Ford Announces Investment To Bring Affordable EVs To Market (freep.com)
- Reference: 0178646224
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/08/11/216244/ford-announces-investment-to-bring-affordable-evs-to-market
- Source link: https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2025/08/11/ford-announces-investment-to-bring-cheaper-evs-to-market-secure-jobs/85603944007/
> Ford is [1]announcing the creation of a [2]new electric vehicle production system and a new EV platform that will allow the automaker to more efficiently bring several lower-cost EVs to market, the first of which will be a midsize, four-door electric pickup that seats five, to launch in 2027. That pickup, which is expected to start around $30,000, will be assembled at Ford's Louisville Assembly Plant for U.S. and export markets. The Dearborn-based automaker said it will invest $2 billion to retool the Louisville plant starting later this year. [...] Ford's investment in Louisville Assembly is in addition to Ford's previously announced $3 billion commitment for BlueOval Battery Park in Marshall, Michigan, where Ford will make the prismatic LFP batteries, starting next year, for the midsize electric pickup. Together, the nearly $5 billion investments mean Ford expects to create or secure nearly 4,000 direct jobs while strengthening the domestic supply chain with dozens of new U.S.-based suppliers.
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> Ford executives and Kentucky officials also introduced on Monday, Aug. 11, the new Ford Universal EV Production System, which they said will simplify production and ease operations for workers. Ford leaders also announced the creation of the Ford Universal Electric Vehicle Platform, which will enable the development of "a family of affordable electric vehicles produced at scale." The vehicles will be software-defined with over-the-air updates to keep improving the vehicles over time. "We took a radical approach to solve a very hard challenge: Create affordable vehicles that are breakthrough in every way that matters design, technology, performance, space and cost of ownership and do it with American workers," Ford CEO Jim Farley said in [3]a statement . "Nobody wants to see another good college try by a Detroit automaker to make an affordable vehicle that ends up with idled plants, layoffs and uncertainty."
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> Farley has teased this announcement since Ford's second-quarter earnings when he said Ford would have a "Model-T moment" on Aug. 11. He's referring to the classic vehicle that helped turn Ford into a mass market automaker and perfect the assembly line process. At that time, Farley said it was critical that Ford unveil an EV strategy that would position it to make money selling the electric cars and effectively compete against the Chinese, who are known for making high-quality, desirable and affordable EVs. "So, this has to be a good business," Farley said of Ford's investments in the new process and platform. "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 reinvented the line. And we are on a path to be the first automaker to make prismatic LFP batteries in the U.S. We will not rely on imports."
Ford says its new Universal Electric Vehicle 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." The new EV pickup built using this platform is targeting a "starting MSRP at about $30,000, roughly the same as the Model T when adjusted for inflation," adds Farley.
He shared additional details in [4]an interview with Wired , such as how the automaker hired Tesla veterans Doug Field (who also helped lead Apple's now-defunct EV project) and Alan Clarke. "Turns out, Doug and Alan and the team built a propulsion system that was like Apollo 13, managed down to the watt so that our battery could be so much smaller than BYD's," said Farley.
[1] https://www.fromtheroad.ford.com/us/en/articles/2025/ford-affordable-electric-vehicle-platform-midsize-electric-truck
[2] https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2025/08/11/ford-announces-investment-to-bring-cheaper-evs-to-market-secure-jobs/85603944007/
[3] https://www.fromtheroad.ford.com/us/en/articles/2025/ford-reinvents-vehicle-assembly-new-production-system-platform
[4] https://www.wired.com/story/fords-answer-to-china-a-completely-new-way-of-making-cars/
I'd be more impressed... (Score:2)
If they invested in bringing an affordable light pickup to market.
There's a real need for something other than a bloated $50,000 vehicle.
Re: (Score:2)
> There's a real need for something other than a bloated $50,000 vehicle.
They already sell the Maverick if you don't mind it being ICE. You can go buy one right now if you wanted to. No, it's not a $12k (roughly $21.5k in today's dollars) base model Toyota Tacoma from the early 2000s, but that kind of thing just doesn't exist anymore because market expectations have changed. A bare-bones truck with a manual tranny and crank windows just gets a hard pass from the majority of buyers, who are going to be using financing anyway and looking at a difference that ultimately boils do
Re: (Score:2)
I just find it really odd that a new ranger is actually larger (or at least very, very close) in size to my 1998 f150.
