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Ford is spending $2 billion dollars to upgrade its Louisville plant to build a new affordable EV platform that can support several types of vehicles. CEO Jim Farley called the development “Ford’s Model T Moment.” Farley says it will revolutionize Ford’s EV production much like the Model T revolutionized the auto industry. The first vehicle will be a midsize pickup that should cost $30,000 and be available in 2027. Ford has built its business on trucks, its Ford F-Series, especially the F-150 has been America’s top seller for decades.
“We took a radical approach to a very hard challenge: Create affordable vehicles that delight customers in every way that matters – design, innovation, flexibility, space, driving pleasure, and cost of ownership – and do it with American workers,” said Ford President and CEO Jim Farley.
“We have all lived through far too many ‘good college tries’ by Detroit automakers to make affordable vehicles that ends up with idled plants, layoffs and uncertainty. So, this had to be a strong, sustainable and profitable business. From Day 1, we knew there was no incremental path to success. We empowered a tiny skunkworks team three time zones away from Detroit. We tore up the moving assembly line concept and designed a better one. And we found a path to be the first automaker to make prismatic LFP batteries in the U.S.”
Ford’s Breakthrough Pickup
Farley says the first vehicle on the new universal EV platform is a midsize four-door electric pickup with a targeted starting price of about $30,000. He says it will be as fast as a Mustang EcoBoost. More passenger space than the latest Toyota RAV4 with a frunk and a bed. Farley says it will have enough onboard power to power a house for six days.
Ford is also upgrading its BlueOval Battery Park in Michigan to produce the newer advanced prismatic LFP batteries for the universal EV platform. In all, Ford is expecting to invest $5 billion dollars in the new EV venture.
Much of the new assembly process and the platform design was created by Ford’s top secret “skunkworks team” located in California that focuses on electric vehicle hardware and software.
The Ford Universal EV Platform
The numbers tell the story, Farley said. The platform reduces parts by 20% versus a typical vehicle, with 25% fewer fasteners, 40% fewer workstations dock-to-dock in the plant and 15% faster assembly time. Lower cost of ownership over five years than a three-year-old used Tesla Model Y.
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Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) prismatic batteries also enable space and weight savings, while delivering cost reduction and durability for customers. The platform’s cobalt-free and nickel-free LFP battery pack is a structural sub-assembly that also serves as the vehicle’s floor. This low center of gravity improves handling, creates a quiet cabin, and provides a surprising amount of interior space.
According to Farley, the new midsize truck is expected to have more passenger room than the latest Toyota RAV4, even before you include the frunk and the truck bed. You can lock your surfboards or other gear in that bed – no roof rack or trailer hitch racks required.
As I reported previously, the Ford Universal EV Platform will be able to underpin a family of affordable vehicles. When Allan Mulally was the CEO of Ford, he taught Jim Farley the importance of working off of fewer platforms. Mulally saved Ford from bankruptcy by reducing the number of platforms and creating different vehicles or “top hats” that could fit on them.
“We put our employees at the center and re-created the factory from scratch,” said Bryce Currie, Ford vice president, Americas Manufacturing. “We live and breathe continuous improvement, but sometimes you need a dramatic leap forward. We expect ergonomic breakthroughs and complexity reduction – through elimination of parts, connectors and wire – will flow through to significant quality and cost wins.”
Ford says this electric vehicle platform with a low center of gravity from the battery, instant torque from electric motors and obsessive chassis engineering will make it fun to drive. The midsize truck will have a targeted 0-60 time as fast as a Mustang EcoBoost, with more downforce.
“We took inspiration from the Model T – the universal car that changed the world,” said Doug Field, Ford chief EV, digital and design officer. “We assembled a really brilliant collection of minds across Ford and unleashed them to find new solutions to old problems. We applied first‑principles engineering, pushing to the limits of physics to make it fun to drive and compete on affordability. Our new zonal electric architecture unlocks capabilities the industry has never seen. This isn’t a stripped‑down, old‑school vehicle.”
Farley did not talk about EV range or charge times, that information will be released later.
Ford Photo
Mary Conway is a professional automotive journalist and has decades of experience specializing in automotive news analysis. She covered the Detroit Three for more than twenty years for the ABC affiliate, in Detroit. Her affection for the Motor City comes naturally. Her father ran a gas station while Mary was growing up, in Wisconsin.
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Source: torquenews.com
