Ford is betting that a radical rethink of how it builds electric vehicles can finally make a truly affordable EV truck and help it claw back ground from Tesla and Chinese rivals.

Ford has revealed engineering details for a new electric pickup it aims to sell for about $30,000, with a 2027 launch. The truck is part of a broader pivot away from big, expensive EVs toward smaller, more affordable models, following slowing demand and the loss of the US federal tax credit, which exposed weaknesses in Ford’s original EV strategy. CEO Jim Farley has framed the project as a modern-day “Model T moment,” signaling Ford’s belief that this truck could define the next era of mass-market mobility.

Crucially, this pickup is being developed by a separate “skunkworks” team in California, set up in 2022 to rethink EVs from the ground up rather than iterating on existing platforms. Ford hasn’t yet disclosed final range or pricing details, but everything about the engineering points to a singular goal: offer the capability and range buyers expect without the cost and weight that have plagued many current EVs.

At the heart of this push is unicasting, Ford’s term for using large hydraulic presses to form major sections of the vehicle's structure from molten aluminum. The process, often called “gigacasting,” was pioneered at scale by Tesla and has since been adopted by several automakers, including Toyota and Volvo. Ford quietly bought a giant “gigapress” from the same Italian supplier Tesla uses, initially for R&D, and is now ready to bring the technology into production.

For the new electric pickup, Ford says unicasting will cut the number of body parts in the front and rear structure from 147 on the Maverick to just two. Fewer parts mean fewer welds, less complexity, and lower labor and tooling costs, all of which play into the affordability equation. The company also expects major efficiency gains: Alan Clarke, a former Tesla executive hired in 2022 to lead Ford’s next‑gen EVs, says the new vehicles could be roughly 27% lighter than today’s best-in-class EVs, including Tesla’s Model Y.

Weight has become the quiet enemy of modern EVs, as carmakers have responded to range anxiety by simply installing larger and more expensive battery packs. Clarke notes that customers often demand more than 300 miles of range, but adding battery capacity increases weight, which then requires more energy and even more battery to move it — a costly spiral. Ford’s answer is to attack the problem from the other side: make the vehicle itself dramatically lighter and more aerodynamic so it can go further on a smaller pack.

To do that, Ford has stacked its EV truck program with ex-Formula 1 aerodynamic engineers, a striking sign of how seriously it takes aero efficiency. Alongside the cast-aluminum structure, Ford is refining the truck’s shape to slice through the air more cleanly, which can yield big efficiency gains at highway speeds. The combination of reduced mass and smarter aerodynamics is intended to deliver the range buyers want without resorting to oversized, high-cost packs.

On the chemistry side, Ford is adopting Lithium Iron-Phosphate (LFP) batteries for the truck, a technology widely used by Chinese EV makers for its durability, lower cost, and tolerance for frequent fast charging. These packs will be built in Michigan using technology licensed from Chinese giant CATL, allowing Ford to localize production while tapping proven cell designs.

Ford’s pivot to this new EV architecture follows a painful stretch for its electrification business. When engineers tore down a Tesla Model 3, they discovered Ford’s Mustang Mach‑E carried roughly one extra mile of electrical wiring, contributing to unnecessary weight and inefficiency. More broadly, the company’s first wave of EVs was heavier and less efficient than rivals, undermining competitiveness as incentives faded.

By late 2024, the slowdown in EV demand after the loss of the $7,500 federal tax credit forced Ford to rethink its roadmap. It effectively abandoned the push to beat Tesla with a lineup of large, premium EVs, shifted aggressively toward hybrids, and even scrapped the all‑electric F‑150 Lightning in its planned form. The financial hit was severe: Ford took nearly $20 billion in EV-related charges during this transition, and its EV division lost $4.8 billion in 2025, with another $4–5 billion in losses expected this year.

Out of that reset has emerged a new strategy built on a flexible EV platform that will debut with the $30,000 pickup and eventually underpin at least five vehicles, including potential SUVs and commercial vans. The common thread is a focus on structural simplicity, lighter weight, and carefully optimized range — in other words, learning from Tesla’s manufacturing playbook while trying to undercut it on affordability. If Ford can deliver on its promises, unicasting may become the backbone of a leaner, more competitive EV lineup rather than just a flashy manufacturing experiment.