Ford is launching a new mid-size EV pickup that’s cheaper than any gas pickup (and probably any EV)

Ford is taking on all US carmakers — electric and gas — with its $30,000 mid-size EV pickup set to launch in 2027. If Ford can stay at this price, it will cost the same as the popular Ford Maverick small hybrid truck, and less than any other pickup in the US. It will be built in Louisville, Kentucky, for the US and global export markets.

This new pickup will be nearly as big as the Ford Ranger pickup, with more cabin space than the new Toyota RAV4, plus a loadbed and a large frunk. The most affordable EV pickups in the US now are the Ford F-150 Lightning at $55K, and the bare-bones Chevrolet Silverado Work Truck at $66K.

While the new truck will have practical features like a lockable loadbed, it is not all about space and utility. Ford calls it a passion project, a pickup with a low center of gravity that handles well and is fun to drive, with a 0-60 time to match the Mustang Ecoboost.

Ford CEO Jim Farley believes in EVs

He saw the future — and that it needed work

Despite the buzz about EVs failing in the US, there is some major industrial muscle put into this part of making cars. Tesla still dominates, despite the bad vibe around it lately, while GM has overtaken Ford to move into the second spot behind Tesla.

There are two major obstacles to EVs in the US: they are way expensive at an average price of $55K, and the Chinese are making better EVs at half the price. You can apparently already buy a ‘lightly used’ zero-mile Chinese EV in Mexico for next to nothing and drive it into the US.

Ford’s CEO recognized both these issues. He famously imported and drove a Xiaomi EV for six months, saying he loved the car and recognized the threat to US carmakers. But Farley did not stay scared; he acted.

Skunkworks

Ford created its ‘Skunkworks’ research lab in Irving, California, a couple of years ago. The original Skunkworks was a ’50s dark lab that created the U2 and SR71 spyplanes. The Ford outfit was run by ex-Tesla and Google engineers, and the most pressing mission was to find a way to make EVs in the US that could be affordable in the US, and compete with the Chinese globally.

The Ford team came up with a two-pronged solution: an entirely new way to make EVs, and the need for cheaper batteries to go into these EVs. Both these initiatives would require massive investments during a period when EVs were stuttering, and even Ford itself had to take a break from making its flagship F-150 Lightning truck.

Pikes Peak

Farley knew that the future of the car was electric, but he did not want to fall into the trap of making low-performance, cheap EVs. He thought EVs should be exciting to look at and drive — like the F-150 Lighting and the Mustang Mach-E.

So, for the past three years, Ford has created super-powerful versions of their production model EVs to take part in — and dominate — Pikes Peak, the most demanding race in the US. The trick was to turn all this knowledge and excitement into a way to make affordable, exciting cars.

$5 billion for a new Model T

The cost of making a car for the masses in the 21st century

The car as we know it today was born in 1908 when Henry Ford revolutionized the assembly line to create the affordable Model T. Before the Model T, cars were built mostly by hand and cost way too much for the average driver. The solution required inspired innovation and a massive injection of capital. Farley referenced the Model T when he announced the new truck, as it was to be an affordable car built using new production methods.

Reinventing the assembly line in Kentucky

Ford’s first innovation was in the factory in Louisville, Kentucky, where the company spent $2 billion to expand the facility and build a totally new kind of assembly line, at least for a US carmaker. The traditional assembly line is replaced by an ‘assembly tree,’ with two dedicated assembly lines joining a central line at various points to make a single car.

The main line is used to build the skateboard, or Universal EV Platform, which is a flat panel to which wheels are added, batteries installed, motors, seats, a steering wheel, and dashboard are added. The front and back of the car are cast and finished separately, and added to the skateboard at a later stage. This process takes way less time and requires fewer components to make a single car. One example is that Ford has cut the amount of electrical wiring needed per car by 4,000 feet.

Using better batteries

Ford spent around $3 billion on a new battery plant in Michigan to produce around 20 gWh of Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) batteries. Batteries make up most of the cost of an EV, and LFP technology is way cheaper than traditional lithium-ion batteries. Around 40% of EVs, and 58% of Chinese EVs, run on LFP batteries at the moment. China is the world leader in this technology, and Ford’s Michigan plant uses Chinese technology under license to produce these batteries.

Will Ford’s new EV work?

There is no guarantee that Ford will be able to make this pickup at $30K in 2027, but even if it is slightly higher than that, it will still be around $15K less than the average EV today. Ford is shifting the paradigm with this new truck, not only in price, but as a decently sized, probably full-spec pickup that will be better and cheaper than anything on the market right now.

This pickup is also the first model based on the Universal EV Platform — which will allow Ford to use the same assembly line and technology to produce small, medium, and large SUVs, other trucks, and muscle cars. If Ford can make a Ranger-sized pickup for $30K, it should be able to make a Bolt-sized car for far less than that.

The challenge is that Ford cannot escape the realities of the global EV market, where Chinese carmakers are already making very compelling EVs for less than $30K. On the plus side, the first Model T cost $850, the equivalent of $30,000 today. A few years later, the Model T sold for $240, or the equivalent of $5,500 today.

History does not always repeat itself, but with this new way of making EVs and battery prices dropping through the floor, who knows?