There’s no question that electric vehicles are more expensive than their fuel-burning equivalents, but automakers are working to reduce those prices.

Ford Motor Company is one of those automakers.

The company announced a new platform that is intended to lower the cost of buying an EV.

The Ford Universal EV Platform, as the new platform is called, will underpin what Ford calls affordable, high-quality EVs that will be within reach of millions of people around the world.

The initial vehicle on this platform will be a midsize, four-door electric pickup truck that will be assembled at the company’s Louisville assembly plant.

The new pickup is planned to launch for 2027.

Ford said the new pickup truck on the new platform will be as fast as a Ford Mustang with the 2.3-litre EcoBoost engine and will have more passenger space than the newest Toyota RAV4, while also offering a frunk and truck bed.

“We have all lived through far too many ‘good college tries’ by Detroit automakers to make affordable vehicles that ends up with idled plants, layoffs and uncertainty,” Ford president and CEO Jim Farley said in a news release. “So, this had to be a strong, sustainable and profitable business. From Day 1, we knew there was no incremental path to success. We empowered a tiny skunkworks team three time zones away from Detroit. We tore up the moving assembly line concept and designed a better one. And we found a path to be the first automaker to make prismatic LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries in the U.S.”

That better assembly line mentioned by Farley is referred to as the Ford Universal EV Production System, which is intended to simplify vehicle assemble for safety, quality and speed.

The company said the new EV platform reduces parts by 20 per cent compared to a typical vehicle, has 25 per cent fewer fasteners, 40 per cent fewer workstations dock-to-dock in the plant and a 15 per cent faster assembly line.

Lithium iron phosphate batteries

Ford said the new LFP prismatic batteries allow for space and weight reductions, while also being affordable and durable.

The LFP battery pack is a structural sub-assembly, which forms the vehicle’s floor.

Ford said its low centre of gravity will improve handling, create a quiet cabin and still leave a surprising amount of space in the vehicle’s cabin.

$5-billion investment

Ford is spending almost $2 billion on the Louisville assembly plant, which the company should secure 2,200 jobs.

Additionally, the company previously announced spending $3 billion toward BlueOval Battery Park Michigan, the facility that will build the LFP batteries.

Combined, that should secure almost 4,000 jobs in the U.S.

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