Ford employs a skunkworks team that has been working on developing a low-cost electric vehicle platform for over two years now, and we’re learning a bit more about that effort with each passing day. Expected to underpin a mid-size pickup to start, this new platform could also be used in a small crossover and maybe even a rideshare vehicle, but as one might imagine, cutting costs while also making a compelling product is quite the challenging endeavor. Recently, Ford CEO Jim Farley noted that the biggest obstacle in that regard is scale.
“Some of the more challenging parts about that is going to be how much risk we take on the supply chain,” Farley said at the recent Wolfe Research Auto, Auto Tech and Semiconductor Conference. “There are a lot of great new age suppliers in the EV space that are not the traditional suppliers. And they have not scaled to Ford’s scale before. And making a vehicle this way, when you see how we’re going to make it, it’s a completely different manufacturing process that will also be very new.”
“So I think the risk to me, I know this, I don’t want to sound arrogant, but the risk to me is not, will our tech be competitive? It’s actually, will we be able to execute at large scale with these suppliers in a manufacturing footprint that is a fraction of what we normally have in terms of labor content? There is so much new technology in the manufacturing and the supply chain that that’s where I think we have to do a good job on execution mitigation.”
In addition to figuring out challenges with scale, the Ford skunkworks team is also focused on making less complex vehicles, being more efficient in the research and development process, and leaving out pricey technology features such as Level 3 autonomy, as Ford Authority previously reported.
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Should be interesting to follow how these challenges are solved.
So to make an EV most people don’t really want competitive in price is to cut out as much labor cost as possible. Farley has Doomed Ford
The biggest obstacle is that most don’t want an EV, period. Can’t you work on something worthwhile for a change?
You forget that Ford sells midsize trucks, which this one will be, all over the world including many countries that have a different EV adoption approach than the USA.
ice can’t be dead soon enough!!!!!
Best selling vehicle in the world is an EV.
No, it isn’t. It’s the Toyota Corolla.
Nope, not anymore.
Completely agree!👍. Jim Farley should focus on getting better designed, built, and driving ICE and hybrid vehicles.
The big obstacle to scale is Farley doesn’t make any cheap small EVs, despite all his talk. Maybe Mary Barra will beat him out with the Bolt.
He talks about scaling and suppliers and this and that. But there are too many trim levels in the Ford vehicles. They all look different, which creates too many different parts that they need to purchase. This also makes it more challenging for the techs to service because they are all different.
A crazy idea, have the center consoles and dashboards looks the same but change the features within the vehicle to go along with the trim levels.
If you take a look at Tesla (not that they are popular right now) but all each of their vehicle models look the same inside. They have the big center consoles and dashboards look alike. When you purchase this at scale, it helps bring the cost down but also helps with repairs for their vehicles.
They are complicating their product line with way too many options. Consumers are getting overwhelmed.
Make a great vehicle at a decent price, isn’t this what this skunkworks team is supposed to do? Well over 2 years and still nothing. They are behind and will continue to fall behind.
This sounds like wishful thinking from a CEO who has made a lot of bold promises about upcoming EVs. Sales of new models will be so high that suppliers can’t keep up? That would be a nice problem to have.