Ford Common EV Platform graphicFord
Again in 2019, a startup known as Lordstown Motors confirmed off a full-size electrical pickup truck that it deliberate to construct in a former GM meeting plant in Ohio. In spring 2021, Ford confirmed a small group of analysts and media the F-150 Lightning and all prospects for Lordstown to succeed have been instantly dashed. With the bulletins being made at Ford’s Louisville Meeting Plant right this moment, the Dearborn automaker might have simply accomplished the identical to a different startup, Slate that made an enormous media splash this spring. In 2026, Ford will spend $5 billion to retool the Louisville plant to construct autos based mostly on what it’s now calling its Common EV Platform.
The Common EV Platform is the product of a lot touted skunkworks that Ford established in Lengthy Seaside, California to develop its subsequent era of electrical autos. If Ford is definitely in a position to execute on its plan, the primary product from this platform may very well be the demise knell for Slate. When it was introduced, the Slate truck was touted as beginning underneath $20,000 after the federal EV tax credit. Sadly for Slate, simply a few months after the introduction, the US Congress handed a tax and spending invoice that kills these federal incentives for purchasing an EV lower than two months from now whereas the truck gained’t arrive till late 2026.
Meaning consumers will likely be spending no less than $27,000 (because it’s at the moment priced though that might change) for a two-door, unpainted pickup with guide home windows and no infotainment system. Most prospects will in all probability find yourself paying costs nearer to the mid-$30,000 vary. These are costs similar to Ford’s already standard Maverick compact that has 4 doorways and may seat 4 (or 5 in a pinch).
The primary product from the Ford Common EV Platform is a mid-size pickup truck that the corporate introduced a few yr in the past when it additionally introduced it was cancelling a three-row electrical SUV program and to give attention to the brand new platform. That truck is now deliberate to start out manufacturing across the finish of 2026 and go on sale to prospects in 2027.
In the meanwhile, Ford is saying the brand new electrical truck may have a beginning value of about $30,000, putting it proper between the $28,145 beginning value of a Maverick and the $33,350 entry level for the mid-size Ranger. We haven’t seen what it appears like, however Ford says it can have extra inside house than the Toyota Rav4 which has 98.3 cubic toes within the 2025 mannequin. The present Ranger has 98.9 cubic toes of passenger house so we will assume the brand new truck will likely be someplace round 100 cubic toes though Ford says that it’ll have a footprint nearer in measurement to the Maverick which is about 200-inches lengthy. Just like the Lightning the brand new truck may have a frunk as effectively for enclosed storage.
What we will additionally assume is that whereas the brand new Ford will in all probability be pretty minimalist, following the sample of Tesla and Chinese language automakers in transferring as a lot as potential into the touchscreen interface, it gained’t observe the Slate route. It will likely be painted and may have an infotainment system plus we already realize it has 4 seats that will likely be far more interesting to customers. Even in base kind, Ford will virtually definitely supply greater than Slate, together with vary.
Ford spokesperson Emma Berg added, “We don’t consider that you could strip out options, performance, screens and even seats to make a automobile inexpensive. We’ll obtain affordability by radically simplifying elements and course of. Our four-door midsize electrical truck – when purchased model new at launch – is forecasted to have a greater five-year whole value of possession than a three-year-old used Mannequin Y.”
How are they getting value down?
When it launched the Lightning, Ford promised a beginning value for the work truck of $40,000, however inside months, the Russian invasion of Ukraine precipitated a spike in mineral costs that led to increased battery prices and a corresponding enhance within the value of the vans. This time, Ford has apparently discovered rather a lot from the best way Tesla and lots of Chinese language automakers are constructing electrical autos. In 2022, Tesla was the primary automaker to undertake an structure consisting of two giant aluminum die castings for the entrance and rear construction and a structural battery pack that contains the ground.
The Common platform is doing the identical factor. Meaning this gained’t be a body-on-frame truck just like the Ranger or F-Sequence, however will likely be extra just like the Maverick albeit a bit bigger. As a substitute of a flooring panel within the physique within the white, the battery pack itself will make up the ground of the truck.
