Ford Universal EV Platform Announced: Innovation Meets Efficiency in New EV Platform, Assembly Process and Midsize Truck

[EB87]

I agree

I agree

If you take Tesla's model 3 and see they stretch it to make a model y or Toyota Corolla and now they have the Corolla cross. Toyota sells plenty of Corollas and Camrys in striking distance of the RAV4. They are probably about a third less sales then the RAV4 when I looked it up. But they aren't sneezing at selling 300,000 sedans just because they sell 450,000 Rav4's.

I believe there's still a market for affordable sedans and if they just build it where it shares a majority of parts with the crossover they want to sell.

Especially if they're trying to make an affordable EV, the sedan is smaller and lighter would be easier to get to 300 miles range and cost a few bucks less than the crossover.

Yes. One of my favorite fords I ever had was my Fusion. They had a hybrid, a V6, it looked good. Then they ruined my year and got rid of it

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[Mark813]

And sadly they no longer make the Escape. In fact, Louisville was where the Escape was built. Would love to see an EV replacement for the Escape. Perhaps by 2028? (I feel GM is going to own this segment in the EV space with the Equinox and Ford better watch out).

Yeah I don't understand why they got rid of the Escape and also the Ford Edge
or at least could have an EV only version to replace the Escape since they were also doing plug in versions of it.

Someone ran a light and totaled my car in an accident last October during the Florida pre- hurricane freakouts.

The rental company gave me a Ford Edge for a few weeks and I loved it. Then I rented a Tesla model Y for a few weeks while car shopping and considered buying one but was going to buy an Edge. Of course, I stumbled into a Mach-e test drive during the process and here we are.

 

[Okuma]

When is the Model-T moment announcement?

 

[Mark813]

When is the Model-T moment announcement?

It already happened, read the first post in this thread for the tldr

 

[Wayne-001]

To those complaining that it's a truck (at least the first model):

Non-truck/SUV sales in the US have been declining for decades. People in this country voted with their wallets saying they like sitting up high and having room to haul kids + their stuff. I'd love to see an actual sports car/sedan EV but my empty-nester situation is just not the bulk of the market.

Ford canned sedans and coupes (outside of the Mustang) 5+ years ago around the same time Chevy did. They aren't coming back any time soon.

I am never buying a sedan again, the Mach-E is as small as I will go.
Part of the problem with the sedans is that you can't see around all those big trucks on the road!

 

[Tampamike]

Over the weekend I was looking at "cars" in a restaurant parking lot from a window... out of a couple hundred vehicles we could see, there were hardly any car height vehicles... on the drive home, there was a span of over 30 SUVs in oncoming traffic before there was a couple model 3's and some BMWs. Everything else was a tall vehicle. Mostly 2 row SUVs and trucks.

So..... are "cars" an ignored segment, or are they simply history?

I won’t be shopping for any more sedans - too small and too low. Probably won’t be shopping for a truck either.

 

[ReverendPete]

So, the “math ain’t mathing” here. Farley claimed that the vehicle to home system would power a home for 6 days. According to PECO, I used 198 kWh during the period 1-7 August. I’m pretty sure 198 > 65?

Just out of curiosity, how much of that 198 kWh went to charging an EV?

Not that I think your point isn't a good one... I use a similar amount of electricity per week as you do in the summer (including my EV charging). But he might have been referring to powering home essentials only...

 

[Mach-Lee]

So it will be built with a parallel architecture, front, middle, and rear on separate lines that will come together to make one truck at the end. Aluminum "unicasting" similar to Tesla's Gigacasting. Also appears it will have a structural battery pack like the Model Y and Cybertruck that goes in the bottom of the vehicle with the seats already attached. This is Ford's response to Tesla's advancements, focused on the optimization of the assembly process and cost reduction.

The $30k EV truck will be similar to a Ford Maverick in size (2-rows), just full EV. They mentioned simplified and smaller wiring, hopefully this means they will move to a zonal body controller architecture (no more fuses?), possibly 48V (we'll see). LFP battery, probably 50-60 kWh in size. I see they're testing the cells in thermal chambers, so hopefully that means they've got the winter performance, and battery thermal management figured out this time down to -40º. They say it will be as fast as a Mustang EcoBoost, and have more passenger space than the latest Toyota RAV4 – with a frunk and a bed.

They probably picked doing a small EV truck first due to the continued strong demand for the Maverick, and because Ford does trucks best. I really hope a small SUV will be coming next from the universal platform that slots in below the Mach-E. Then something like a EV Transit Connect and a Fusion.

