Do you know how many times folks (myself included) yelled at the sky for Ford to put out a battery-electric version of the Maverick?
“If only it were electric,” the masses cried, rending their garments in anguish, and cursing their fate—knowing full well that Ford would sell every EV Maverick that it deigned to produce. Well, now that it’s happening (kind of), it’s time to put your money where your mouth is. And that means ponying up some cold hard cash for Ford’s entry-level $30,000 pickup like you all said you would.
Welcome back to Critical Materials, your daily roundup for all things electric and tech in the automotive space. Also on deck: China's Software-Defined Vehicle advantage and General Motors' Cruise is back (kind of). Let's jump in.
30%: Ford’s $30,000 Pickup Will Finally Be The Battery-Powered Maverick Everyone Wanted
The wait is almost over. Ford has officially confirmed that it's working on a plan that every tiny truck enthusiast, urban-dwelling hauler and budget-minded EV shopper has demanded for ages.
Ford hasn't slapped a Maverick badge on the product, and may not; one rumor suggests it could be called the Ranchero instead. But you get the idea.
This is Ford's people's truck. It's not a $90,000 luxury chrome-lined yacht with a six-foot bed. It's a battery-powered truck for regular humans, something that Ford is calling its "Model T" moment. That means a lot of things for the company—but more importantly, it really hammers home Ford's commitment to building an affordable electric platform for the masses. And that's more important now than ever.
When Ford launched the Maverick back in 2021, it figured out that people in the market for cheap vehicles really like pickups. That's one of the reasons it launched the truck for just $19,995. Now Ford is looking for a way to couple its huge investment into electrification into something that will actually make it some money back, especially with the EV tax credit on its way out. That means Ford has no choice but to make cheap EVs if it wants to continue to sell them.
Ford was able to build the Maverick at such a low cost because of some super smart engineering choices, not to mention that it built the truck on the same platform as a compact, cost-effective crossover. The Blue Oval even marketed the Maverick to urban buyers who would otherwise buy a compact crossover—at one point, 80% of its buyers were first-time pickup owners who bought the Maverick for a bit more utility in their urban lifestyle.
In fact, many of those owners still aren't doing truck things, as Ford revealed to InsideEVs that less than 25% of Maverick owners have actually used their truck to tow something (which is why Ford is okay with giving the cheap EV a tiny LFP battery).
The lessons that Ford has learned from its EV and small pickup projects like the F-150 Lightning and Maverick will feed into the affordable truck. That includes using the truck to supply electricity to their home during a power outage, a front trunk, enough space for five adults and a zero-to-60 mph sprint quicker than the EcoBoost Mustang—that's mid-4-seconds for anyone keeping track.
Needless to say, Ford has effectively put pressure on every single automaker still looking to compete in the affordable EV segment (looking at you, Slate).
Can this new $30,000 truck make the automaker's additional $5 billion EV investment worth it?
60%: China's EV Advantage Was Jump-Started With Software-Defined Vehicles
In the U.S., the term “Software-Defined Vehicle” has become the latest buzzword in the automotive world. I’m sure those in the industry are tired of seeing it in PowerPoint presentations, but little does the consumer know that these SDVs will truly drive the innovation that Americans don’t even know they want—yet.
All the way on the other side of the world, China is blowing the rest of the market away.
The “smart” vehicles made available to new car buyers are incredibly astounding (just ask Ford’s CEO), and if Americans knew all of the tech that China was stuffing into its vehicles—we’re talking voice assistance, personalized cockpits, and other software features that make the car feel like a smartphone on wheels—they’d never want to buy another home-built car again. And all of those advantages start with its vehicles being software-defined.
Here’s what Automotive News has to say:
Chinese car buyers have had access to seamless voice assistants, automated parking help, karaoke and streaming, personalized cockpits and regular over-the-air updates across brands for years.
Western visitors to China describe truly smart, integrated software-enabled vehicles — including Ford CEO Jim Farley, who said that Chinese automakers have “far superior in-vehicle technology” in an electric fleet that is “the most humbling thing I have ever seen.”
China has been bolstered by advantages that have put the nation on the fast track to software-defined vehicles. Such vehicles will offer new functionality via over-the-air updates and will have an open developer ecosystem. Coders outside an automaker’s universe will contribute capabilities.
Meanwhile, in Detroit and across other global legacy brands, model years are still king. Product lifecycles can take five or more years. In China, these have been cut down to as low as 15 months—pretty much iPhone speeds, complete with over-the-air updates.
