We’ve been hearing for several months about Ford’s plan to build an all-electric midsize pickup truck due in 2027 that will be the first of a series of affordable vehicles as part of its Universal EV Platform, and today the automaker is lifting the veil to share its progress so far.
This ambitious undertaking is more than a vehicle program. It’s a mission to rethink every aspect of vehicle development by streamlining assembly, leveraging aerodynamics, rethinking every structural component, reducing weight, consolidating wiring, and approaching every day like a Formula 1 race team.
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Motivated By Economic Realities
Ford has been building vehicles for nearly 123 years — pioneering the concept of the moving assembly line. But the harsh economic reality confronting every major automaker trying to build a sustainable business model for battery-electric vehicles has forced Ford to reassess all it knows about vehicle design, engineering, and manufacturing.
Reviewing the materials Ford is distributing today about the mentality driving the new Universal EV Platform, it appears no stone is going unturned.
Battery Makes Up 40% Of An EV’s Cost
Ford Universal EV Platform developmentFord
One obvious part of the vehicle getting loads of attention is the high-voltage battery that has become an important structural element in the floor of today’s EVs. Ford says the battery accounts for about 40 percent of an EV’s total cost and more than 25 percent of total curb weight.
“Our big bet for electric vehicles?” writes Alan Clarke, Ford’s executive director of advanced EV development (pictured above). “Obsessing over the vehicle as a system to get more miles out of a smaller battery and radically simplifying the system to reduce the number of parts so we can deliver a new family of affordable electric vehicles to driveways around the world.”
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‘Bounty Hunters’ On The Trail
Underbody shield as part of Ford’s Universal EV Platform developmentFord
Clarke refers to his team as “bounty hunters” searching and scrapping for every opportunity to reduce cost in developing the four-door, five-passenger midsize electric pickup.
“We started by creating a team within the skunkworks operation, tasked with developing range, efficiency and performance metrics for priorities such as weight, drag and rolling resistance and ultimately battery size,” Clarke writes. “They armed every engineer with a new way of evaluating tradeoffs — we call them bounties.”
Dismantling Siloes
Aerodynamic wheel covers for Ford’s Universal EV PlatformFord
An important philosophical departure is Ford’s dismantling of “siloed” departments that traditionally advocate for whatever parts they’re working on. Clearly, this environment creates conflicts between, for instance, the aerodynamics team wanting a low roofline and the interiors team wanting more headroom. They negotiate to find middle ground.
But if the teams leave their siloes, they can work in tandem toward a common objective. “Now, the aerodynamics team and interior team share the same goal, and both understood that adding even 1mm to the roof height would mean $1.30 in additional battery cost or .055 miles of range,” Clarke writes, emphasizing the goal to maximize range while decreasing battery cost.
Saving 4,000 Feet Of Wiring
Ford Universal EV Platform developmentFord
Clarke also refers to Ford’s decision in 2023 to bring electrical architecture in-house to better understand power conversion and energy management and to develop Ford’s first 48-volt low-voltage system. He says this new hardware and software helped cut 4,000 feet of wire harness from the upcoming midsize truck, saving 22 pounds compared with a first-gen EV, like the Mustang Mach-E.
“For the first time, customers will experience a fully electric vehicle charging ecosystem designed in-house by Ford using our own software,” Clarke writes. “Customers will benefit from improvements that decrease the amount of time waiting around for the battery to charge.”
It’s All About Aero
Aerodynamic profile for Ford’s Universal EV PlatformFord
The team needed to “chase physics” to extend the range of the new truck beyond 300 miles, so Ford poached technicians and engineers from the Formula 1 world, “where air is either your greatest ally or most punishing enemy,” says Saleem Merkt, advanced EV aerodynamics senior manager.
This emphasis will make the new midsize truck’s aerodynamic efficiency “more than 15 percent better than any other pickup truck on the market today,” resulting in longer range, Merkt says.
Roofline With Teardrop Profile
Charge port door for Ford’s Universal EV PlatformFord
We’ll have to wait a while before seeing the new truck, but Merkt refers to a sculpted roofline with a teardrop profile that extends beyond the liftgate, keeping air out of the bed and reducing resistance. Improved aerodynamics underneath the truck adds 4.5 miles of range, while an extra 1.5 miles is expected from shrinking the side mirrors and simplifying the necessary motors and packaging.
Merkt believes this intensive aerodynamic strategy will add 50 miles of range, an improvement of 15 percent. “That’s what happens when every curve, every surface, every detail has been obsessed over, over and over again and work together as a system,” he says.
Leveraging Unicasting
Aerodynamic rake as part of Ford’s Universal EV Platform developmentFord
Ford has chosen low-cost lithium iron phospate (LFP) chemistry for the batteries in the new truck (with no nickel or cobalt), and the batteries will be assembled at Ford’s new Blue Oval Park in Marshall, Michigan. The truck will be built at Ford’s plant in Louisville, Kentucky, with a target starting price of about $30,000.
For the first time, the automaker is using unicasting to fabricate just two front and rear structural parts for the new truck, compared with 146 structural parts in the Ford Maverick. The result is significant weight reduction, and Ford claims a 27-percent advantage in casting weight over competitors (namely Tesla) that have used similar unicastings.
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20% Fewer Parts Overall
Overall, Ford says the Universal EV platform requires 20 percent fewer parts than a typical Ford vehicle program and 25 percent fewer fasteners.
But there are some important pieces still missing from the Universal EV puzzle, such as the vehicle name and the specific dates for revealing the sheetmetal and for arrival in showrooms. Also still to come are EPA-estimated battery range, battery size and anticipated charging times.
Source: Ford
