Yesterday I made the trip to Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant for its Universal EV Platform event. This plant, which opened in 1955, is currently configured to produce the Ford Escape and its cousin, the Lincoln Corsair. According to Ford, it’s scheduled to undergo dramatic changes in the near future.
The event had a distinctly blue-collar feel to it, with Ford executives making the announcement on a stage constructed in the middle of the plant, surrounded by hardworking hourly workers, media, local celebrities, and politicians. Ford President and CEO, Jim Farley – along with everyone else in attendance – braved the exceedingly warm conditions on the plant floor. There, he announced a radical new Universal EV Platform that would pave the way for electric vehicles that are estimated to start around $30,000.
“In our careers as automobile people, we’re lucky if we get to work on one, maybe two projects to really change the face of our industry, and I believe today is going to light the match as one of those projects for all of us here.”
Ford President and CEO JIM FARLEY
While it may have publicly marked the beginning of Ford’s so-called “Model T moment,” we learned that the program began several years earlier at an undisclosed location three time zones away. Ford’s California-based skunkworks team was tasked with the lofty goal of genuinely moving the company beyond its internal combustion roots, and was given the liberty and resources to do so uninhibited. Granted, Ford already produces EVs – the F-150 Lighting and the Mustang Mach-E to name two, but its new platform benefits from a conspicuous lack of corporate red tape, legacy weight, old-world thinking, and protectionism.
As far as an actual vehicle goes, those results are still to be determined. We didn’t get to see any new vehicle, although Ford did tease us with on-camera reactions from a handful of employees who got a brief in-person glimpse of its upcoming new truck.
We also did not learn about crucial elements like range, battery size, efficiency, or charging speed. Those who were banking on learning those details may have come away disappointed, but that’s not how I felt when the event was over given the atmosphere. There was a palpable buzz in the air once the event concluded, with media bum-rushing Ford CEO Jim Farley, who had nary the chance to wipe the sweat from his brow before being peppered with questions.
In the meantime, Ford used yesterday’s event to lay down the foundation of what’s to come. It came across as confident, but self-aware, acknowledging the high stakes involved.
Regardless of whether its bets pay off, I think we’ll look back at this event as a pivotal moment for the Detroit giant. The outcome will largely depend on how well leadership guides the company. It’s one thing to be nimble when you’re an actual startup, but it’s a whole other thing to adopt the mindset of a nimble startup when you’re a behemoth with a litany of moving parts and partners.
One thing is for certain – and it’s clear that Ford realizes this – its entire workforce needs to be fully on board for such a massive transition. This initiative isn’t a mere retooling of a plant to introduce a slightly redesigned version of a vehicle it already makes. This is a mountain-moving top-to-bottom redesign, not only for the final product, but for the way that final product is made.
“The automotive industry in America is at a cross roads … We saw this coming for years, we knew that the Chinese would be the major player for us globally, companies like BYD … they’re all coming for us legacy automotive companies.
Ford President and CEO JIM FARLEY
Ford executives were keen on acknowledging its workforce and how crucial they are to its success. The event, although big for the company as a whole, had a decidedly local feel. In Kentucky, basketball is king, so who else better to help usher in a new era than the athletic directors for the two biggest universities in the state, the Josh Heird for the University of Louisville, and the Mitch Barnhart for the University of Kentucky?
Louisville’s men’s basketball coach, Pat Kelsey, known for his energy, played hype man. Referring to Henry Ford’s famous “Any color the customer wants, as long as it’s black,” he even got in a dig about the UK-blue-painted Model T parked over his right shoulder.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and First Lady Britainy Beshear were also in attendance, with the 63rd governor of the Bluegrass State taking the stage to tout how many billions of dollars that Ford has invested in the area.
Ford Universal Electric Platform
“We’ve been waiting three years for this moment,” noted Farley, straining to contain his excitement, while invoking his best Steve Jobs impression. “In our careers as automobile people, we’re lucky if we get to work on one, maybe two projects to really change the face of our industry, and I believe today is going to light the match as one of those projects for all of us here.”
