Ford is attempting a “Model T moment” by divorcing its next-gen EV development from Dearborn. In this Autoline special, we go behind the scenes of Ford’s secret Long Beach development center, where a team of ex-Tesla and Formula 1 engineers are tearing up the legacy automotive rulebook. Led by Alan Clarke, this “skunkworks” group is utilizing a Total Systems Engineering approach—driven by a unique “Bounty System”—to develop the Universal EV (UEV) platform.
By assigning a literal dollar value to every millimeter of height and every gram of weight, Ford claims they can deliver a mid-size electric truck by 2027 that is:
– Profitable at a $30,000 MSRP without government subsidies.
– Equipped with a battery 30% smaller than competitors while maintaining the same range.
– Built 15% faster using a new “Assembly Tree” production method that replaces the 100-year-old moving assembly line.
– We dive into the technical breakthroughs—from the 48-volt zonal architecture that strips out 4,000 feet of copper wire to the unicasting and structural LFP battery packs that could give Ford an “existential” advantage over both Tesla and Chinese OEMs.
