Ford has unveiled its “Universal EV Platform,” a new architecture aimed at delivering more affordable electric vehicles, starting with a mid-size electric pickup scheduled for 2027. The first model will be built at the company’s Louisville, Kentucky, plant, with a targeted starting price of about $30,000.
The pickup will not be the same as the T3 project planned for Tennessee’s BlueOval City, whose launch has been pushed to 2028. Ford describes the Kentucky-built model as “a new idea for a new era,” combining acceleration comparable to a Mustang EcoBoost with passenger space exceeding that of a 2025 Toyota RAV4. It will feature both a truck bed and a front trunk.
The base version will use lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells produced at Ford’s BlueOval Battery Park Michigan, using technology licensed from China’s CATL. Production at the battery plant is slated for 2026 with an annual capacity of 20 GWh. Ford says the entry-level battery will be about 15% smaller than the 60.5 kWh unit in BYD’s Atto 3, implying a capacity near 51 kWh. A larger nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery option will also be available. Both will run on a 400-volt system and support bidirectional charging, including Vehicle-to-Load and Vehicle-to-Home functions.
Doug Field, Ford’s chief EV, digital and design officer, linked the project’s philosophy to the company’s origins. “We took inspiration from the Model T – the universal car that changed the world,” Field said. “We applied first-principles engineering, pushing to the limits of physics to make it fun to drive and compete on affordability.”
The manufacturing process will differ from Ford’s traditional moving assembly line, using an “assembly tree” approach in which three submodules — front, rear, and middle battery section — are built separately and joined near the end of production. Ford says this will improve ergonomics, reduce assembly time by up to 40%, and cut parts per vehicle by about 20%.
So far, Ford has only confirmed the pickup, but animations shown during the unveiling included a smaller SUV, a larger three-row SUV, and a van as possible future derivatives. The $2 billion retooling of the Louisville plant is currently the only confirmed production investment for the platform.
“We took a radical approach to a very hard challenge: create affordable vehicles that delight customers in every way that matters – design, innovation, flexibility, space, driving pleasure, and cost of ownership – and do it with American workers,” said Ford president and CEO Jim Farley. “We tore up the moving assembly line concept and designed a better one.”