More Thoughts On Ford's $30K Electric Pickup

By Sam Abuelsamid, VP of Market Research

Following Ford's announcement that they are retooling their Louisville Assembly Plant to build electric vehicles based on the company’s new Universal EV Platform, I’ve been getting some questions about the first product. That has been announced as a midsize electric pickup truck. So far, Ford has provided only scant technical details, most of which are related to the overall vehicle architecture. So bear with me as I engage in some speculation about what we can expect when this truck and its siblings arrive.

What Do We Know About the Battery?

The first thing we learned about this vehicle back in June, when we visited the BlueOval Park battery plant in Marshall, Michigan is that it will use a structural lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery pack. Most of the current generation of EVs sold in North America use modular battery packs with nickel-cobalt-rich cells. In a modular pack architecture, a cluster of cells is installed into a box called a module. 

These module boxes are then packed into a larger box – the pack. The modules all need to be wired together, and those boxes themselves take up physical space in the pack, along with the spaces between the modules. Nickel-cobalt cells have about 30% more energy density than LFP at a cell level, but they are also less stable and more prone to thermal runaway if they are damaged or have manufacturing defects. This is part of why most are installed in modules – it helps to mitigate the risk of fires. The downside of a modular system is that typically only about 30-35% of the pack volume is active cell material that stores energy. 

LFP batteries, on the other hand, are very stable and resistant to thermal runaway. As a result, they don’t need the protection of module enclosures. This has enabled the adoption of cell-to-pack (C2P) designs, which are commonly used in Chinese EVs now. In this design, the LFP cells are stacked directly in the pack enclosure with no modules. This allows more cells to be used in the same size pack or a smaller pack with fewer cells but the same overall capacity. In a C2P battery, as much as 75-80% of the pack volume can be active cell material. 

Time for some math. If we have a nickel-cobalt modular battery with 75 kWh capacity, simply replacing those cells with LFP would yield about 52.5 kWh (a reduction of 30%). If we assume a best case of 35% fill ratio for active material, and we replace the modular layout with C2P, conservatively, you could at least double the fill ratio to 70% which increases the total capacity to 105 kWh, 40% more than the original modular nickel-rich pack. You could also match the original 75 kWh in 40% less volume.

The use of C2P architecture dramatically reduces the number of parts in the battery pack, allowing it to be smaller and lighter without sacrificing capacity. LFP is generally at least 30% cheaper at a cell level than nickel-rich cells. Taking into account the simpler pack design and manufacturing savings, an LFP pack of similar capacity should be about 40-50% cheaper than a comparable nickel-rich pack. 

What About the Vehicle Architecture?

We now also know that Ford has copied the type of structure first adopted by Tesla in 2022 for the Model Y that uses a battery with 4680 cells. This version of the Model Y replaces the original structure design that used numerous stampings welded together with a pair of large-scale aluminum die castings. These are then attached to the central steel structure of the body. 

Other EVs, including those built by Ford, still have a traditional body-in-white structure that includes a floor pan. Tesla also came to the realization that if the battery pack is a core component of the vehicle structure, that floor pan served no useful purpose and just added weight and cost. Thus Tesla eliminated the redundant sheet of steel and added sealant around the edge of the battery pack before bolting it up to fill the hole in the structure so it becomes the floor. 

For this Model Y variant, instead of inserting the interior components like the dashboard, console, carpets and seats through the door apertures, they are installed on the top of the battery pack and the whole assembly is lifted up through the hole in the bottom of the body and fastened in place. A similar approach was adopted for the Cybertruck and is used by numerous Chinese EV manufacturers, including Xpeng for the new G6.

This is the basic approach Ford has taken for its new architecture, as well. The Ford Universal EV Platform is designed specifically for EV applications, not internal combustion. This approach significantly reduces the number of stations and operations required to assemble the new vehicles and allows for better work ergonomics. According to Ford, the overall assembly process can be up to 40% faster than for a conventional vehicle and process. However, some of that savings is being invested in automation, which will bring the net improvement in line speed to about 15%. 

So, How Big Is the Battery Likely to Be?

Ford isn’t saying how big the new truck’s battery is or how far it will go on a charge. But here’s what we do know. The truck has a footprint similar to the current Ford Maverick so it’s probably about 200 inches long. That’s at least a foot more than a Mustang Mach-E, Kia EV6 or Tesla Model Y. 

	2025 Ford Maverick	2025 Ford Mustang Mach-E	2025 Kia EV6	2025 Tesla Model Y
Length (in)	199.8	185.6	184.8	188.6
Wheelbase (in)	121.1	117.5	114.2	113.8
Battery capacity (kWh)	N/A	73	88.4	75
Range (miles)	N/A	260	295	311

The Mach-E standard range has a 73-kWh LFP battery supplied by China’s CATL and it has an EPA-rated range of 260 miles. The Kia EV6 has an 88.4-kWh nickel-rich battery for 295 miles of range with all-wheel drive while the Model Y is rated at 311 miles from its approximately 75-kWh battery. 

Even if the new truck retains similar length-to-wheelbase proportions to the Maverick, a structural LFP battery of up to 85 kWh seems totally viable. In fact, since this is a dedicated EV platform, this will probably have a bit more wheelbase with shorter overhangs than the Maverick. Ford also put a lot of emphasis on the work they’ve done on the aerodynamics and efficiency of all the vehicle systems. 

Even with the inherent aero disadvantages of a pickup compared to a crossover, this truck will probably go more miles/100 kWh than a Mach-E. Most likely, Ford will offer two options: a base model of 65 to 70 kWh with about 250 miles of range and an extended range model with 80 to 85 kWh and 300+ miles of range. The shorter range option will probably be the $30,000 model, with the long-range going for about $34,000 to $35,000. That would make this truck fully price-competitive with the Maverick and Ranger. 

If Ford can execute on all of the challenges associated with launching this new platform and manufacturing process, it could mark a major milestone for the US EV market. It would be a clear demonstration that a US automaker can compete with the best of what’s coming from China without having to depend on government tax incentives.