But to your point, those barebones cars and trucks are quite literally illegal to sell in the US due to all sorts of FUN nannying by congress (safety, emissions etc). It's also why everything made now has a CVT that starts running a very real risk of turning into confetti at 50k miles (even honda and toyota are experiencing these issues to varying degrees)
it seems as if congress just looks a
Re: (Score:2)
You're not going to get that anymore than you're going to get an affordable GPU with 16 gigs of RAM and a full pcie interface.
Companies figured out years ago that filling a market isn't nearly as profitable as just making sure you don't have any competitors to speak of and colluding out in the open with a few remaining competitors you have.
So it's the other guy pointed out there's a another potential truck company trying to make an affordable EV and this is a shot across the bow to them.
Here's what I want (Score:3)
An EV truck that's a usable truck, with a bed made for cargo
A well documented, open source maintenance interface for all of the fancy electronics
Parts and service manuals readily available for independent mechanics and DIY
The NACS charging connector
Re: (Score:2)
The open source crowd would disagree over what connector to use for the maintenance interface and it would go downhill from there.
Mid size (Score:1)
LOL, in any other country that would be considered large.
This is why US vehicles are not popular in other countries, way to big for peoples needs and for the roads they are used on.
Why a pickup truck? (Score:2)
Is their first "lower-cost" EV a pickup truck because a pickup truck won't compete with BYD?
Re: (Score:2)
#1 Pickup trucks are hugely popular in the US market.
#2 It's a segment Tesla has largely ignored, if public sentiment towards the Cybertruck is any indication.
Pre-emptive strike against SLATE? (Score:1)
Awhile back, Jeff Bezos's SLATE announced a EV pickup that they expect to cost "in the mid-20s." It's unclear when the vehicle will go from vaporware to reality.
I'm not surprised to see Ford and other established automakers announce plans to get into this market segment. Even if they don't follow through or if they follow through, sell at a loss for a few years, then quit, it will make at more than a few people (and a few few fleet operators) think twice before buying their next vehicle (or fleet) from a
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> Awhile back, Jeff Bezos's SLATE announced a EV pickup that they expect to cost "in the mid-20s."
That was assuming the tax credit wouldn't go *poof* , which it did. The Slate is now projected to be priced similarly to the truck Ford is announcing, which can't be a coincidence.
Normally, I'd feel bad about an upstart being gatekept out of the market by an established 800-lb gorilla, but the Slate just looked embarrassingly cheap. Some of their decisions were absolutely baffling, such as the lack of a proper factory sound system and infotainment screen. Bluetooth speakers jammed into the dash (yes, real
$30,000 is affordable? (Score:2)
I realize it's all relative, but if you take your $30,000 at 6% for 5 years you are roughly looking at a $676.17. That's not precisely cheap.
[1]https://www.calculator.net/aut... [calculator.net]
[1] https://www.calculator.net/auto-loan-calculator.html?csaleprice=30%2C000&cmonthlypay=750&cloanterm=60&cinterestrate=6&cincentive=0&cdownpayment=0&ctradeinvalue=0&ctradeinowned=0&cstate=CA&csaletax=7.25&ctitlereg=2%2C800&cttrinloan=1&printit=0&ctype=standard&x=Calculate#autoloanresult
RIP Ford (Score:2)
Sometimes Lightning fails to strike even once. Way to misread your actual market.
Re: (Score:2)
> Sometimes Lightning fails to strike even once. Way to misread your actual market.
I'm sure they will continue to make traditional F-150s, which is most of their actual market. People seem to like them just fine, so it may take a long time to find something people like better. This looks to not compete in that space anyway, being more budget oriented. Unlike the Lightning there is probably a market for cheaper trucks.
Re: (Score:2)
> Way to misread your actual market.
It may seem like an odd move in the current political climate, but the USA is [1]far behind China in the EV tech race. [insideevs.com] If all Ford wants to do is sell gas guzzlin' pickup trucks to Americans, yeah, they'd be fine to just sit on their ass, but they're probably thinking about their future in the larger global marketplace.
There's also a possibility that the next administration brings the EV credits back, although with how far the Overton window has been kicked to the right lately, I doubt it.
[1] https://insideevs.com/news/758625/byd-megawatt-charging-demo-china/
Re: (Score:2)
If the tech is there people will buy it.
The problem is towing capacity. People want to be able to take their boat around 150 to 200 Miles. That was what killed the cybertruck even more than the constant breakdowns. As soon as you attach a tow load the range basically drops below 75 mi. So the only thing that's good for is a pavement princess. And it's too ridiculous looking to do that.