Yesterday, Ford dropped a pretty significant bombshell: The company is building a $30,000 electric pickup truck using an entirely new manufacturing process at its Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky. That truck is destined to arrive in 2027.
Ford promises that its EV pickup will have completely new battery technology, and even though the company touts it as a mid-sizer, Ford later confirmed that it will have a footprint similar to the current Maverick. So, it will be pretty compact.
With that, there's really only one obvious competitor in mind: The new Jeff Bezos-backed Slate truck. While there's been plenty of hype surrounding Slate's tiny, electric truck, there's reason to believe that Ford's compact pickup could have an even bigger impact.
Here's why.
Slate Simplicity Vs Ford Functionality
Prior to the Trump Administration's rollback of Federal EV incentives, Slate promised a $20,000 starting price for its pickup. That's since changed to "mid-twenties"—but nonetheless, Slate is aiming directly for the entry-level market.
Ford's compact pickup, on the other hand, won't compete with Slate on the pricing front. Ford says it will start at around $30,000 and go up from there, which means it will be at least $5,000 more expensive than the cheapest Slate. The cheapest Ford Maverick, by comparison, costs just over $30,000 for 2025.
Even more importantly, though, Ford says its electric pickup won't be a stripped-down, bare-bones pickup like Slate's truck, which has roll-down windows and no paint options out of the box. EV chief Doug Field noted:
'This is not going to be a stripped-down, old-school vehicle as a path to low cost.'
As you'd expect from most Ford models, even the cheapest version of its new pickup will have a bevvy of equipment with the ability to add on fancier features from there. The company even confirmed that it will have BlueCruise, Ford's hands-free driver-assistance technology. The larger Ford Ranger only recently received it as an option for 2025.
Ford will keep costs down, largely, through its new manufacturing process, which the company promises will be "40 percent faster" and drastically more efficient than the automaker’s current setup. Ford also promises that its new electric truck—and future EVs using the same manufacturing process—will have fewer pieces, which means fewer things to go wrong (which should, theoretically, mean fewer recalls long-term).
Bigger Batteries ≠ Better
As a compact truck, Ford’s electric pickup will have an expectedly small battery pack. But it may be even smaller than you think.
Ford said its truck will use a battery that is 15 percent smaller than the BYD Atto’s pack, a Chinese crossover that has 60.5 kilowatt-hours of usable energy. Quick math suggests that Ford’s battery will be around 51.0 kWh.
Surprisingly, 51.0 kWh would be even smaller than what Slate offers. The Slate truck has a base battery of 52.7 kWh and an optional battery of 84.3 kWh, with 150 miles and 240 miles of range, respectively. As our colleagues at InsideEVs point out, that’s also significantly down on the Chevrolet Equinox (85.0 kWh) and other small-ish EVs currently on the market.
Interestingly, Ford touts a 400-volt architecture for its new truck in an era where many automakers are already switching to the more advanced 800-volt architecture. That said, the American-built LFP battery promises to be free of cobalt and nickel, which should help save space, reduce weight, and keep costs down.
One thing we don’t know about Ford’s electric truck is the range. If Ford wants to be competitive, the new pickup would have to have at least 150 miles in base form (same as the Slate truck), with options for high-density battery packs with more range. Ford CEO Jim Farley does promise that the automaker’s electric truck will have vehicle-to-lead (V2L) and vehicle-to-home (V2H) capabilities.
Will Ford's Truck Be A Hit?
Even though the specs aren’t immediately impressive, Ford believes that its upcoming electric pickup will make a pretty significant impact. Unlike Slate, which is essentially starting from the ground floor, Ford at least has all the pieces—dealerships, infrastructure, experience, etc—in place to move its new truck off showrooms at a pretty rapid pace.
The Maverick is a good measuring stick. Even though it started slowly in its first two years on sale, Ford sold more than 150,000 Mavericks last year and is already on pace to improve on that number in 2025. Through the first half of this year, Ford has already sold 85,000 Maverick pickups.
Granted, there’s still plenty we don’t know about Ford’s upcoming electric pickup, and how desirable (or not) it will be compared to the company’s gas-powered Maverick. But if this new EV pickup can capture even a fraction of those buyers, it may be a hit.
