The higher purchase prices of EVs now represent the number-one obstacle to mass adoption. Automakers have figured this out (some a bit later than others), and are adjusting their strategies to bring more low-priced EVs to market.
In February, Ford CEO Jim Farley announced that his company has been quietly working on a low-cost platform for smaller EVs for the last two years. Now we learn that two of the first EVs to be built on the platform will be a small electric pickup and SUV, with starting prices around $25,000. The platform will feature low-cost LFP batteries, and the first model is expected to launch in 2026. Meanwhile, plans for a huge three-row electric SUV have been shifted to the slow lane.
During a recent Wolfe Research conference, Farley highlighted one of the main trends driving the move towards cheaper EVs: looming competition from Chinese automakers. “As the CEO of a company that had trouble competing with the Japanese and the South Koreans, we have to fix this problem,” Farley said, adding that Ford needed to “bet on a smaller EV platform.”
Farley also hinted at doubts about the conventional wisdom that Americans will only buy large vehicles. Big-ass trucks like the F-150 Lightning are expensive to build, so anything larger than the Ford Escape needs to be functional to justify its price, whereas an Escape-sized EV or smaller “completely works,” and offers “dramatically better operating cost” than the smaller gas-powered vehicles that US automakers abandoned a few years ago.
Source: Electrek
