Ford is reinventing the assembly line to make more affordable EVs, starting with a $30,000 electric truck

Fast Company

a day ago

Over a century ago, Henry Ford's assembly line helped mass produce the Model T, setting a new standard for how to manufacture vehicles.
Now, at its Louisville Assembly Plant, the Ford Motor Company will soon scrap that typical assembly line for a new manufacturing system. Doing so, the automaker says, will allow it to more efficiently build more affordable electric vehicles —starting with a $30,000 mid-sized electric truck to launch in 2027.
The new system, called the Ford Universal EV Platform, came out of a skunkworks team in California that the automaker established back in 2022. It's part of an effort to make Ford more competitive with Chinese EV companies like BYD, which have dominated the global EV space with affordable vehicles. Ford CEO Jim Farley has himself been a fan of Chinese EVs after driving one for months.
A new Ford assembly line
A typical assembly line follows one straight path. As the path progresses, workers add pieces so that a vehicle is constructed from beginning to end.
The Ford Universal EV Platform turns that singular assembly line into a 'tree' system with three branches. Workers will build the vehicle's front, rear, and structural battery all on separate lines that run in parallel. (The structural battery includes the seats, consoles, and carpeting.) Then, the three branches will come together at the end, where workers will build out the vehicle's interior.
This system means assembly will be 40% faster than current products on the assembly line. It also reduces strain on workers, with less twisting, turning, bending, and reaching, Without the vehicle traveling down a single assembly line, Ford says workers now won't need to install a seat through a door opening, sit in a vehicle to install parts, or reach as much over a fender during the assembly process.
The Universal EV Platform also requires fewer manufacturing parts. With this assembly method, parts are reduced 20% compared to a typical vehicle, including 25% fewer fasteners.
There will also be 40% fewer workstations in the plant. For the electrical system, Ford has removed 4,000 feet of wiring, making it 22 pounds lighter and simpler to install.
The quest to build affordable EVs
The first vehicle to be built on Ford's new Universal EV Platform will be a midsize electric truck with a targeted starting price of $30,000. That vehicle will be built at the Louisville Assembly Plant and will launch in 2027.
Ford did not give full details on the vehicle, including EV range or battery charge time. The automaker did say it will be as quick as a Mustang EcoBoost, with more interior space than a Rav 4. It will have room for five seats, as well as a truck bed, frunk, and exportable power.
'It will offer, for the first time, fast charging. It will have amazing range. It can power your house for six days,' Farley said at a live announcement on Monday from the Louisville plant. 'You don't need a generator, you just buy this truck.'
This midsized electric truck is just the first type of vehicle that can be built on the new EV platform. This new manufacturing system will allow Ford to make a 'family' of affordable electric vehicles with multiple body styles, the company says, that will be available both for U.S. and export markets.
The prismatic lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries will also be assembled in America—not imported from China, the company notes—at Ford's BlueOval Battery Park in Marshall, Michigan.
American EV manufacturing
Ford is investing nearly $2 billion in the Louisville Assembly Plant to implement this new system; it will begin reconfiguring the plant for the new assembly line later this year. That plant will secure 2,200 hourly jobs.
Currently, the Louisville Assembly Plant employs 2,800 hourly workers, meaning there will be 600 fewer jobs with this new assembly line. Some of those workers who may be ready to retire will take a buyout offer, and others may transfer to nearby Ford plants.
The automaker says there are no plans for layoffs. But there is room to grow, the company adds, as the platform scales up in Louisville.
The $2 billion to transform the Louisville plant is part of a $5 billion effort from Ford to overhaul its EV production. That includes $3 billion committed to the BlueOval Battery Park in Michigan, which will secure 1,700 jobs to assemble LFP batteries.
Ford's new Universal EV Platform is a 'bet' the company is making, Farley says, on the future of EV production and on American manufacturing. 'There are no guarantees with this project,' he adds. 'There is risk.' Farley called out competitors, saying Ford could have moved this project to South Korea or Japan for cheaper labor costs and access to lower cost suppliers. 'But that's not the way we do things at Ford,' he said.
With the American automotive industry at a 'crossroads' and Chinese EV competition getting only more intense, Ford needed a radical new approach. Farley calls this new EV platform a 'Model T Moment' for Ford.
'Our goal was to put up affordable, unbelievably great product within reach of millions of Americans, built in the U.S. by U.S. workers, and not be imported,' Farley says. 'Why hasn't anyone done that? Because it's really, really hard.'
Shares of Ford Motor Co (NYSE: F) rose in early trading on Monday following the announcement, but were largely flat by midday. The stock is up more than 15% year to date.