Ford's $30K EV Truck Made Headlines. The Factory's The Real Story.

It sounds like the kind of compact, affordable truck that many folks have been waiting for—imagine an electric version of Ford’s ultra-popular Maverick truck.

However, the two are completely unrelated; this is built on a new, from-the-ground-up EV platform.

It’ll have more interior space than a Toyota RAV4, with a bed and a “frunk”, while quicker than the four-cylinder turbo Mustang EcoBoost. All for $30,000.

It won’t be “stripped-out”—perhaps a dig at the Slate Truck, which is aiming for a $25,000-ish price tag and will be much more spartan.

The battery is small. We’re guessing around 50 kilowatt-hours, about 25% less than what you get in a Tesla Model Y. No word on range yet, except that Ford says it’ll be very competitive, thanks to advancements in efficiency.

It will be exported, but Ford won’t say where.

A “skunkworks” team of engineers based in California and full of Tesla and Apple veterans employed first-principles, back-to-basics thinking to rethink EV trucks, platforms and assembly.

Ford says its Universal EV Platform will use 20% fewer parts, 25% fewer fasteners, and 40% fewer workstations within the factory—all to cut manufacturing costs, where the Chinese have the rest of the world outclassed at making EVs.

The truck (and others on the platform) are made with unicasting—dozens of smaller parts replaced with large, single-piece aluminum front and rear body components plus a sub-assembly that includes the battery pack, seats, consoles and more.

“The best part is no part,” Alan Clarke, Ford’s head of advanced EV development, told me this week. “The second best part is one that does multiple things.”

Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant will produce the truck, and other variants on that platform—maybe a van and a crossover. Ford isn’t saying yet.

It’s getting a $2 billion upgrade for the new family of EVs, including for retraining workers.

The real trick here is the assembly tree, perhaps the first real evolution of the assembly line since… well, since Henry Ford invented it.

Those unicasted parts run down their own assembly line “branches” simultaneously, and then join together.

This could yield trucks built up to 40% more quickly than before—another area where China has the edge.

Car manufacturing is being reinvented for two main reasons: EV batteries are so expensive that automakers must cut and streamline costs elsewhere, and clean-sheet designs are essential for building truly software-defined cars.

Tesla started this revolution with the first Model 3. China’s automakers then ran with those ideas. Now everyone’s scrambling to make EVs as cheaply and quickly as BYD and the rest.

Ford’s project is full of Tesla, Rivian and even Apple veterans. Clarke spent 12 years at Tesla, including as its engineering director, and Ford’s EV and digital chief Doug Field led development of the Model 3.

It has a kind of mini-Tesla-within-Ford startup vibe; Clarke and Field have even spoken about how the only non-negotiables are physics, another Tesla-ism that rang a bell.

But Clarke claimed to me that the assembly tree goes above and beyond even what China’s automakers are doing.

Is this the future of carmaking in America? I agree with what Clarke told me: “It is certainly the future of EV-making, one way or another.”

Now comes the hard part: pulling it off.

The truck—the first vehicle planned for this platform—won’t debut until at least 2027, which feels like a lifetime in today’s fast-changing market. Just look at the EV policy whiplash we’ve experienced between the Biden and Trump administrations.

It’s interesting that the first vehicle isn’t a crossover SUV of some kind. Now Ford has to win over the truck people, too.

And Ford has to ramp this up while it makes its other, already-profitable gas vehicles.

The CEO of Mercedes-Benz warns that the EU’s planned ban on new combustion-engine cars in 2035 will drive Europe’s economy “full speed into the wall.” [Handelsblatt]

But Chinese automakers, primarily dealing in EVs and hybrids, have together almost eclipsed Mercedes-Benz’s market share in Europe. [Reuters]

Ending EV regulatory credits will hold up $100 million for Rivian. [Wall Street Journal]

EV sales in developing countries continue to outpace America: Ethiopia, Nepal, Vietnam, Djibouti and Laos among them. Keep an eye on that. [Bloomberg]

For reasons above, the International Motor Show Germany (IAA Munich) will be a huge deal this year. I’m going to cover it from Sept. 5-9. Drop me a line if you’re going too.

Among the debuts we’re expected to see: the BMW iX3, the Mercedes GLC Electric, the Polestar 5 sport sedan, a compact electric SUV from Volkswagen and more.

The not-so-quiet part: this feels like Europe’s electric counteroffensive against the Chinese EV newcomers encroaching on their turf.

Ford’s doing all of the above, General Motors is scaling up batteries in the US. So… where’s Stellantis at on anything future-facing these days?

Some stellar news for EV charging: the Biden-era National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program, which allocated $5 billion for nationwide fast-charging, will continue after states sued the Trump administration.

Volta Charging, the free Level 2 chargers you sometimes see at malls that are supported by advertisements on giant digital screens, will shut down. Owner Shell is instead focusing on EV charging at its own sites, like gas stations.

New York-based rideshare company Revel, which operated neon blue Teslas and electric Kias as an EV-only Uber alternative, will end that service to focus on fast-charging instead. (I’m bummed, it was my preferred rideshare service!)

J.D. Power has more good news for EV charging in America: it’s starting to work like it should.

Waymo’s autonomous vehicles have been spotted testing in my hometown of San Antonio, Texas. No service launching there just yet, but that seems inevitable. [San Antonio Express-News]

Tesla is hiring “test drivers” for its Robotaxi service in Queens, New York, although it still hasn’t applied for permits there. [CNBC]

Even after shuttering the Cruise autonomous taxi service last year, General Motors is still “focused on autonomous cars for personal use”—in other words, a self-driving GM car that you can buy someday. [Bloomberg]

“As with EVs, China treats [autonomous vehicles] as a strategic industry, pushed forward with national government policies. This is in stark contrast to the U.S., where the regulatory environment is fragmented across states, and innovation is driven by private industry, slowing deployment and testing.” [Rest of World]

Mysterious, allegedly California-based Tensor wants to sell you a completely autonomous car. [The Verge]

Bloomberg’s Ed Ludlow has more on the surprise shutdown of Tesla’s Dojo supercomputer effort, which went from an essential project to train AI for driverless cars to a non-starter in just a year. In the end, it was as overhyped as many of Elon Musk’s promises over the years.

Meanwhile, Musk himself is in a war of words with both Apple and OpenAI’s Sam Altman over the placement of GrokAI—which can now be used on Tesla’s cars—in the App Store.

Nearly 90% of U.S. car dealers either use or plan to use AI tools at their stores. But customers are skeptical, Automotive News reports.

Rivian has opened an AI hub in London to attract leading UK engineering talent for future hands-off, eyes-off autonomous driving.