Universal EV platform will first be used for new pick-up truck priced from £22,000
Ford will launch a new range of affordable electric cars based on a new platform.
Claimed to be as revolutionary for the company as the arrival of the Model T, the Ford Universal Electric Vehicle Platform – created during a three-year project – will be first used for a mid-size pick up truck that will arrive in 2027 priced at $30,000 (around £22,000).
Ford boss Jim Farley said more models will follow the pick-up, which Ford has teased to be a crossover and a three-bench SUV, which are likely to start at around the same price. They will be built at the brand’s Louisville plant in the US which will be readied for EV production with a $2 billion investment.
The vehicles are expected to be offered globally, given Farley proclaimed “from Kentucky to the world” when speaking about the new platform.
The cheapest Ford currently on sale is the Puma Gen-E which starts at £29,995 in the UK.
The first model, however, has been created with an eye on Ford’s home market. It will be positioned to take on the Amazon-backed Slate Truck and used to boost sales in the electric-skeptical US market. Other EVs sold there include the Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning pickup truck, and the E-Transit van.
It is expected to take the Ranchero name, multiple online reports have suggested. This would fall into Ford’s push of assigning notable names from its past – such as Capri and Explorer – for its new electric cars.
No technical details about the platform were revealed, but Farley said the pick-up will be “faster than a Mustang twin-turbo”, offer “amazing” range as well as offer enough charge to “power a house for six days”. It will also offer “very fast” charging and run from an operating system that can be updated over the air.
He added that the platform has been created to major on interior space. It will be “more spacious inside than a Toyota Rav 4” the best selling SUV in the US.
More to follow.