 

[Mach1E]

So, the “math ain’t mathing” here. Farley claimed that the vehicle to home system would power a home for 6 days. According to PECO, I used 198 kWh during the period 1-7 August. I’m pretty sure 198 > 65?

He said “a home,” not your home.

As my dad used to say when I was a kid, “TURN OFF THE LIGHTS!” And “put a sweater on if you’re cold!”

I can solve a lot of the math questions with this answer:
CHEAP

Cheap is the goal. If you’re expecting high performance and long range and lots of tech and still get “cheap,” you will be disappointed.

Ford may have figured out how to actually sell cars at a profit. Without that solution, none of these cars will be built much longer. Sacrifices in features will continue to be made in the goal of profitability.

 

[VegasWeezy]

I doubt you will get 4mi/kwh from a truck doing highway speeds due to poor aerodynamics. Weight improvements don't help much when compared to the aerodynamic drag at 65-70 MPH.

Never said or implied that I thought it would get 4mi/kWh at highway speeds. I was referring to my hopes for its efficiency at its best, or EPA estimated range. I agree that it would be highly doubtful for the truck to get 4mi/kWh at 70+mph.

 

[Okuma]

When is the Model-T moment announcement?

Sarcasm is lost on some. This was not a Model-T moment!

 

[SonicBlue]

The quote in one of the articles:

"Compared to a generation one electrical vehicle, we can get the same range with a third less battery," Doug Field, Ford's EV chief"

Good to see that they can improve mi/kwh. That would be like taking the Mach-e battery size down to about 70kw and getting the same 300 miles range - even though it's not on this new platform etc

I mean, that would be awesome. But I’m skeptical. Achieving a 33% increase in efficiency with current battery tech, and without an egg-shaped profile.

Right now, Ford (and not just Ford) has a math problem - the batteries are too heavy and too expensive and take too long to charge to make EVs sufficiently popular and profitable.

It’s possible that Ford can squeeze a bit more performance out of current battery tech, but I’m gonna just stay put until all of these EV trade-offs are rendered totally obsolete. I’m not sinking another $50k+ into a small improvement.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Never said or implied that I thought it would get 4mi/kWh at highway speeds. I was referring to my hopes for its efficiency at its best, or EPA estimated range. I agree that it would be highly doubtful for the truck to get 4mi/kWh at 70+mph.

I would expect it to get around 3-3.5 mi/kWh at highway speeds. The aero and motor/driveline efficiency are the most important aspects. To help with aero, the ground clearance may not be much more than the 6" we have (will likely be an-on road pickup). If you need off-road, then go F-150 Lightning.

When is the Model-T moment announcement?

The Model T announcement was the complete reinvention of the assembly line and production process, not the end product. This will help Ford make the EVs more affordable for the everyday person, just like what the Model T assembly line did at the time.

 

[buzznwood]

The announcement is indicative that EVs provide vehicles with fewer moving parts, that can be produced in less time and that can be cost competitive compared to ICEs. My dad, uncle and brother worked at the San Jose, CA assembly plant. I did also a couple summers when in college to make summer money. Just consider all the parts ICE vehicles need; in the engine, transmission, under the hood, the drive shaft, universal joints, starter, alternator, etc. The orange guy who is trying to kill EVs is fighting ignorantly against manufacturing progress.

lol, I get your enthusiasm but this is Ford we are talking about which unfortunately has been run by boneheads for a number of years and is slowly morphing into Isuzu and will end being a truck / transit only company with limited offering the way they are going.

The ice parts of cars are knocked out with little issue and quickly, there really is nothing magical about an ev that makes then simpler than ice, replacing the power source with another just brings with it another set of components, which if it was so simple there would haven't been need of any mach-e recalls

I have a soft spot for Fords, but the company needs a serious rethink if they want to stay relevant in the ev space they have already canned and about turned on previous ev models and have now thrown all the eggs into this ce1 platform, which as a platform is already looking outdated being 400v, which is fine if everything being built on it is going to be low cost entry level pricing with small battery size and range.

They really need to hit the ground running with the one place where it being an EV should make it simpler is swapping out the tap hat and this is where Ford should have the manufacturing edge and have the other models ready to go out the gate, as not everyone wants a truck the same as not everyone wants a crossover / SUV but if you have both at launch you have a better chance of retaining and gaining customers.

Maybe over the next few months they will show more to drum up interest, but for a supposed model T moment as far as the market is concerned this announcement didn't move the needle.

 

[SonicBlue]

I am never buying a sedan again, the Mach-E is as small as I will go.
Part of the problem with the sedans is that you can't see around all those big trucks on the road!

To me, the Mach E’s CUV profile is the new sedan. I’m never going down to something smaller / lower. But I wish we could get MME quality at sedan pricing.

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