- Ford’s affordable electric pickup is indeed a midsize vehicle, the company confirmed Thursday.
- The company has always referred to the $30,000 EV as a midsize truck, but that changed to "small" in its second-quarter sales report due to what a spokesperson referred to as an error that has been corrected.
- Official dimensions are still nowhere to be found, but spy shots have started popping up.
[Correction 7/9 10:30 am: A recent Ford sales release described its upcoming electric truck as "small" for the first time, which we reported on here. A spokesperson later said that wording was an error and that the language in the release has since been updated to "midsize," which is how Ford has typically referred to it. The original article continues below, but Ford's official position is that the truck is still "midsize" and that the "small" language was incorrect.]
Ford’s $30,000 electric pickup truck, which is due next year, has been officially demoted from mid-size to small. The EV won’t get any smaller physically, but after several spy shots have emerged online, showing the entry-level truck next to larger vehicles, Ford has changed its wording regarding the pickup’s size class.
Ever since the Universal Electric Vehicle (UEV) platform was announced last year, Ford has been adamant that the first model based on the new architecture, the 2027-bound battery-powered truck, is a mid-sizer.
Until recently, we had to take the company’s word for it, as there weren’t any vehicles to compare it to. That changed in the last few weeks, though, as more and more spy photos showed the entry-level EV alongside larger cars, cementing the fact that the new truck is, in fact, quite small.
Earlier this month, Ford said for the first time that the yet-to-be-named EV is not midsize. In the company’s second-quarter sales report, the new pickup is being referred to as “small” not once, but twice, as spotted by Ford Authority:
“The company’s focus on high-margin SUVs—Expedition, Explorer, and Bronco—sustained retail share during the planned phase-out of the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair. This transition paves the way for Ford's all-new, affordable small electric pickup built on its Universal Electric Vehicle platform.”
“Retooling is underway at the Louisville Assembly Plant to build the all-new, affordable small four-door electric pickup off the Universal Electric Vehicle platform next year.”
The document doesn’t mention a midsize pickup at all, so it’s safe to say that Ford has finally made up its mind about the size of its new EV. Still, it’s probably worth trying to explain why the company chose to refer to it as midsize to begin with. My best guess is that, thanks to its space-saving architecture, the EV will indeed offer mid-size levels of interior space, at least compared to combustion-powered vehicles.
Last year, Ford CEO Jim Farley said that the new vehicle would be a pickup, but not really. “It’s a new silhouette,” Farley said during an episode of The Verge’s Decoder podcast. “What I mean by that is that it has more room than a RAV4, the best-selling passenger car in the US. That doesn’t include its frunk and pickup truck bed."
There’s still no word on how big the bed or the front trunk is, and Ford has not unveiled the vehicle’s dimensions yet. What we do know is that the new affordable electric pickup will be powered by lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries, which are known for their low manufacturing costs and resilience. We also know that the EV will be either rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, with Ford touting its in-house-developed motors as being the cheapest in the world.
