Ford Motor Firm has developed a brand new EV platform designed to scale back manufacturing complexity and prices, based on Doug Discipline, the corporate’s chief EV, digital and design officer. The Ford Common Electrical Automobile Platform will underpin the automaker’s first midsize, four-door electrical pickup truck.
Talking at Ford’s Louisville Meeting Plant, Discipline detailed the three-year improvement course of, describing how Ford assembled a small group led by Alan Clarke, previously of Tesla, to work on the undertaking in secrecy at a California facility. The group operated with minimal oversight and was tasked with difficult standard automotive engineering approaches.
“Physics just isn’t proprietary,” Discipline stated, explaining the group’s philosophy of deep methods integration that led them to search out methods for particular person elements to carry out a number of features whereas eliminating complexity.
The brand new platform incorporates what Ford calls “unicasting,” the place massive, single aluminum elements function each structural physique parts and bases for sub-assemblies. In comparison with a standard pickup physique, the group eradicated three-quarters of the elements, two-thirds of the welds, and half of the fasteners. {The electrical} system removes over 4,000 toes of wiring in comparison with Ford’s first-generation electrical SUV.
“The disruption to how we construct the car is each bit as necessary because the product itself,” Discipline stated.
Ford plans to desert the standard shifting meeting line for what it calls an “meeting tree” method. The car might be inbuilt three separate items – entrance, rear, and structural battery core – earlier than closing meeting. Discipline stated this represents the primary time a car might be manufactured utilizing this methodology anyplace on the earth.
The effectivity enhancements are anticipated to permit Ford’s automobiles to attain related vary as rivals whereas utilizing batteries as much as one-third smaller. The corporate’s goal is a five-year price of possession decrease than buying a three-year-old Tesla Mannequin Y.
The midsize electrical pickup will provide extra passenger area than a Toyota RAV4 whereas together with each a entrance trunk and conventional truck mattress. The car will function Ford’s BlueCruise hands-free driving system and what Discipline described as a “ground-up, zonal electrical structure” enabling new digital experiences.
Discipline emphasised that the electrical powertrain was important to the platform’s design philosophy, noting advantages together with dwelling charging functionality, cell energy plant performance, and superior driving dynamics from the battery’s low middle of gravity and instantaneous electrical motor torque.
The chief stated he believes the first aggressive battleground, notably in opposition to Chinese language producers, will happen within the digital realm. He expressed confidence that Ford’s mixture of innovation capabilities and established manufacturing experience positions the corporate to succeed the place each legacy automakers and electrical car startups would possibly wrestle.
Ford has not introduced pricing, vary specs, or launch timing for the midsize electrical pickup.
