Ford bets on a budget-friendly EV platform to outlast physics and profit

Ford is pivoting from costly, oversized EVs like the F-150 Lightning to a family of affordable electric vehicles built on a Universal EV Platform (UEV), led by a Silicon Valley skunkworks team. The plan focuses on efficiency and cost, using a bounty system to quantify micro-optimizations (weight, drag, etc.), adopting lighter aluminum components, cheaper lithium‑iron‑phosphate (LFP) batteries, and a zonal architecture with an integrated E‑Box to cut wiring and parts. Ford aims for a $30,000 midsize EV in 2027 and is moving toward mass production with tighter supply‑chain control, even if it means 400‑volt systems over the faster 800‑volt setups to maintain flexibility and battery compatibility.