When it comes to EVs, a bigger battery isn’t always better. 

Ford Motor Company is making that bet as part of its effort to manufacture a new suite of more affordable electric vehicles—beginning with a $30,000-starting-price mid-size electric truck set to launch in 2027.

To get more out of a smaller battery, Ford has had to reimagine every step of its manufacturing process. It has scrapped the typical assembly line process in favor of what the automaker calls its “Ford Universal EV Platform,” and simplified every part of its EV, from the miles of wiring inside the electric system to the number of parts that make up its frame.

And it’s had to rethink the battery itself, to make it both more efficient and less expensive to produce. Ford credits many of those innovations to the team from Auto Motive Power, an EV charging startup Ford acquired back in 2023.

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[Photo: Ford]

Ford Bounties to increase efficiency 

Batteries are a massive challenge to designing affordable, efficient EVs. The battery makes up at least 25% of an EV’s total weight and around 40% of its total cost.

In recent years, EV batteries have kept getting bigger. A bigger battery can add miles to an EV’s range, but that also means adding more weight, which makes an EV less efficient, and potentially more difficult to handle. It also means more production costs, which could make that EV more expensive.

To make more affordable EVs, then, Ford has rethought every part of its EV in service of that battery. 

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