Ford CEO Jim Farley saw this firsthand not long ago. After spending time with China’s Apple Car, Farley said that the tech in the Chinese cars that Ford has experimented with is “the most humbling thing [he has] ever seen.”
This has turned Chinese buyers into consumers with almost no brand loyalty—and that’s a double-edged sword in a market with more than 100 EV brands. Rather than choose a brand just because they’ve owned something with that badge in the past, consumers instead choose carmakers based on their tech offerings. In fact, the bar keeps getting pushed higher and higher as brands are pumping out new tech and software between model lifecycles. This makes it extremely important for automakers to heavily invest in a software-first approach to building vehicles where creature comforts and cool factor are paramount.
Legacy brands aren’t just behind on batteries—they’re behind on the brains and China isn’t slowing down. This makes the race towards a software-defined future less of a marathon and more of a sprint, and if brands aren’t becoming more relevant, they’re becoming outdated. No wonder they can’t compete with domestic brands in China.
China’s software-first advantage is real and it’s terrifying for the West. Imagine if every Chinese EV rolling into Europe wasn’t just cheaper, but also more appealing to the consumer because of its software-based features.
This puts all automakers on notice: innovate or die.
90%: GM Is Jumping Back Into Autonomy Apparently
Hey guys, remember Cruise? Yes, the autonomous car service that General Motors decided to kill off about eight months ago. At the time, GM CEO Mary Barra said that the automaker instead wanted to focus on building up "personal autonomy" like its hands-free driving assistance system, Super Cruise. Unfortunately, that realization came after a $10 billion cash burn.
But Bloomberg has the scoop on a kind of "Cruise 2.0" from GM, including former employees of the first project. It still won't be a robotaxi service like Tesla is attempting right now. But the ultimate goal will be a car that you can buy—and can operate "with no one at the wheel." From that story:
The plan was detailed in an employee meeting on Aug. 6 by Sterling Anderson, the former Tesla Inc. Autopilot chief who joined GM earlier this year, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the meeting was private. Anderson said he sees autonomy as the future and that GM will add more talent, including trying to bring back some Cruise workers and hire new staff for the automaker’s Mountain View, California, office, the people said.
GM told Bloomberg that it has been running human-driven vehicles on public roads gathering data for the development of self-driving technology.
“We’re accelerating the development of autonomous driving technology capable of operating without active human oversight,” spokeswoman Chaiti Sen said in a statement. The lidar-equipped fleet is logging data to “build simulation models that will guide development.”
GM cut about 1,000 people from its Cruise unit—about half of its employees—earlier this year. Others were transferred to the consumer-focused autonomy operations within the company. And Barra said during GM's second-quarter earnings call that the push for autonomy was one of the automaker's "clear priorities." Now we know what that means.
To reiterate—GM's plan isn't a fleet of robotaxis or for-hire driverless cars. It still wants you to own your vehicle, but it also wants that vehicle to be able to chauffeur you around like you're in the 1% (just with a bow tie on the front instead of the Spirit of Ecstasy).
The brand also confirmed to Bloomberg that it was already running human-driven cars equipped with lidar on public roads to gather data so it can "build simulation models" to help it with autonomy development.
Now, this certainly won't be something solved overnight. GM has a lot of catching up to do to major autonomous vehicle players like Waymo. And now that Tesla is stepping up to the plate, there's a new competitor in town that's also gunning for a personal autonomy platform.
If GM can manage to pull this off, however, it could mean a major shift in how the brand sells cars in the future. The risks and costs are immense. But artificial intelligence is driving a new era of autonomy, and investors care about AI. GM has every future-facing reason to push for this.
100%: Do ‘Smart’ Car Features Influence Your Car-Buying Decisions?
Once upon a time, "smart" car tech was just an in-dash navigation system. Or, maybe native Bluetooth integration that eventually morphed into wireless CarPlay. Now it's in-car karaoke, self-parking, over-the-air updates that give your vehicle new features overnight, and a giant iPad-style display bolted to the dashboard.
Some drivers love it, others want the Slate approach that moves the world back to manual roll-up windows and optional... well, everything.
So when you're shopping for your next ride, does all of this newfangled gadgetry actually tip the scales for your car purchase, or is it just the icing on the cake that makes the deal a little bit better? Let me know in the comments.
