Ford boss Jim Farley called the coming Ranger-sized electric ute a “game-changer” on a recent earnings call.
The Blue Oval confirmed an electric mid-size ute is under development earlier this year and Mr Farley has made some big statements on that vehicle’s potential. The Ford Ranger is the brand’s current mid-size ute.
According to reports the Ford boss described the mid-size EV ute as “one of the most exciting” game changing products and that it’s an “incredible package”.
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The comments follow some eye-opening soundbites from the Ford boss recently, where he professed his love of Chinese electric cars.
“I don’t like talking about the competition so much, but I drive a Xiaomi. We flew one from Shanghai to Chicago and I’ve been driving it for six months now, and I don’t want to give it up,” he said in an Everything Electric Show interview.
Earlier this year it was reported he professed the superiority of China’s electric car tech.
“I’ve had two trips to China the last two years that were literally epiphanies,” he said.
“In the west, our cell phone companies are not into cars – they don't have car companies. But in China, both Huawei and Xiaomi, the two biggest cell phone companies, are inside of every vehicle that is made.”
"Everyone's talking about the Apple car, but the Xiaomi car, which now exists – it's fantastic."
He also took a shot at the BYD Shark 6 and said the future ute would be able to match the “cost structure of any Chinese auto manufacturer building in Mexico in the future”.
BYD is currently building a factory in Mexico to build its cars to get around the US’s 100 per cent tariff on Chinese built cars.
Australian delivered BYDs are all built in China.
BYD just launched the Shark 6 plug-in hybrid in Australia with a starting price of $57,900, before on-road costs, a future fully-electric version would be more expensive.
Ford announced earlier this year it had assembled a secret 'skunkworks' team in California with the aim of developing a new low-cost electric vehicle program.
An electric mid-size ute would be the first vehicle to be built on this new platform.
“We recruited the most technically skilled and creative professionals from inside and outside Ford to drive a radical change in how we develop an electric vehicle,” said Farley at the time.
“The work of this highly talented team has evolved into a critical enabler of our electric vehicle strategy. These electric vehicles will be lower cost, and not compromised in any way.”
This new electric Ranger ute project is led by the California team that will take point on design, engineering, supply chain and manufacturing to best reduce costs.
It also appears to spell the end of the Aussie-developed Ranger ute.
The current and previous Ranger were engineered and designed in the company’s Broadmeadows, Melbourne facilities. The Ranger platform spawned other vehicles including the Everest and Bronco four-wheel drives.
This new Ranger EV could use Lithium-iron Phosphate (LFP) batteries, which the company is on track to develop in-house by 2027 when the electric Ranger is due to hit the road.
These batteries are cheaper than conventional batteries as they don’t require rare earth metals such as Nickel and Cobalt.
The downside is they are less energy dense.
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