The first vehicle underpinned by the new platform will be a mid-sized truck built at the same, albeit highly transformed, and 52,000 square feet larger, Louisville Assembly Plant. Ford plans to roll the first models of the yet-to-be-named mid-sized pickup off the redesigned assembly line in 2027.
“We finally get to tell what we’ve been working on for three years behind closed doors. We call this the Ford Universal Electric Vehicle Platform. It represents the most radical change on how we design and how we build vehicles at Ford since the Model T.”
Noted Farley, “The automotive industry in America is at a crossroads… We saw this coming for years, we knew that the Chinese would be the major player for us globally, companies like BYD … they’re all coming for us legacy automotive companies. We needed a radical approach … to create an affordable vehicle that delights customers in every way that matters.”
Ford notes that the platform is founded on relentless efficiency, radical simplification, and flexibility. A vehicle assembled in a reimagined factory with bold design, more space, endless configurability, and an entirely new digital experience.
The Ford Universal EV Production System
Although Ford didn’t come up with the idea of the movable assembly line, the company is credited with improving and innovating the techniques over 100 years ago at its Highland Park, MI plant. Much of the same principals are still in use today. This production staple, too, will be completely transformed thanks to a new Universal EV Production System.
Instead of a singular movable line, the skunkworks team designed a new “assembly tree” featuring three sub-assemblies that run concurrently, and are thereafter joined together at the end. And in Tesla-like fashion, large single-piece castings will replace numerous smaller parts, enabling each end of the vehicle to be assembled separately. The result is a truck that can be assembled up to 40% faster than today’s Ford Escape.
Ford is also implementing a structural battery design, with a skateboard-esque battery platform with a low center of gravity. Prismatic LiFePO4 batteries will be sourced from within the United States, an industry first, thanks to the BlueOval Battery Park in Michigan.
Ford notes that the new mid-sized truck will feature more interior space than the Toyota RAV4, currently the best-selling vehicle in the United States. “But it will have a frunk,” quipped Farley. “And it will have a whole pickup truck bed behind it. No one has seen this kind of flexibility.”
The most interesting part of the presentation came from Chief EV Digital and Design Officer, Doug Field, who discussed some of the initiative’s high-level technical details.
One of the benefits that was drilled home several times during the presentation was a significant improvement to ergonomics during the assembly process. For an audience consisting of many factory workers, this was met with applause.
Alongside dramatically reducing the amount of parts, electrical wiring, and hoses, the updated production system will reduce the need for workers to twist, bend, and reach, increasing ergonomics, and reducing potential injury and soreness after a day’s work. Say what you will, but Ford knew their audience, and catered well to it.
Electrek’s Take
If it had gone into its electric vehicle production with this plan back in 2019, when the Mach-E was announced, Ford would probably be in a better position today to compete globally. It’s been working on these new initiatives for the past three years, so that means there was roughly a three-year delta between the Mach-E’s announcement and the realization that it needed a dramatically new approach. Will the time lost come back to bite them? Time will tell, but I’m cautiously optimistic.
As someone born and raised in Louisville, it gives me a unique perspective on the gravity of this announcement. The Louisville Assembly Plant, alongside the Kentucky Truck Plant, roughly a 30-minute drive to the northeast, are both community linchpins. A number of friends of mine who work at the plant have expressed genuine excitement and optimism over the announcements.
Skeptics may lament the fact that key details about the programs remain unanswered, namely key areas like range, charging speed, and efficiency, and that’s a fair critique. But given the dramatic changes set to take place at the Louisville Assembly Plant, it was necessary for Ford to outline these key details beforehand.
The bigger question is whether or not Ford will be able to meet the $30,000 price point given the various economic uncertainties prevalent today. Another key area that younger companies like Tesla and Rivian have going for them is the direct-to-customer model. Will Ford look for ways to innovate in that space as well?
What are your thoughts about yesterday’s announcements? Sound off down below in the comments with your thoughts.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Source link
