BREAKING: Here is the new Ford Universal EV Platform, explained by the skunkworks team. Essentially they are going for an unboxed manufacturing process, gigacasting (they call it unicasting), LFP batteries which will be integrated as the vehicle floor.

So the plan is (in may respects) "copy Tesla", yes? I mean, OK, it's the right thing to do, but I do wonder how easily they can change the culture as well? People mistake Tesla's advantage as being technological in some way but it's not - it's speed of innovation, and the ability to experiment and pivot rapidly. You don't magically get that by copying a manufacturing process.

exactly. So they said their mantra in the skunkworks team was "best part is no part" but can they transform the whole organization to think the same way?

@DisruptivDecade Do the engineers sit at the same table or are departments and systems still siloed?

@TheEVuniverse Watch the video - sounds like they're working together

Yes, they do say they worked together, but they also said "teams would come back and say...". I hope your take is correct. It wasn't as clear as I would like having been steeped in Sandy Munro's observations about how compartmentalized Detroit is and my own experience with intra-corporate fiefdoms.

@TheEVuniverse Agreed

Gee. Wonder where they got that idea from.

🤫

Can’t think of anything more bullish for Tesla than this video

haha that's very true

This is awesome. This is Ford’s equivalent of Tesla’s unboxed process which is validation for Tesla. Note the engineer highlighted wiring as the biggest impediment, which is indeed THE problem for unboxed. Will be interesting to compare how Ford and Tesla attack this. Ford continues to be my fav legacy auto company.

I do like Ford finally showing ACTION around this, as it seems Farley has been talking about all this for a long while now. Like the interview on how they can't build the software they wanted, Chinese EVs and how they fly them to Detroit to study, etc. Jim has a clear head

Yeah, the only way unboxed works is to also tackle the Electronic Control Module (ECM) mess that legacy auto created for themselves and go to a full zonal controller architecture. NOT EASY! I talk about hard this is in my video about Cybertruck electrical.

It could have been a 5 seconds long video where they would say: we are doing what Tesla is doing

And it would’ve been even better received tbh

tesla but 10 years behind

🤣🤣

I wrote up an article on everything you need to know about Ford's new Universal EV platform:

They also went for new zonal electric architecture and the wiring harness will be >4,000 feet (1.3 kilometers) shorter and 10 kilograms lighter (22 pounds) than the one used in their first-gen electric SUV.

Seems like I've reached a few more EV geeks like usual here. Join 13,500 EV geeks in my weekly newsletter: ⚡️

Just in, Elon acknowledges Doug Fields saying "the best part is no part" on the livestream.

Gigacasting. I wonder where this idea came from. I see this helping Ford but they have a massive problem of their legacy workers (basically unions) shitting up the process and the savings getting nerfed as a result.

no no it is UNIcasting :D totally not the same thing I promise

Talk is cheap. They’re basically saying they’ll try to catch up to where Tesla is today in several years. Good luck 👍🏻

what is it with companies copying tesla but framing it as some groundbreaking thing they came up with?

Finally, Ford is looking ahead and will be building EVs correctly.

Sandy Munro made at least two appearances. @live_munro

@live_munro nice camo indeed haha

People joke about legacy auto being years behind or copying Tesla but at least they’re trying. They’re doing something. They could just be stubborn and keep making ICE vehicles exclusively like they used to. It’s a good thing that they’re starting to embrace EVs.

agreed

Must feel awkward being a Ford engineer in that video, talking like you're doing something completely new, while deep down knowing you're just a copycat. But I take my hat off to Ford for not being too proud to do it. 🤠

IOW, copying Tesla. Nothing wrong with that, but portraying it as something new is… marketing. And Tesla has continued to progress.

Do I spot a titan of industry? @teardowntitan

Good call, on the unboxed process. I hope they succeed, because we need more than one American auto manufacturer for the good of the country. Tesla has been slow in rolling out the unboxed process; must be harder than they thought.

Sounds familiar! As soon as these companies achieve profitability on pure EV plays, Tesla will be have robots everywhere driving themselves from the factory floor straight to picking up customers

You have learned from Tesla, but you are getting left behind because the Chinese companies have learned from them sooner. Move faster before you get left totally behind.

hilarious! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 let’s see how long it takes them to ditch the idea when losses are seriously immense, then license tesla’s powertrain skateboard and ai fsd software, like everyone else will to become profitable

Sooo... their "Model T" moment is to copy Tesla lol. Easier said than done. Good luck

They owe it to Tesla to let the world know that Tesla is the source of all of these decisions. People that know are shaking their head at the lack of credit. They're targeting people that don't know but for me and I imagine many others in the know, it's weak.

So basically copying Tesla only with different labels

They literally just copied Tesla lol

Copy and paste Tesla but put ford all over it. I’m for the direction of ford. Hilarious Tesla is being ignored.

Tesla:

Imagine calling this innovation while Tesla has been doing lots of It 10 years ago.

The union will figure out a way to muck this up if the lack of vertical integration doesn’t kill this initiative first. Too many obstacles to overcome for this to be successful.

So what Tesla does?

It’s good they’ve taken the Tesla approach, well done, and wish Jim all the success.

“We came up with” 😂!

You mean they are copying Tesla.

Hoping this is successful for Ford - great seeing them continue to move forward with additional EV investments.

Tesla been doing this and coining those terms for years tho 🤣🤣🤣