. After hyping it last week as a "breakthrough" and "Model T moment," the company has announced the Ford Universal EV Platform to be shared by a new family of products. The first of those will be a midsized pickup with a starting price of around $30,000, likely similar in configuration to the popular Maverick. It will use the company's upcoming prismatic LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries.
Ford will invest $5 billion, including $2 billion at its Louisville, Kentucky factory on top of $3 billion already announced for its BlueOval battery plant. It will expand the Louisville facility by 52,000 square feet and "create or secure" nearly 4,000 direct jobs, Ford added.
Ford's only two EVs right now are the F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E, both of which use one-off platforms. With the Universal EV Platform, Ford will be able to build multiple vehicles including vans, cars and pickups that should be easier to build and thus cheaper. "The result: a simple, efficient, flexible ecosystem to deliver a family of affordable, electric, software-defined vehicles," the company said.
Ford said that the platform will reduce parts by 20 percent versus a typical vehicle, with fewer fasteners and workstations and a 15 percent quicker assembly time. The company is also promising a lower cost of ownership over five years "than a three-year-old used Tesla Model Y."
The company also touted its LFP prismatic batteries as enabling space and weight savings along with cost reductions, due to the cobalt-free and nickel-free composition. However, the company's choice of LFP for its next-gen EVs has not been without controversy. Since Ford is licensing tech from China's CATL, it may lose out on tax credits of up to $700 million if Congress passes a bill banning federal support for battery plants that use tech or materials from China.
The first vehicle will be a mid-sized four-door electric pickup set to launch in 2027. Ford hasn't yet revealed the name or shown a photo, but it will supposedly have more room than Toyota's latest RAV4 without even counting the frunk and truck bed. Buyers will be able to lock gear like bikes or surfboards into that bed, eliminating the need for roof or trailer hitch racks. It will have a low center of gravity from the battery, instant torque and a 0 to 60 mph time "as fast as a Mustang EcoBoost [around 4.5 seconds], with more downforce," Ford said.
Ford hasn't detailed other vehicles that will be built on the platform, but an animation shows a variety ranging from utility vans to crossovers to SUVs to sedans, along with the aforementioned pickup. One rumor states that the new pickup could be called the Ranchero (based on a trademark filing) or it may use the Ranger name. In any case, it's clearly a big deal for Ford, since the company will have no less than three announcements for it. More info for the midsized electric truck, including reveal date, starting price, battery range and charge times "will be communicated later," Ford simply said.
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