Can A New Ford Midsize EV Pickup Recreate “Model T” Moment Save Struggling Business?

On August 11, 2025, Ford CEO Jim Farley is expected to announce a new Ford midsize EV pickup as part of a “Model T” moment. Will it be enough to save their struggling EV business?

Ford “Model T” moment

The story in Autonews.com says the announcement will be centered around a new electric vehicle lineup using new batteries built in Marshall, Michigan.

This plant is slated to open next year with a $3 billion investment promising 1,700 jobs when fully ramped up and will be the first EV battery plant to use lithium iron phosphate chemistry, known as LFP, at industrial scale. LFP batteries are cheaper, safer (low risk of catching fire or overheating)and have a longer cycle life compared to the lithium-ion or nickel manganese cobalt chemistry. Also, they are easier to produce, recycle and are better for the environment. The plant will produce around 230,000 batteries when fully operational.

The current thinking for cons to the LFP batteries is they have lower energy density versus other battery types meaning they take up more room, can charge slower in the cold (the battery needs more time to warm up aka precondition to accept the charge) and don’t offer the same range as the lithium-ion batteries provide.

Ford is using 70-kWh LFP batteries already in the Mustang Mach-E standard range models since 2023 according to CarandDriver.com. The LPF battery actually saw an increase in range from 247 miles for RWD to 250 miles RWD. Extended range Mach-Es kept the lithium-ion battery packs with range up to 312 miles.

Struggling business?

Ford has split its business into divisions and has been reporting on their results separately.

On July 31, 2025, Ford announced its electric vehicle business, Model e, reported mounting losses for Q2 2025, which rose 16% to $1.3 billion in the hole.

However, CEO Farley said that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“Model e continues to make targeted investments where we have breakthrough innovation, such as our next-generation EVs, and where we have a distinct advantage, such as our LFP battery technology launching in our new plant in Marshall,” Farley said on the investor earnings call.

Midsize EV Pickup

Finally, sources and online chatter has been rampant for a while about a midsize EV pickup to go along with the full-size F-150 Lightning.

Sources told Crain’s Detroit Business news Ford has projected 190,000 units annually will be sold for the midsize EV pickup and it will also underpin an electric SUV. Both of these are expected to use the LFP batteries and be built at the Louisville Assembly Plant, Louisville, Kentucky in 2028.

Not much is known about what to expect for the Ford midsize EV pickup besides a scaled-down version of the Ford F-150 Lightning.

Our Take

The midsize truck market is the hottest segment in automotive and while automakers focused on full-size trucks first for EVs to help absorb some of the research and development costs through the larger profit margins from those trucks, the sales results have been really poor overall. Many times the Ford F-150 Lightning assembly line has been slowed or even halted with a surplus of models on dealer lots.

Many consumers have been clamoring for a midsize pickup instead since it comes with different expectations. Midsize pickup buyers aren’t expecting it to do the same job as a full-size truck and are more open to the electrification.

The challenge is going to be the price point. When Ford announced the F-150 Lightning it was supposed to be below $40,000. Now it is $50,000 without incentives or discounts and the $7,500 Federal tax credit is going away on less than two months at the time of this article. A midsize EV pickup priced at $10-15k more than a gasoline model is going to be dead-on-arrival.