GoKawiilFord isn’t sending the clearest signals regarding its EV future. We got a glimpse of its Universal EV (UEV) Project last February, but then it pulled the plug on the F-150 Lightning, which is regarded as one of the more successful electric pickup trucks to date. The climate surrounding electric vehicles hasn’t helped, either, between loosening emissions rules, tariffs, and the elimination of the federal EV tax credit.
But recently, after touring Ford’s less-than-two-year-old Electric Vehicle Development Center (EVDC) located in Long Beach, California, I have a better sense of the company’s current position. Ford says it will continue to build EVs, doing everything possible to make its next model hit a $30,000 price point.
Sitting in a nondescript facility just north of the city’s airport, employees working in this skunkworks facility are harnessing the brand’s tremendously deep experience in vehicle manufacturing by putting almost all of its UEV platform development under one roof. From every square millimeter of interior material to the way the vehicle is assembled, efficiency is the first priority, eventually — hopefully — leading to a lower cost to consumers.
The basic theme of this project is that everything counts, but especially time. In the past, Ford’s development has been split across multiple facilities around the US, but here, having several teams of engineers, designers, and more within a short distance of each other means the most minute changes can be made with little impedance.
Every minute counts
Along with several other journalists, I first got a glimpse of this when it came to chassis/body assembly. Ford is asking the question: How can we make assembly as seamless and short as possible? This is done via input from its assembly line workers (or, operators in the company’s terms) as well as its engineers. Instead of starting off with an empty unibody — floor, door frames, and all — why not assemble it in sections. I saw a completed midsection containing the seats, battery unit, and other equipment that can be fitted all as one into the body. This saves time over the traditional method of bolting in interior equipment through the body’s door frames. And when I say the battery unit is part of the center section, it truly is — the example shown comprises the entire floor and midsection of the chassis.
Whether this will make it to final production wasn’t fully clarified. The next stop was the design process, covering the facility’s ability to run a life-size clay model through a five-axis CNC machine, and having the ability to make easy changes depending on various factors. Because designers are down the hall from different engineering teams, the process is a lot more fluid and immediate.
“We solve problems in a very beautiful and creative way, and that’s something that’s really hard to do if you’re disconnected or in a silo away from the problem and teams that are actively, every day, trying to progress on those concepts,” said Eva Ross, automotive designer at Ford. “Whether that’s the marketing team… or with the ergo[nomics] team and trying to understand how we’re using this space differently, since it’s not a carryover from an ICE vehicle.” Additionally, the designers work with the aerodynamics and battery teams to reach their targets.
Nothing goes to waste, either. When discussing interior materials, dimensions, where to place certain controls, and even determining what amount of stitching should go where, there was a heavy emphasis on not discarding too much.
For example, lab workers have the ability to put interior cloth material through a software program that ensures that every square millimeter is used when it’s cut. They then create seats that are as close to production as possible, and get their own bodies in them for evaluation.
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