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Ford CEO Jim Farley promised a “Model T moment” at today’s press conference in Kentucky. The carefully chosen tagline is fitting. The announcement is less about a specific vehicle and more about the future of Ford factories.
Ford’s assertion that it’s “reinventing” vehicle assembly–on the other hand–is a stretch. Many of the retooled Louisville factory’s “innovations” will be borrowed from Tesla. And that’s fine by me.
Why? Because Ford’s on the right track where it counts. With its next new vehicle, Ford is aiming for a lower cost of ownership over five years than a used Tesla Model Y. And that’s the kind of transportation Americans need.
EVs offer a lower cost-per-mile
Cars are too expensive. The Model T famously cost the same as what Ford paid its factory workers every four months. Today, a Ford factory worker makes $10,880 in four months, but the company’s cheapest vehicles is the Maverick pickup at $29,145.
If you follow the traditional “spend 10% of your income on transportation” advice, a modern family would need to make $100k to afford payments, insurance, fuel, and repairs on the cheapest used car. And that’s for just one vehicle. We need cheaper transportation, and the answer will likely be electric.
Ford’s new ‘Model T moment’ will be electric
Ford’s hoping its new “Universal EV Platform” vehicles will have 20% fewer parts and 25% fewer fasteners than the average ICE vehicle. This is partly because of the simplicity of electric powertrains. But that’s not all.
Ford is also trying to reduce the complexity of components such as the wiring harness. It plans to use a software-defined-architecture which will limit the number of chips required.
The Blue Oval is using a Tesla-style Gigapress to stamp front and rear sub-assemblies out of a single sheet of aluminum. It’s offsetting the cost of batteries by going with the country’s first lithium iron phosphate batteries. Finally, it’s using load-bearing battery packs to replace part of the frame.
The result is a vehicle that’s much cheaper to build and cheaper to maintain than your average ICE. Ford’s benchmarking five-year ownership costs. But EVs could potentially last much longer than regular ICE vehicles, driving cost-per-mile even lower.
Ford’s new EV is far from perfect
The first vehicle Ford is planning to build on its “Universal EV Platform” is a $30k, four-door pickup truck. It will likely be called the Ford Ranchero.
I would rather see a $20k FWD station wagon. Such a vehicle’s aerodynamics would improve its range. Its light weight would reduce its battery size, thus reducing charge time. The right compact Ford would be a great vehicle for two-car families in the U.S. and could compete with Chinese EVs abroad. But the point of Ford pioneering an entire “Universal EV Platform” is that more efficient models can come after the pickup truck.
In addition, the new “assembly tree” Ford is so proud of is lifted right out of Tesla’s factory innovations. Tesla currently completes multiple sub-assemblies on separate lines and then combines them to complete a vehicle. That said, if Henry Ford were alive today he would carefully study the rest of the industry and incorporate its best innovations. The Ford founder would be proud of this new “Model T moment.”
