Ford will follow Tesla Cybertruck with electric technology in its new EV pickup

DETROIT — Ford engineGoogle’s $5 billion ‘bet’ on its next generation of fully electric vehicles will feature nascent technology that Tesla marketed in the United States on its Cybertruck, the Detroit automaker announced Tuesday.

The system, known as 48-volt electrical architecture, had been discussed in the auto industry for decades, but Tesla was the first to offer it to consumers in 2023.

The auto industry has historically used a 12-volt system with a lead-acid battery for all vehicles to power the car’s accessories – but this has been problematic and led to recalls for many electric vehicles. The new architecture instead uses the electric vehicle’s high-voltage battery to power everything.

The 48-volt system improves efficiency, allows additional electrical bandwidth and saves weight through reduced wiring, officials said. Power can also be “stepped down” to 12 volts, if necessary, through the use of new electronic control units, or ECUs, that manage different groups of an electric vehicle’s architecture.

The new electrical system is one of several innovations that Ford says will allow its next-generation electric vehicles — starting with a small $30,000 electric pickup truck in 2027 — to compete with Tesla as well as quickly expand Chinese brands into global markets.

“At Ford, we’ve risen to the challenge that many others have failed to meet. We’re taking the fight to our competitors, including the Chinese,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said at an August event at a Kentucky factory that will produce the unnamed electric pickup. “For too long, traditional automakers have played it safe.”

Farley called it a “Model T moment” for the company, referring to the company’s flagship vehicle released more than a century ago that led to mass vehicle adoption in the early 1900s. He also called it a “gamble” for Ford given the number of changes it will make to electric vehicles as well as the company and its processes.

Ford expects the new electric vehicles, which will be based on a common “universal electric vehicle,” or UEV, to have costs comparable to gasoline vehicles thanks to new technologies and efficiencies. Currently, the huge batteries that power electric vehicles make them much more expensive to produce and are notoriously unprofitable.

The Detroit automaker said the new electric vehicles will reduce the number of parts by 20% compared to a conventional vehicle, with 25% fewer fasteners, 40% fewer workstations from dock to dock in the factory and 15% faster assembly time.

“This represents the most radical change in the way we design and build vehicles at Ford since the Model T,” Farley told the factory. “Now is the time to change the game once again.”

Ford said these improvements, along with pricing more similar to gasoline models, will lead to greater adoption of electric vehicles. This is despite a significant slowdown in electric vehicle sales in the United States, due to changes to federal support by the Trump administration as well as less than expected adoption by consumers.

U.S. electric vehicle sales peaked in September, before federal incentives ended, at 10.3% of the new vehicle market, according to Cox Automotive. This demand fell to preliminary estimates of 5.8% during the fourth quarter.

These market conditions recently led Ford to announce $19.5 billion in writedowns, largely related to a withdrawal from electric vehicle projects, but the company said it would continue to invest $5 billion for its new UEV platform through 2027.

“Our goal has been to give them everything they could get in a beautiful vehicle and more, and we believe that will ultimately allow us to not only make an affordable vehicle, but also make one that is extremely desirable,” Alan Clarke, Ford’s executive director of advanced electric vehicle development, said during a press briefing.

The 48-volt system provides significant benefits to other parts of the vehicle besides the battery, and is expected to continue to do so as the bandwidth of 12-volt batteries peaks, according to Clarke, a former Tesla executive.

“It’s cheaper, the cables are smaller and it’s the future of automobiles,” he said. “So if you want to protect this platform to be around for over a decade… it’s very clear that 48 made the most sense.”

Ford said the new midsize truck’s wiring harness will be more than 4,000 feet shorter and 22 pounds lighter than the wiring harness used in Ford’s first-generation electric SUV.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk dispatched competitors such as Ford and General engines a practical guide to developing a 48 volt system in 2023.

Clarke said Ford had already opted for a 48-volt platform before receiving the letter, but that it “certainly added fuel to the fire” and was a “useful starting point to see how they felt about it.” It also helped suppliers prepare to help with 48-volt systems, he added.

In addition to the 48-volt system, the company released additional details on Tuesday about how it is achieving its goals with the new electric vehicle through aerodynamics, team “bonuses” to increase vehicle efficiency and the use of Tesla’s pioneering “gigacasting.”

Gigacasting is a manufacturing process that allows dozens of traditionally small stamped parts to be replaced with larger parts. The process requires massive machines to pressurize large sheets of metal into parts such as a vehicle’s dashboard or underlying structure.

Ford said the new pickup will have just two structural parts front and rear, compared to 146 such components on its current small gas-powered Maverick pickup.

Ford also said its aluminum castings for the upcoming electric vehicle are more than 27% lighter than those for a Tesla Model Y.

“We’re still facing a very steep decline in the costs of electric vehicles, and you can only do that through innovation, and you can only do that at the system level, by optimizing what will ultimately become a product that a customer wants,” Clarke said.