Ford's New EV: Smart but not Groundbreaking

image: Ford

Ford’s latest press release on the Universal EV Platform (UEVP) shows plenty of clever ideas, although nothing that sounds truly groundbreaking.

Although some outlets thought Ford might actually show the upcoming midsize electric pickup, what we got today instead was a behind-the-scenes look at the product development process, a/k/a the “skunkworks.” Noteworthy highlights include:

• Ford claims aerodynamic performance that’s 15% better than the best available today. With the Rivian R1T Cd at a claimed 0.30, does that mean Ford is getting down to 0.255? Even if they are using a different metric, the Ford’s smaller size means that optimizing aero is a bit more challenging — but it sounds like they have made progress.

• Unicasting, a/k/a gigacasting or megacasting, isn’t new, and Ford is claiming similar benefits here: replacing 146 comparable parts in a Maverick with two parts in the UEVP

• Zonal architecture isn’t new, either — but, with the announcement last year that the FNV4 software architecture had been canceled, I was pleasantly surprised to hear this particular item is part of UEVP.

• Ford’s been on a complexity reduction kick for a while, so hearing about replacing two motors in their outside mirrors with a single motor was a small but clever insight. Their “the best part is no part” philosophy is also, of course, not new, but talking about it and demonstrating it are two different things.

At the end of the video, did I feel Ford was bringing any breakthrough technologies to market? No. In some ways, their approach sounded a bit like what every automaker should be (but isn’t necessarily) doing — and perhaps it does represent a new approach for Ford, which is a good thing. I look forward to seeing the actual product.

#ford #ev #electricvehicles #automotive #affordable #skunkworks #pickup