Electric Ford Project T3 ute confirmed
Ford claims battery-powered pick-up due in 2025 will ‘revolutionise America’s truck’Ford has started work on its next battery-electric pick-up truck, codenamed Project T3, which is expected to be an all-new successor to the current Ford F-150 Lightning when it goes on sale in 2025.
Announcing the new full-electric ute, Ford boss Jim Farley said: “Project T3 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to revolutionise America’s truck.”
Farley didn’t explicitly confirm Project T3 was a Ford F-150 Lightning replacement, but the reference to “America’s truck” appears to be a clear reference to the full-size F-Series pick-up that has led the sales charts for more than four decades.
The company is also planning a smaller electrified ute and has trademarked the Ford Ranger Lightning nameplate.
The T3 is being developed in co-operation with Ford’s Korean battery partner SK On and will be built at Ford’s new BlueOval City factory near Memphis, Tennessee, which opens in 2025.
Once the first vehicles start rolling off the line in 2025, the new $US5.6 billion ($A8.4b) plant should be capable of building 500,000 vehicles a year using energy and heating produced from renewables.
A battery facility will also be on site to produce power packs for the new pick-up, reducing the environmental impact further.
According to Farley, it’s close working relationship with SK On will see the cost of batteries drop to just $US45 per kilowatt-hour ($A68/kWh) – significantly less than today’s cheapest batteries that sell for $US134/kWh ($A201/kWh).
Maximising profit margins, the T3 manufacturing process will be equally revolutionary, with Farley promising a “radical simplicity, cost efficiency and quality technology that will make BlueOval City the modern-day equivalent of Henry Ford’s Rouge factory”.
Other advances in building the new T3 include shrinking the factory’s footprint by 30 per cent versus a traditional car plant, despite a much higher production output.
Related: Ford Ranger Lightning EV trademarked
Related: Ford F-150 Lightning production to double
Related: Full details: 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning launched
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