Ford's Next Model T: Inside the UEV Program

Fast Facts | Ford’s UEV Program

🛻 First Product: Ford’s first UEV model is expected to be a Maverick-sized electric pickup targeted around $30,000 MSRP

🏗️ Platform: The Universal Electric Vehicle platform is designed to support multiple future Ford EVs

🧩 Castings: The truck uses large-scale aluminum unicastings for the front and rear structures

⚙️ Part Reduction: The front casting replaces 146 individual stamped components

🔋 Range: Ford has not released official range figures in this article

🧠 Electronics: The UEV uses a zonal electronic architecture built around five main electronic units

🧪 Testing: Ford’s Long Beach labs can simulate temperature, humidity, inclines, towing loads, wind, charging, and EPA test cycles

‍

Ford's Skunk Works program in Long Beach, California, is working toward the goal of building an affordable, profitable EV for the masses. It's not unlike what Henry Ford and his team set out to do at the beginning of the 20th century, when they created an affordable vehicle called the Universal Car, a vehicle the world came to know as the Model T. This new effort is often called Ford's next Model T moment, and the platform at its center is the Universal Electric Vehicle, or UEV. Ford recently invited me to their facility in Long Beach to learn more about it.  

What Is Ford Building?

In the design studio, multiple clay models were in progress for vehicles that may be produced on the UEV platform, all of them draped in sheets and further obscured with parts to hide their exact profiles. The first product is a Maverick-sized pickup truck targeted to start at $30,000 MSRP. I didn’t get a close look at a finished example, but I got to see the major pieces of it in the visualization room, where Ford had the three main structural elements of the vehicle on display. This truck will be the first from Ford to use large-scale aluminum unicastings, one for the main front structure and another for the rear. These castings hold the suspension, drive units, cooling systems, and other parts, while also supporting the bodywork.

Everything has been designed with efficiency in mind, for manufacturing, repair, and energy consumption. The front casting alone replaces 146 individual stamped components that would otherwise need to be riveted, glued, and/or welded together. One common concern about these castings is that while they're easier to assemble, they are more difficult to repair after a crash. Ford has taken this into account and designed multiple repair zones. If a casting fractures in a collision, the broken portion is cut off at the repair line, and a new piece is attached using rivets and adhesive bonding. Tesla already does this on the Cybertruck, and it's been demonstrated to work. The JerryRigsEverything YouTube channel has documented the process.

Assembling the vehicle in major sub-sections makes it much easier to build, for both humans and automation. The front motor, suspension, cooling system, front crossmember, pedal assembly, and more are all easily accessible on the front casting. No one has to twist and reach under the dashboard to attach the pedals. The seats, carpet, and other interior bits bolt directly to the top of the battery case, which itself forms the floor of the cab. The rear drive unit, suspension, brakes, and other pieces attach to the rear casting in the same way.

I didn’t get to see the fully assembled truck up close, but based on what I did see, it's clear that, unlike the Cybertruck, this Ford will actually look like a truck. It appears similar in size to the Maverick, though the cab looks to be pushed a bit further forward with a shorter front section, which makes sense since there's no engine. The bed also looks like it might be slightly longer than the Maverick's 4.5-foot cargo area.  

At a Ford event at its Marshall, Michigan, battery plant last June, Ford executive Lisa Drake said the company was planning for up to eight different models from this platform. Hidden under those sheets in the design studio, there appeared to be multiple body styles, including crossovers and even what looked like a sedan. The new truck will likely be followed by replacements for the now-discontinued Escape and Lincoln Corsair, along with some other variations.

Putting It to the Test

In a building at the Long Beach facility that hosts test labs, a new battery testing lab is currently being installed to handle development testing and pack assembly. One static environmental chamber is already fully operational, and an environmental chassis dynamometer lab is nearly complete. The dyno has four adjustable tracks to support all-wheel-drive vehicles and can simulate temperatures from -40 to 65 degrees Celsius with up to 95 percent humidity. It will also have an attached 400-kW DC fast-charger, so a vehicle can be heated or cooled, charged, run to depletion, charged again, and run again — all in one test. The lab can simulate inclines, towing loads, and winds, and will be capable of running the full EPA test cycle for certification.

The adjacent lab handles testing for all of the vehicle's electronics, software, and thermal management systems. Like much of the UEV, the advanced EV team designed the electronics in-house. The UEV uses a zonal electronic architecture built around five electronic units: two forward zone controllers, the central compute, the rear charge port zone, and the e-box for the battery management system.

The rear zone controller is particularly interesting. A single composite housing contains the NACS charge port and electronics for much of the rear portion of the vehicle, mounted directly to the inside of the rear fender. The e-box is a custom unit that includes the DC-DC convertor for the vehicle's 48-volt system, DC fast-charging of the battery, and the AC-DC convertor for Level 1 or Level 2 charging. The whole box is integrated directly into the battery pack.

Designing a new electronic architecture and the software to run it isn’t a small task. The Skunk Works team also developed tools to create a complete digital twin of the electronics, so software could be tested long before physical prototypes were ready. The lab also had a Faraday tent for electromagnetic compatibility testing, and a 600-square-foot anechoic chamber is under construction for full system testing.

There are a number of smaller test labs, including one for what's known as the “labcar.” The labcar is essentially a framework of aluminum pieces arranged roughly in the shape of a pickup truck, fitted with the full wiring harness, all connectors, and every sensor, actuator, switch, and light that goes into the vehicle. The idea is to test every connection and confirm that everything works before it ever goes into an actual vehicle. Engineers can press the window switch and watch the regulator move, try out the brakes, test the lights — everything electrical short of the propulsion system.

Next to the labcar is a wiring harness lab stocked with all the wiring, connectors, insulators, and terminals needed to build complete harnesses for testing or instrumentation. The metrology lab has an array of scanners for measuring parts of all sizes to verify they meet specifications and tolerances, including a CAT scanner for measuring the interior of parts that can’t be disassembled.

The garage has everything needed to inspect, repair, and instrument vehicles for testing, and the EVDC already has several completed vehicles on site, including one we caught a brief glimpse of from a distance.

What Comes Next

As new Ford vehicles approach the final stages of validation and testing, the New Product Center (NPC) in Dearborn plays a key role. The small facility is where Ford builds its production-representative integration prototypes and tests out production processes. Right now, the NPC is building more than 100 of the electric pickup trucks, many of which have already been distributed to test tracks in Michigan and Arizona, as well as to the EVDC. In the coming months, keep an eye open. Some of these will no doubt start testing on public roads wrapped in camouflage. Production is targeted to begin around the end of this year in Louisville, Kentucky, with sales starting in the first half of 2027.

Based on everything I've seen and heard, Ford is saying — and appears to be doing — all the right things to build a solid, low-cost, and capable lineup of EVs for the mass market. The big question now is execution: can Ford get these to market reliably, with minimal recalls, and, most importantly, profitably?  

‍

Keep Exploring Ford’s Affordable EV Push

Ford’s $30K EV Pickup Aims for Cost Parity with Gas Vehicles

This is the strongest next read for understanding how Ford wants the UEV platform to make electric trucks cheaper and easier to build

Read More ➜

Ford’s $30K EV Truck on Fast Track

A useful follow-up for readers who want more detail on Ford’s affordable electric pickup timeline and production strategy

Read More ➜

Ford Retools the Lightning Into a 700-Mile Extended-Range Electric Truck

This adds broader context around Ford’s truck strategy as it experiments with different electrified approaches beyond traditional EVs

Read More ➜