Ford has been losing billions on its electric vehicle ambitions for years, so the company has switched gears. Instead of making high-end EVs that cost a lot more than its gas-powered and hybrid offerings, Ford decided to go the other way and target EVs that are affordable. It’s a strategy that has worked for Tesla and the Model 3, which helped transform that company, nearly overnight, from a luxury auto brand into one much more accessible to the average car buyer.After years of factory work and testing to reduce costs and increase range, Ford is getting ready to debut what it has been cooking up in the lab. On Thursday, Aug. 6, Ford debuted the name of its new midsize EV pickup truck, Fathom, in a one-minute animated video. Though the video is more about lifestyle and less about the vehicle’s specs, it is the first official glimpse into the truck expected to make its debut in 2027.Ford Fathom priced under $30,000For months now, Ford CEO Jim Farley has been promising anyone who would listen that the future of Ford’s electric vehicle program lies in vehicles that cost less than $30,000.The company delivered on that promise with Fathom, which has an MSRP of $28,350.The company said it learned its lesson from the now-defunct Ford F-150 Lightning series, NPR reported. The 2025 model Lightnings started at about $55,000 MSRP, nearly $20,000 more than an entry-level, gas-powered 2026 F-150 XL.Consumers didn’t want to pay more for their EVs, so Ford was going to make all of the ones they offer affordable, following the Chinese model that has worked so well for companies like BYD. But Ford says the starting price is “the least interesting thing” about the vehicle, as it will have more passenger volume than a Toyota RAV4, bidirectional power capability, and a “frunk” for added carrying capacity. It will also seat five adults comfortably.Pre-ordering for the Fathom begins in early 2027.Ford begins real-world testing of Universal Electric Vehicle projectIf you’ve been driving around the state of Michigan recently, there’s a chance you’ve seen an alien-looking electric vehicle in your vicinity. Don’t be alarmed; that’s just Ford testing the next generation of sub-$30,000 EVs that it hopes will make EV demand do a complete 180 in the coming years.Recently, Ford Chief Financial Officer Sherry House revealed that prototypes of Ford’s Universal Electric Vehicle, which aims to build an EV priced for most Americans’ budgets, are already off the line and being tested on Michigan roads.A Ford spokesman confirmed to the Detroit Free Press that the vehicles are currently “out in the wild.”The first vehicle to come off its updated Universal Electric Vehicle production platform is the Ford Fathom.“The project is going really well. We’re on plan for our 2027 launch,” House told the UBS Auto and Auto Tech Conference, according to the Free Press.“We are making prototype vehicles in Michigan. We’re testing those already on the road. We’re testing our megacastings, which is a new product. We’re doing a supplier readiness assessment. So all those things that you’d expect us to be doing… preparing for launch is in full force today.”How does Ford plan to make a $30,000 EV?EVs cost about $11,000 more on average than their traditional gas-fueled counterparts, according to a 2023 report by SaveOnEnergy. That, coupled with the expiration of the up to $7,500 tax credit that had been propping up the industry for a decade, means EVs are as unaffordable in America as they’ve ever been. For months, Ford has been teasing progress on its Universal Electric Vehicle project, which aims to build an EV priced for most Americans.Ford says it hopes to produce a $30,000 EV in the near future. To get there, it needs to tackle the biggest cost driver for electric vehicles: their batteries.Customers expect at least 300 miles of range, according to Ford, and to achieve that, batteries have been made bigger and heavier. But Ford says it is taking a different approach.It gave its engineers incentives to increase battery efficiency by any means necessary. The team identified aerodynamics and vehicle weight as the two main areas where batteries were operating inefficiently.The way EVs are currently designed increases wind drag, making the battery work harder and less efficiently. Ditto for weight, as heavier vehicles also need more juice to operate.At higher speeds, air drag becomes more important. For example, if you go twice as fast, the air holds you back four times as much, and you need eight times as much power from the battery, according to Ford.So Ford devised a “bounty” program in which its engineers assigned numerical values to efficiency gains. Teams competed against each other for the largest efficiency gains, reducing battery size and cost.A millimeter change in the height of the roof could equate to $1.30 in battery savings costs while also making its pickup truck the industry leader in efficiency, as shown by Ford.Related: Jefferies strongly resets Ford stock target
Ford’s first $30,000 shot at increasing U.S. EV demand has a name
