Ford Motor Company is gearing up for what it calls a "Model T moment" in the electric vehicle (EV) era, unveiling plans for a groundbreaking, affordable electric pickup truck set to hit the market in 2027. The announcement, made on August 11, 2025, at Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky, marks a $5 billion investment in both technology and American manufacturing, with the goal of making electric trucks accessible to a broader swath of the U.S. population.
Ford’s new electric pickup is expected to start at around $30,000, a price point that undercuts many competitors and signals a push to democratize EV ownership. According to Ford CEO Jim Farley, "We're announcing... $5 billion of new investments here in Kentucky and Michigan, to build a radically new vehicle. And we're going to build it completely different than Henry Ford's moving assembly line." As Farley explained on FOX Business, the company’s approach is nothing short of revolutionary, both in terms of design and manufacturing.
The yet-unnamed truck will be assembled at the Louisville plant, which is undergoing a $2 billion overhaul as part of the broader investment. The rest of the funds are earmarked for research and development and for Ford’s BlueOval Battery Park Plant in Michigan, where prismatic lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries—the first of their kind manufactured in the U.S.—will be produced. These LFP batteries are lighter, more compact, and avoid the use of costly cobalt or nickel, which could help keep the new truck’s price low and its environmental impact modest.
Ford’s new EV will offer the interior space of a mid-size truck, all within the compact footprint of the Maverick, and will feature a front trunk (or "frunk") and a cargo bed. Farley boasted, "It'd be a lot more affordable and a lot lesser cost than an old Tesla, even, or a RAV4 hybrid imported. So we're excited about this affordable vehicle." The company claims the truck will offer "more passenger space than the Toyota RAV4," and will be "faster than the Ford Mustang twin-turbo," with the ability to accelerate from zero to sixty in under five seconds.
But speed and space aren’t the only selling points. The new truck is designed with practicality and resilience in mind: it will support fast charging, boast an "amazing range," and offer bidirectional charging capabilities that can power a house for up to six days in the event of a power outage. This feature, once considered futuristic, is now a reality for Ford’s next generation of EVs, and could prove invaluable in areas prone to electrical disruptions.
Ford’s $30,000 electric pickup will also be packed with technology, including over-the-air updates and a suite of digital comforts—features that, according to Farley, will come standard at the base price, without the need for government incentives. This is a pointed contrast to the Slate EV truck, which had previously targeted a $20,000 price tag only after accounting for federal incentives, a strategy now challenged by shifting government policies and tariffs.
Central to Ford’s strategy is the Universal EV Platform, a new architecture designed for efficiency, flexibility, and cost savings. The platform allows for a 25% reduction in fasteners and 20% fewer parts compared to previous models, thanks to smarter design and development. Zonal architecture, a method of organizing the vehicle’s electrical systems, trims about 10 kilograms of wiring—an approach reminiscent of techniques used by Rivian in its R1T and R1S models. The result is a vehicle that can be assembled 15% faster than a Mustang Mach-E and, according to Ford, will have lower ownership costs over five years than a three-year-old used Tesla Model Y.
Perhaps the most radical change is in manufacturing. Ford is replacing its century-old moving assembly line with what it calls an "assembly tree." Instead of one long conveyor belt, the vehicle is built in three parallel sub-assemblies—front, rear, and structural battery—before being joined together at the end of the process. This method, inspired by the flexibility seen in modern factories like Hyundai’s Singapore Innovation Center, is expected to reduce assembly times by up to 40%. Farley explained, "After 120 years, we're gonna change the assembly line. We're gonna build it in three pieces, three separate parts, not one vehicle along one line. And that allows us to build it 40% faster with a lot less people and a lot less cost."
Ford’s investment is also a major boost for American jobs. The company plans to create about 4,000 positions at its Kentucky and Michigan facilities, focusing on both vehicle assembly and battery production. Farley emphasized the importance of keeping production domestic: "We didn't want to build this in South Korea or Japan. We had to take a completely radical approach to redesign the vehicle to make it affordable and profitable here in Kentucky."
Ford’s move comes at a time when the U.S. EV market faces significant headwinds. The elimination of federal EV incentives and the imposition of new tariffs have made it harder for automakers to keep prices low. Farley acknowledged the risks, stating, "It is a bet. There is risk. The automotive industry has a graveyard littered with affordable vehicles that were launched in our country with all good intentions... At Ford, we set out to break that cycle. No more compliance cars. No more loss-leaders. We're talking about a vehicle that can sustain itself, have strong profits, so all of our workers have an actually sustainable future."
While Ford hasn’t released official images or even confirmed the name of the new truck—though the recent trademarking of the Ranchero nameplate has fueled speculation—the company’s ambitions are clear. This electric pickup is just the first in a planned family of affordable EVs, with SUVs and possibly sedans to follow, all built on the same Universal EV Platform. Ford’s strategy is to make EVs not only accessible, but also profitable, sustainable, and American-made.
As the auto industry stands on the brink of another revolution, Ford’s $30,000 electric pickup could well become the modern equivalent of the Model T—an affordable, practical vehicle that brings a new technology to the masses and reshapes the American automotive landscape.
