Ford says its lastly cracked the code on low cost EVs.
The automaker introduced plans to construct “a household” of low-cost electrical automobiles at its Kentucky meeting planrt, beginning with a four-door, midsized $30,000 pickup truck in 2027. Ford touted the announcement as its “Model T moment” that will probably be extra streamlined to assist convey down prices and put the corporate on a path to profitability. And it comes at an inflection level for the enduring American automaker, with the corporate expected to lose over $5 billion on EVs and software program this 12 months alone.
The platforms will probably be scalable and adaptive to a wide range of automobile sorts, together with vans, vans, and SUVs. The brand new EVs will probably be software-defined, which means they’ll have working methods that may enhance over time by means of over-the-air updates. The batteries may have lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistries which might be extra sturdy, sooner charging, and extra reasonably priced than its present lineup of EVs. And the manufacturing course of will rework from a single meeting line, popularized over 120 years in the past with the Mannequin T, into an “meeting tree” with a number of traces beginning concurrently earlier than becoming a member of collectively.
The brand new automobile platform and manufacturing course of are the product of Ford’s three-year-old Silicon Valley-based “skunkworks” project that the corporate empowered to create throw out all of the outdated processes and create one thing new from scratch.
“This can be a daring and troublesome endeavor to compete with one of the best on this planet,” Doug Subject, Ford’s chief EV, digital and design officer, stated in a briefing with reporters on Monday. “We began with a clean sheet to struggle complexity and do one thing really new.”
The corporate didn’t reveal a brand new automobile at present — though a prototype of the next-gen truck exists and was lately shared with a choose group of manufacturing facility staff. In a video, staff described the brand new automobile as “revolutionary.”
However the firm did describe intimately the method that it’ll use to create the brand new modular platform. The brand new “common” automobile platform makes use of 20 p.c fewer components than a typical automobile, with 25 p.c fewer fasteners and 40 p.c fewer workstations dock-to-dock within the plant. That leads to a quick meeting time of about 15 p.c as in comparison with conventional automobile manufacturing. And when all’s stated and executed, Ford estimates that its new low-cost EVs may have a decrease price of possession over 5 years as in comparison with a three-year-old Tesla Mannequin Y.
The brand new platform can even be much less complicated, Ford says. The brand new midsized truck, for instance, may have a a lot easier community of wires, cables, and connectors that distribute electrical energy and indicators all through the automobile, with the corporate estimating a wiring harness that’s 4,000 toes (1.3 kilometers) shorter and 10 much less kilograms lighter than Ford’s first-gen Mustang Mach-E.
Ford additionally goals to slash its battery prices by adopting cheaper LFP batteries that eschew cobalt and nickel, two minerals which might be among the many most costly to amass. The worth of LFP cells is over 20 p.c decrease than nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) cells, based on S&P World. The typical value of an LFP cell was just below $60-per-kWh in 2024, versus $100-per-kWh for NCM cells.
The brand new cells will probably be prismatic, packed flat in inflexible instances and are typically regarded as much less complicated to fabricate than cylindrical cells. Ford says the battery will probably be a “structural sub-assembly” that additionally serves because the automobile’s ground, making a low middle of gravity with improved dealing with and elevated inside area.
How rather more area? Ford says that the brand new midsized truck may have extra passenger room than the brand new Toyota RAV4 — even earlier than you embody the frunk and truck mattress. (The 2025 RAV4 has about 98.9 cubic toes of passenger area, sufficient for 5 individuals.) And the mattress is giant sufficient to suit a surfboard “and different gear” with out the necessity of a roof rack or a trailer hitch. (That ought to go a good distance towards enhancing aero and vary.)
However all that price saving and area maximizing received’t make for a boring automobile, Ford guarantees. The brand new EVs will probably be “enjoyable to drive,” with a 0-60 mph acceleration time of roughly 4.5 seconds, corresponding to the four-cylinder Mustang EcoBoost. Nonetheless, that’s slower than the three.3 seconds it takes the Mustang Mach-E GT to speed up from 0-60mph.