After we visited the nonetheless underneath building Blue Oval Battery Park manufacturing facility in Marshall, Michigan in June, we discovered that Ford shouldn’t be solely producing lithium iron phosphate cells however full battery packs there. These structural packs will likely be shipped to Louisville for automobile meeting. The Marshall plant has a capability of 20 GWh per yr and is scheduled to produce eight totally different fashions comprising 240,000 items per yr within the coming years. That’s a median of 83 kWh per automobile.
The battery is being manufactured otherwise from Ford’s different packs. As a substitute of pouch cells utilizing a nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) cathode chemistry, the brand new cells are rectangular prismatic cans with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry. LFP has about 30% much less power density than NMC, however it’s far more secure and safer. Meaning the cells don’t should be packed into separate modules to isolate them and attempt to stop thermal runaway if they’re broken or faulty. The prismatic LFP cells may be packed straight into the outer battery case permitting extra cells to be put in. The result’s fewer elements, and twice as a lot of the pack quantity being energetic cell materials that shops power. The mix of LFP being about 30-40% cheaper per kWh than NMC and the simplified again structure ought to in all probability yield a few 50% value discount in comparison with the batteries at the moment used within the Mustang Mach-E and Lightning.
Ford is emphasizing the effectivity positive factors on this new platform which incorporates developments in motor and energy electronics that ought to allow this truck to ship near 300 miles of vary on a cost if it has a battery in that 83-kWh space though Ford isn’t giving any specs in the intervening time. One factor Ford has revealed is that the platform has a 400V structure, one other value saving measure in comparison with a few of the 800V programs in the marketplace, however that ought to nonetheless allow charging speeds approaching 200-kW.
How are they constructing it?
The Louisville plant at the moment builds the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair on conventional switch strains. On this course of, the physique is loaded on one finish of the road and elements and programs are step by step added as the road strikes till a whole automobile rolls off the opposite finish. It’s not a basically totally different idea from the best way the Mannequin T was constructed a century in the past.Ford Common EV Manufacturing SystemFord
Beginning late this yr, manufacturing of the Escape and Corsair will finish in Louisville and Ford will likely be eradicating the standard meeting line and changing it with what it calls an meeting tree. The Ford Common EV Manufacturing System will encompass three parallel sub-assembly strains. These will likely be used to assemble the entrance construction, rear construction and the battery and inside. Like different leaders within the EV house, Ford is adopting giant scale aluminum die castings that exchange dozens or a whole lot of smaller stamped and forged elements that need to be welded collectively. Tesla calls this “gigacasting”, however that’s only a advertising time period with no inherent which means.
Like Tesla, Xpeng and others, the carpet, seats and a lot of the inside will likely be put in straight onto the highest of the structural battery case. It will make meeting a lot simpler since these elements don’t need to be maneuvered by means of the door openings. Ford can be utilizing a simplified zonal electrical/digital structure. It is a separate improvement venture from an analogous system known as FNV4 that Ford cancelled earlier this yr. As a substitute of a fancy wiring harness with dozens or upwards of 100 digital management items, a zonal system is extra consolidated with only a small handful of ECUs. Final yr Rivian adopted an analogous system for the revamped R1 collection that lowered the system all the way down to 4 most important ECUs and three zone controllers. Ford’s government director of Superior EV Improvement Alan Clarke has said that the brand new platform will get rid of 4,000 ft of wiring.
On the finish of the three sub-assembly strains, the constructions are joined collectively to supply the whole automobile. This strategy will make it simpler to make the most of totally different variants of the entrance and rear constructions for various automobile kind elements like SUVs and maybe even automobiles. In whole, Ford is investing $2 billion in Louisville together with the $3 billion round being invested in Marshall and different services.
Ford is prone to be the primary legacy automaker to take this strategy to constructing electrical autos. If it will possibly execute on its plans (one thing that’s a lot simpler stated than accomplished), it has the potential to considerably undercut each conventional competitors like GM and Stellantis in addition to Tesla, Slate and others. Even with out federal tax incentives, these are autos which might be value aggressive with inner combustion autos and will even be worthwhile. If electrical autos are to reach a US market that has one facet of the political spectrum combating to kill the know-how, this strategy must work for Ford. The long run competitiveness of the US auto business is determined by it.
