$30k Ford EV truck due in 2027 with much-simpler production process | Hacker News Reader

$30k Ford EV truck due in 2027 with much-simpler production process

arstechnica.com

14 pointspseudolus14 comments

Ford has been talking about this for a few years now. Do a web search for "Ford Q1/2/3/4 2023/4/5 earnings call transcript" and read what the CEO keeps saying, over and over again.

For example, here's a quote from last year:

"We're deep in the development of our next generation of vehicles that we believe will be affordable, high volume and great for our business. On the U.S. retail side, the sweet spot that has emerged is small- and medium-sized trucks and utilities. These vehicles use case fits perfectly for EVs, daily commuters, well suited as a second vehicle in the household.

They require smaller, much lower cost batteries. These vehicles can be offered at lower prices to help adoption of EVs for the customers who really appreciate their lower operating costs. But for larger retail electric utilities, the economics are unresolvable."

Also from last year:

"We believe smaller, more affordable vehicles are the way to go for EV and volume.

Why? Because the math is completely different than ICE. In ICE, the business we've been in for 120 years, the bigger the vehicle, the higher the margin. But it's exactly the opposite for EVs. The larger the vehicle, the bigger the battery, the more pressure on margin because customers will not pay a premium for those larger batteries."

I remember when Tesla was promising a cheaper EV. I would not have expected they might get beat to that price point by Ford, with a truck.

FWIW, electric _cars_ at or below this price point are certainly a thing, though possibly not in the US.

Unfortunately the US is missing a lot of competition in this space. Chinese EV companies haven't been allowed to sell cars to consumers by tariffs and other disincentives/regulatory hoops. Japanese and Korean automakers aren't importing their sub-$30k EVs to the US because their US divisions don't understand them/want them because they don't look like oversized trucks or SUVs. Similarly for the EU automakers that have US divisions/affiliates. Renault, Dacia and Skoda among others making cheap EVs have no US presence at all.

So much for 'home of the free market' that between regulatory capture and broken dealership models and import tariffs the competition looks so bad.

I'd buy the microvan version of the 2013 Nissan Leaf with a 170 mile range for 25k USD. And I'd never buy a new car.

Nissan didn't add active battery temp management until about the 2018 model year, so I'd be careful which part of the US you buy that van from depending on your interest in battery replacement.

When people ask "where are the <$30k cars?" they generally mean new cars, because the more $30k cars that are sold new should imply more <$10k gently used cars on the market. The used market doesn't get cars that people can't afford to buy new in the first place.

From TFA: "I don't think there's any platform that has been so blank-slate, architected around having a large subassembly that you can put a whole bunch of parts on," added Alan Clarke, executive director of advanced EV development.

You mean a design so common among other car makers (GM, Hyundai) that there’s a word (and a Wikipedia page) for it?

Skateboard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skateboard_(automotive_platfor...

Nice if it happens. Especially if they somehow design a "software-defined" vehicle that's passably secure. And doesn't (say) brick itself if Ford's cloud servers aren't up and available. Or my subscription to that lapses.

Though with some current trends - Ford may really need it both sooner, and cheaper.

In the Ford Mavericks you can disconnect the modem and disable all the cloud features and Android Auto keeps on working without issues

No mention of range, but this is a key selling point for people who use a truck vs people who like to drive around in a truck.

Hard to say what the minimum might be. 200 miles?

People who like to drive around in a truck are pretty much the exclusive market for new trucks in the USA.

Sites are really eating up this PR and promises for the future. Ford stock price is the same as 30 years ago.

So long, Slate Truck, we hardly knew you.

phhhht, Ford’s a lot of talk, and they have been for years. When they actually build something instead of blowing hot air on an earnings call, we can then perhaps close the lid on Slate’s casket. I say this as one who put down the (thankfully refundable) deposit for that $40K electric F-150 that hit dealers at two or more times that price.

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