Ford to follow Tesla Cybertruck with electrical tech in new EV pickup

DETROIT — ford motorInternational’s $5 billion ‘bet’ on next generation all-electric cars will contain emerging technology Tesla Marketed in the United States on CybertruckThe Detroit automaker said Tuesday.

The system, known as 48-volt electrical engineering, has been discussed in the automotive industry for decades but Tesla It was first introduced to consumers in 2023.

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

The 48-volt system improves efficiency, allows for additional electrical bandwidth and saves weight by reducing wiring, officials said. Power can also be “stepped down” to 12 volts, when needed, through the use of new electronic control modules, or ECUs, that handle different combinations of the electric vehicle’s architecture.

The new electrical system is one of many innovations that Ford believes will enable the next generation of electric vehicles – starting with A $30,000 electric pickup truck In 2027 – to compete with Tesla as well as rapidly expanding Chinese brands in global markets.

“At Ford, we have taken on the challenge that many have stopped doing. We are taking the fight to our competitors, including the Chinese,” said Ford CEO. Jim Farley He said this during an event held in August at a factory in Kentucky that will produce the electric truck, which he did not name. “For too long, legacy automakers have played it safe.”

Farley called it the company’s “Model T moment,” a reference to the company’s flagship vehicle that appeared more than a century ago and led to the mass adoption of vehicles during the early 20th century. He also called it a “bet” for Ford given the amount of changes it will make to electric vehicles as well as the company and its operations.

Ford expects the costs of the new electric vehicles, which will be based on a “universal electric vehicle” or UEV, to be similar to gas-powered vehicles through new technologies and efficiencies. Currently, the massive batteries that power electric vehicles have made them much more expensive to produce and are not at all profitable.

The Detroit automaker said the new electric vehicles will have 20% fewer parts than a typical vehicle, with 25% fewer installers, 40% fewer workstations from station to station in the factory, and 15% faster assembly time.

“It represents the most radical change in how we design and how we build vehicles at Ford since the Model T,” Farley said at the plant. “Now it’s time to change the game again.”

These improvements, combined with price points more similar to gas-powered models, will lead to increased adoption of electric vehicles, Ford said. This is despite a significant slowdown in electric vehicle sales in the United States amid changes in federal support by the Trump administration as well as lower-than-expected consumer adoption.

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

These market conditions recently led to Ford’s announcement $19.5 billion in write-downslargely related to the decline in plans for electric cars, but the company said it will continue to do so $5 billion investment for new UEV platform Until 2027.

“Our focus has been on giving them everything they can get in a nice car and more, and we believe that will ultimately allow us to not only make a car that’s affordable, but make a car that’s highly desirable,” Alan Clark, Ford’s executive director of advanced electric vehicle development, said during a press conference.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk It sent competitors like Ford and GM A guideline on 48V system development in 2023.

Clark said Ford had already decided to use a 48-volt platform before it received the letter but it “certainly added fuel to the fire” and was a “useful starting point to see how they thought about it.” This also helped suppliers prepare to help with 48-volt systems, he added.

In addition to the 48-volt system, the company on Tuesday released additional details on how it will achieve its goals with the new electric vehicle through aerodynamics. Rewards Team To increase the efficiency of the car and switch to “Gigacastings” pioneered by Tesla.

Gigacasting is a manufacturing process that can replace dozens of small, traditionally stamped parts with larger ones. This process requires huge machines to compress large sheets of metal and turn them into parts such as the front of a car or the basic structure.

Ford said the new pickup truck will have only front and rear body parts compared to 146 such components in its current gas-powered Maverick pickup truck.

Ford also said that its aluminum alloys for the upcoming electric car are 27% lighter than those features found in the Tesla Model Y.

“We’re still seeing really sharp declines in electric vehicle costs, and you can only get that through innovation, you can only get that through the system level, improving what ultimately becomes a product that the customer wants,” Clark said.