Today, Ford introduced three interesting new concepts. An inexpensive new crew cab EV pickup for 2027, the Ford Universal EV Platform, and the Ford Universal EV Production System. They all relate together and, conceptually, are pretty cool ideas.
The new truck’s specs and capability, including range, are TBA. While the truck’s officially described as “mid-sized” in a press release, the company’s representatives described it as having “the footprint of a Maverick,” but with more interior room and volume, at a virtual press conference. For context, the Mav is about 200 inches long and 73 inches wide (78 counting the mirrors, folded).
It’s also not slated to replace the Maverick. “We believe there’s room for both,” Ford COO Kumar Galhotra said, when asked if this new vehicle would kill the gas Maverick. I guess we can also take that as a confirmation that Maverick is expected to still be around in two years. It was also indicated that the new EV pickup would have BlueCruise capability. This new machine will be made at Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky, where big changes in manufacturing techniques are afoot.
The truck (and other vehicles that will share its platform) will have a 400-volt architecture and be powered by a lithium-iron phosphate battery made at Ford’s wholly-owned BlueOval Battery Park in Marshall, Michigan. It will be a software-defined vehicle, and the automaker plans to offer continuous improvements through over-the-air updates once it’s on the road.
The only other hard detail we have on the upcoming EV truck itself is that Ford is targeting the current-gen Toyota RAV4 for interior volume, and the 0-60 time of an EcoBoost Mustang (4.5 seconds). “The new midsize truck is forecasted to have more passenger room than the current Toyota RAV4, even before you include the frunk and the truck bed. You can lock your surfboards or other gear in that bed—no roof rack or trailer hitch racks required,” writes the press release. A surfboard is an interesting item to mention, because I don’t think many would fit in a Maverick’s bed. Assuming that particular toy was chosen on purpose, that might indicate Ford is planning some kind of Chevy Avalanche-style cargo pass-through that integrates the cab with the bed for storage efficiency. That’d be neat.
It remains to be seen if the starting price of “about $30,000” has an asterisk, like if that’s some kind of fleet-only spec, or something. I expect the cost of this thing will be a little higher than the Maverick by the time it arrives—Ford’s talking about the first customer deliveries happening in 2027. But there was one more line Golhotra trotted out that I found interesting: “The cost of owning a universal Ford EV is expected to be lower than if you went out and bought a three-year-old Tesla Model Y.”
That brings us to the Universal platform and production system. It sounds like Ford is finally planning to deliver the dream of having one EV skateboard that a million different car bodies can be built on. Well, maybe not a million, but the automaker teased five different general concepts, from a small car to a three-row vehicle, that could all exist on the new Universal EV Platform.
Such versatility will be made possible by Ford’s Universal EV Production System. As it was described by Ford’s people, this will involve three separate assembly processes happening in parallel: One for the front of vehicles, one for the rear, and one for the battery and structural section. “Factory efficiency makes it affordable,” said Doug Field, Ford’s Chief EV, Digital, and Design Officer.
The reason for that delineation is obvious: All the cars will sit on the same skateboard, some might share the same front facias and frunk, and changing the rear allows for major changes, like, pickup truck versus SUV, for example. “The platform reduces parts by 20% versus a typical vehicle, with 25% fewer fasteners, 40% fewer workstations dock-to-dock in the plant and 15% faster assembly time,” Ford asserted in a press release.
The “why now” comes down to manufacturing technology. Ford seems to have crossed a threshold on unicasting capabilities that will allow it to make this multi-vehicle assembly not just possible, but efficient enough to offer affordable vehicles on.
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Automotive journalist since 2013, Andrew primarily coordinates features, sponsored content, and multi-departmental initiatives at The Drive.