Ford is working on a $30,000 electric pickup truck

Ford has announced a new line of vehicles based on the Ford Universal EV Platform, the first of which will be an electric pickup truck costing about $30,000 that will use new prismatic lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. This is reported by Engadget.

The company currently offers only two electric vehicles — the F-150 Lightning and the Mustang Mach-E, which use different platforms. However, with the Universal EV Platform, Ford will be able to produce more electric vehicles and do it faster, easier and cheaper.

According to the company, this platform will reduce the number of parts by 20% compared to conventional cars. There will also be fewer fasteners and workstations in electric vehicles, and they will be assembled 15% faster. Ford also notes that over five years, the cost of ownership will be 15% lower than that of a three-year-old used Tesla Model Y.

Ford also says that LFP batteries will help save space and weight, as well as reduce costs. But there is a downside - the technology is licensed from the Chinese company CATL. Because of this, Ford could lose up to $700 million in tax breaks if the US Congress prohibits support for factories that use Chinese components.

As for the first vehicle on the Universal EV Platform, it will be a mid-size four-door electric pickup truck. It will appear on the market in 2027, but Ford is not yet revealing details or showing what the new product will look like.

At the same time, the company claims that drivers will have enough space to fit a bike or surfboard in the back. The pickup will also accelerate to 100 km/h in the same way as the Mustang EcoBoost — in about 4.5 seconds — and will have higher downforce.

Recall that information also recently appeared that Tesla is considering releasing a smaller electric pickup truck, the Cybertruck, amid falling sales of the existing model.