ice-capades Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 (edited) Low-Cost Ford EV Platform Will Be Used for Small Pickup https://fordauthority.com/2024/03/low-cost-ford-ev-platform-will-be-used-for-small-pickup/ As Ford Authority reported early last month, The Blue Oval has shifted its focus away from larger, more expensive EVs, and will instead center its electrification strategy around smaller, more affordable models, which is precisely what the market is asking for at the moment. In fact, the automaker has been working on a low-cost Ford EV platform for two years now, a project led by a skunkworks team. The first fruit of that effort will be a crossover that’s expected to cost around $25k and launch in late 2026, but this new Ford EV platform won’t just be limited to one model, according to a recent report from Bloomberg. A team of around 100 people are currently working to develop this low-cost Ford EV platform, which is expected to underpin not only the aforementioned crossover, but also, a ride-sharing model and even a small pickup. It’s unclear when these additional models may launch or what sort of price tag they’ll arrive with, though CEO Jim Farley previously said that he’s targeting “hybrid premium” pricing. As Ford Authority previously reported, these cheap EVs will reportedly utilize a lithium-iron phosphate battery due to the fact that this chemistry is around 30 percent cheaper than a lithium-ion unit, but Ford is reportedly looking at other types of battery tech in an effort to further reduce costs. Ford also reportedly plans on pushing back some planned EVs as part of this effort, which could include the delay of the Ford Explorer EV for North America, which was previously expected to enter production next year. The same was also expected to be true of all-electric versions of the Ford Bronco and Ford Maverick, though this new news could indicate that an EV version of the latter may now be back in play, or perhaps FoMoCo could go with a different nameplate altogether for its future all-electric compact pickup. Either way, Farley has made it quite clear as of late that the automaker is focused on making cheaper all-electric vehicles, and this shift in strategy is happening for a couple of very good reasons. For starters, pricing disparities between EVs and ICE vehicles remain one of the biggest barriers standing in the way of widespread adoption, and cheap Chinese EVs remain a real potential threat to the automaker’s business, too, as one – the BYD Seagull – was recently highlighted by Farley as a bigger problem for the company than government mandates, in fact. Edited March 20 by ice-capades Additional Content Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 This brings up a couple questions: Where does this small EV CUV slot? Will it be a C sized platform to replace the Escape, or will it be a small C or B product like the Trailblazer/Trax and Bolt? Will the EV Pickup be smaller then the Maverick? Will it replace the Maverick? Where will this small EV be built? Mexico would be the most oblivious place, but does Maverick and Bronco Sport production get get torpedoed? I'm guessing the most obvious thing would be to add or replace Mach E production at its Mexican plant and move the Mach E to another plant? But that has its own problems. Not sure why they are targeting the ride share market (Uber/Lyft) either with this? Maybe that is a fancy way of saying they are making a sedan? LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OacRookie Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 59 minutes ago, silvrsvt said: This brings up a couple questions: Where does this small EV CUV slot? Will it be a C sized platform to replace the Escape, or will it be a small C or B product like the Trailblazer/Trax and Bolt? Will the EV Pickup be smaller then the Maverick? Will it replace the Maverick? Where will this small EV be built? Mexico would be the most oblivious place, but does Maverick and Bronco Sport production get get torpedoed? I'm guessing the most obvious thing would be to add or replace Mach E production at its Mexican plant and move the Mach E to another plant? But that has its own problems. Not sure why they are targeting the ride share market (Uber/Lyft) either with this? Maybe that is a fancy way of saying they are making a sedan? LOL I thought the whole reason Ford got out of compacts/sedans was because low margins needed volume production to meet profit targets? Now they are saying a potentially low-cost AND low volume vehicle is the solution? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseodiaga4 Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 27 minutes ago, OacRookie said: I thought the whole reason Ford got out of compacts/sedans was because low margins needed volume production to meet profit targets? Now they are saying a potentially low-cost AND low volume vehicle is the solution? agree, it doesn't make any sense to what they've been saying. This low-cost wouldn't be a commodity? I mean this type of EV is what everybody is after so won't be a non-commodity product for a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrisgb Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 22 hours ago, OacRookie said: I thought the whole reason Ford got out of compacts/sedans was because low margins needed volume production to meet profit targets? Now they are saying a potentially low-cost AND low volume vehicle is the solution? 22 hours ago, joseodiaga4 said: agree, it doesn't make any sense to what they've been saying. This low-cost wouldn't be a commodity? I mean this type of EV is what everybody is after so won't be a non-commodity product for a long time. I think that the bet is a decent profit (10%?) could be realized on a $25K vehicle, especially if that figure is after federal and state rebates. An electric drivetrain will be simpler and less costly, and battery cost is supposed to be coming down. Which brings up another question I've had for some time. Why are they building 5-800hp. BEVS with 300-ish mile range? Why not 200-250hp with 400-500mi range, which is where cross country travel would be viable and there would be less of an impact of towing or cold weather. I would think the weight and cost of such a vehicle would be less as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 4 hours ago, Chrisgb said: Which brings up another question I've had for some time. Why are they building 5-800hp. BEVS with 300-ish mile range? Why not 200-250hp with 400-500mi range, which is where cross country travel would be viable and there would be less of an impact of towing or cold weather. I would think the weight and cost of such a vehicle would be less as well. It doesn't work that way-EV motors have very high efficiency (80%+) vs ICE. ICE loses about 40-60% from drivetrain loss. Also notice that modern ICE products produce more power and still get decent gas mileage-there is no detuned versions of engines that get better MPG like they did 30-40 years ago. The issue is the power density of batteries vs gasoline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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