Ford’s executives wouldn’t touch upon the estimated vary for the midsized truck, nor what different automobile sorts could be match. The brand new platform may have a 400-volt structure, which is lower than what’s at present provided by Hyundai and Kia EVs.
Farley’s reference to a “Mannequin T second” additionally applies to the revolutionary manner during which that unique automobile was manufactured. Ford says that it has taken the normal, linear meeting line and remodeled it into an “meeting tree.” As a substitute of 1 lengthy conveyor, three sub-assemblies run down their very own traces concurrently earlier than becoming a member of collectively on the finish, the corporate says. Utilizing this methodology, a big single-piece aluminum unicasting can exchange dozens of smaller components, enabling the entrance and rear of the automobile to be assembled individually.
Ford says its next-gen automobiles will are available three components: the entrance, the rear, and the center, which is actually a structural tray for the battery. And whereas different automakers have been identified to make use of large-scale castings, together with Tesla’s gigacasting course of, Ford insists that its strategy will probably be distinctive.
“So it actually goes manner past a typical modular structure that current producers have on the market,” Subject stated.
Ford additionally goals to enhance the ergonomics of its staff, with a course of that entails much less twisting, reaching and bending. That features using extra robots and automation — although Ford declined to match it to its present manufacturing course of.
“This can be a dramatic step perform discount,” stated Ford’s chief working officer Kumar Galhotra. “Now, a few of that will probably be automation, however a whole lot of it’s simply constructed into how the automobile is designed.”
Ford says it would make investments $2 billion in new cash in its Louisville, Kentucky meeting plant, the place it would assemble the brand new midsized truck. That’s a part of a broader $5 billion funding to create or safe 4,000 jobs, together with at its BlueOval Battery Park in Michigan.
The method would require fewer workstations — and fewer staff. Ford says that proper now it has 2,800 hourly staff in Louisville, together with 200 salaried staff. The common EV platform venture will solely require 2,200 hourly staff — or 600 fewer staff than the current ranges. Some staff could switch to different, close by services, whereas others could settle for buyout provides. Ford says it doesn’t anticipate any layoffs as results of this venture.
The following-gen “common” EV platform is the product of Ford’s Silicon Valley-based skunkworks group helmed by Alan Clarke, govt director of superior EV manufacturing and a 12-year veteran of Tesla. The group relies in Irvine, California, and is comprised of engineers from Auto Motive Energy, or AMP, an power administration startup acquired by Ford final 12 months. AMP founder Anil Paryani holds the title of govt director of engineering at Ford and overlapped with Clarke at Tesla for a number of years.
Clarke stated that the brand new manufacturing course of will give manufacturing facility staff every part they want within the type of a “package” that arrives to their workstations. He predicted that this will probably be “profound” change within the line-side storage and manufacturing format behind every employee that can end in 84 p.c much less reaching over the fender and 63 p.c much less sitting within the automobile putting in components.
“Finally, it is a revolution in how we construct our merchandise, pushed by and for our unimaginable group,” Clarke added.
The idea of a less expensive EV is essential to Ford’s future. The corporate is predicted to lose as much as $5.5 billion on its electrical automobile and software program operations this 12 months, much like final 12 months and an indication of the extreme difficulties in reducing prices on battery-powered fashions.
Ford has scaled again a few of its EV plans as demand for the corporate’s plug-in automobiles has slowed and a few sellers have balked on the expensive infrastructure enhancements essential to promote them. The corporate stated in 2023 that it will delay $12 billion in investments. And earlier this month, Automotive News reported that Ford has once more delayed its plans for a full-sized, electrical truck, that’s meant to be a follow-up to the F-150 Lighting, till 2028. It additionally pushed again its plan for a next-gen electrical van. Ford wants to start out earning money on its fashions if it desires to compete, not solely with Tesla and GM, but in addition Chinese language automakers like BYD.
President Donald Trump’s current actions haven’t helped the EV business, both, because the administration plans to roll back EV tax credits this September. Trump’s tariffs have additionally hit automakers arduous, with Ford saying it expects the duties to shave $2 billion off its annual earnings.