Ford Reveals It Has a Top-Secret Team To Make Inexpensive EVs

Ford says it has a hush-hush, top-notch team dedicated to designing its more cost-effective electric vehicles for the future. This is a part of the automobile company’s mission to compete with rivals such as Tesla and other lower-cost EV makers from China, according to CNN.

Consumers are spoilt for choice in the high-end electric vehicle market. EV technology, especially batteries, is pricier, and this is the main reason for the more expensive price tag attached to these kinds of cars across the board. However, it is easier for luxury car makers such as Mercedes and Audi to turn around a profit, as consumers of those makes are more willing and used to paying more than consumers of the more affordable mainstream brands such as Ford.

EVs of the more accessible automobile brands still cost significantly more than their alternative options. The Ford Mustang Mach-E, for example, which is Ford’s current EV, starts at around $45,000.

These steep prices are starting to have an impact on sales. The U.S. has experienced a downturn in sales growth for EVs, with cost being a significant culprit. In the final quarter of 2023, EV sales rose by 40%. However, it rose by just under 49% in the third quarter of 2023 and saw 52% growth in the same period the year before.

In a study released by S&P Global Mobility toward the end of last year, the company revealed that almost half of people who were surveyed across the world thought EV prices were too high. In an announcement about the survey, Yanina Mills, senior technical research analyst at S&P Global Mobility, said, “Pricing is still very much the biggest barrier to electric vehicles.”

On a recent investor call, chief executive of Ford Jim Farley said that for two years, the automaker has had a team working on engineering for lower-cost electric vehicles.

Farley said, “We developed a super-talented ‘Skunk Works’ team to create a low-cost EV platform. It was a small group, small team, some of the best EV engineers in the world, and it was separate from the Ford mothership.”

The announcement about this secret mission came to the scene after Ford announced improved earnings in 2023, even though there was a United Auto Workers strike.