Ford Invests $5B to Launch Universal EV Platform and Affordable EVs

Fast Facts – Ford Universal EV Platform

⚙️ Investment: $2B to upgrade Louisville Assembly Plant, $3B for Michigan battery facility
🏭 Production: 40% fewer workstations, 20% fewer parts, 40% faster build times
🚚 First Model: $30,000 mid-size electric pickup (launching 2027)
🔋 Battery: Smaller cobalt- and nickel-free design to reduce costs
🔌 Features: Onboard outlets, 220V plug, home backup power

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2027 Ford EV Pickup: Affordable Truck on Ford’s New Universal Platform

In a recent announcement, Ford Motor Company out of Dearborn, Michigan, has let it be known that it will invest $2 billion to update its Louisville Assembly Plant and $3 billion for a new battery manufacturing facility in Michigan in order to produce affordable American electric cars.

Ford unveiled its entirely new “universal EV platform” at a press event recently in which Ford CEO Jim Farley proclaimed that the new platform will be “the most radical change on how we design and how we build vehicles at Ford since the Model T.”

Henry Ford changed the automotive world when he began producing the Model T automobile on a moving assembly line back in 1908 and mass production made the car mass affordable. By 1929 a Model T cost just $295 and Ford made over 15 million of them for middle class Americans.

The company calls its new EV assembly architecture more like an “assembly tree” in which three production lines merge into one. The company’s EV chief of design Doug Field says, “This way of building a vehicle, we’re confident, is the first time anyone’s done this anywhere in the world.”

Ford tells us the design will lead to quicker, smoother EV production, making it much easier for employees to accomplish. This includes an assembly line that has 40 percent fewer workstations and 20 percent fewer parts than a traditional gas-powered auto assembly line.

A Radical “Universal EV Platform”

The universal EV platform’s first new production vehicle will be a four-door midsize pickup truck that Ford plans to have on the market in 2027. Like its full-size F-150 Lightning, the new design will seat five, have a large “frunk” under the hood and a pickup bed in the back.

While the Lightning is currently the lowest priced EV pickup on the market, with a starting MSRP of $49,780, the new mid-size EV truck will start at just $30,000 MSRP. Also like the Lightning, the new truck will offer plenty of power outlets to plug in tools, even a 220 volt plug and the ability to provide backup power for your home in the event of a power outage.

The universal EV platform will allow the new truck to be produced 40 percent faster than current vehicles at the Louisville Ford plant, and according to the automaker, will have “20 percent fewer parts than a traditional vehicle.”

The company is also looking at any opportunity to cut costs while producing quality vehicles. For instance, it will use smaller cobalt and nickel-free batteries to cut costs on the most expensive part of an EV.

The end goal is to create a new all-electric truck that will be affordable for the average American, erasing the need for federal tax incentives. If Ford’s universal EV platform is successful, the company will create a wide assortment of different electric vehicles including sedans, crossovers, and SUVs, that will revolutionize the way we think of EVs.

Imagine a future filled with affordable electric vehicles. Ford plans to make it happen.

🔧 Inside Ford’s Electric Lineup