Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn is investing $2 billion in its Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky to produce its new Ford Universal EV Platform using the new Ford Universal EV Production System.
The goal, according to Ford President and CEO Jim Farley, is to “bring a new family of affordable, high-quality electric vehicles within reach for millions around the world.”
The new vehicle platform and production system is expected to be a simple, efficient, flexible ecosystem that produces a family of affordable, electric, software-defined vehicles — the first of which is a midsize, four-door electric pickup that will be assembled at the Kentucky facility for U.S. and export markets. The launch is scheduled for 2027.
“We took a radical approach to a very hard challenge: Create affordable vehicles that delight customers in every way that matters — design, innovation, flexibility, space, driving pleasure, and cost of ownership — and do it with American workers,” Farley says.
“We have all lived through far too many ‘good college tries’ by Detroit automakers to make affordable vehicles that ends up with idled plants, layoffs and uncertainty. So, this had to be a strong, sustainable and profitable business. From Day 1, we knew there was no incremental path to success. We empowered a tiny skunkworks team three time zones away from Detroit. We tore up the moving assembly line concept and designed a better one. And we found a path to be the first automaker to make prismatic LFP batteries in the U.S.”
Key elements of the Ford Universal EV Production System at the Kentucky plant include transforming the traditional assembly line into an assembly tree. Instead of one long conveyor, three sub-assemblies run down their own lines simultaneously and then join together.
In the branches of the tree, large single-piece aluminum “unicastings” replace dozens of smaller parts, enabling the front and rear of the vehicle to be assembled separately.
The front and rear are then combined with the third sub-assembly, the structural battery, which is independently assembled with seats, consoles, and carpeting, to form the vehicle.
Parts travel down the assembly tree to operators in a kit. Within that kit, all fasteners, scanners, and power tools required for the job are included — and in the correct orientation for use, thereby improving ergonomics for employees by reducing twisting, reaching, and bending.
Because of the integration between the Ford Universal EV Production System and Ford Universal EV Platform, assembly of the midsize electric truck could be up to 40 percent faster than Louisville Assembly Plant’s current vehicles, according to the automaker. Some of that time is expected to be reinvested into insourcing and automation to improve quality and cost, ultimately netting in a 15 percent speed improvement.
“We put our employees at the center and re-created the factory from scratch,” says Bryce Currie, vice president of Americas manufacturing for Ford. “We live and breathe continuous improvement, but sometimes you need a dramatic leap forward. We expect ergonomic breakthroughs and complexity reduction — through elimination of parts, connectors, and wire — will flow through to significant quality and cost wins.”
According to Farley, the new vehicle platform reduces parts by 20 percent versus a typical vehicle, with 25 percent fewer fasteners, 40 percent fewer workstations dock-to-dock in the plant, and 15 percent faster assembly time. The system promises to lower cost of ownership over five years than a three-year-old used Tesla Model Y.
Examples of the improvements include:
- The wiring harness in the new midsize truck will be more than 4,000 feet shorter and 10 kilograms lighter than the one used in Ford’s first-gen electric SUV.
- Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) prismatic batteries enable space and weight savings, while delivering cost reduction and durability for customers. The platform’s cobalt-free and nickel-free LFP battery pack is a structural sub-assembly that also serves as the vehicle’s floor. This low center of gravity improves handling, creates a quiet cabin, and provides a surprising amount of interior space.
- The new midsize truck is forecasted to have more passenger room than the latest Toyota RAV4.
- The midsize truck will have a targeted 0-60 time as fast as a Mustang EcoBoost, with more downforce.
“We took inspiration from the Model T — the universal car that changed the world,” says Doug Field, chief EV, digital, and design officer at Ford. “We assembled a really brilliant collection of minds across Ford and unleashed them to find new solutions to old problems. We applied first‑principles engineering, pushing to the limits of physics to make it fun to drive and compete on affordability. Our new zonal electric architecture unlocks capabilities the industry has never seen. This isn’t a stripped‑down, old‑school vehicle.”
Additional specifications for the midsize electric truck — including reveal date, starting price, EPA-estimated battery range, battery sizes, and charge times — will be communicated later, Ford notes.
To facilitate the new platform and assembly systems, the Louisville Assembly Plant will expand by 52,000 square feet in order to move material more efficiently. Digital infrastructure upgrades are expected to give it the fastest network with the most access points out of any Ford plant globally, enabling more quality scans.
Ford’s investment in Louisville Assembly Plant is in addition to its previously announced $3 billion investment in BlueOval Battery Park Michigan, which will build the prismatic LFP batteries for the midsize electric truck starting next year. Together, the investments total approximately $5 billion, and between the two plants, Ford expects to create or secure nearly 4,000 direct jobs while strengthening the domestic supply chain with dozens of new U.S.-based suppliers.
