Ford’s $28,350 Fathom Targets the Budget EV Truck Race

Ford’s $28,350 Fathom Targets the Budget EV Truck Race
Ford is betting that an electric pickup can be cheap without feeling stripped bare. Its answer is the Fathom: a four-door truck priced at $28,350, built to challenge bare-bones rivals while reviving Ford’s troubled EV ambitions.

For nearly a year, Ford had teased a lower-cost, next-generation EV program and cast it as a potential “Model T moment.” The first vehicle from that push is now named: the midsize Fathom, which Ford plans to build on its Universal Electric Vehicle platform. It is expected to enter production at the revamped Louisville Assembly Plant next year, with deliveries due before the end of 2027 and pre-orders opening early next year.

The timing puts Ford in direct contrast with Slate, whose $24,950 electric truck is expected to reach customers later this year. Slate has embraced austerity: its base model omits paint, power windows, a touchscreen and a stereo, while seating two unless buyers pay for an SUV conversion kit. Ford is asking $3,400 more for a markedly different proposition.

The Fathom is set to include a large touchscreen with Apple Maps, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, an open bed and front trunk, and cabin volume Ford says will exceed that of a Toyota RAV4. It will also carry the hardware for BlueCruise hands-free driving, though activating the service is likely to cost extra. As one account put it, Ford’s truck will be “a fully featured vehicle” rather than a DIY-minded minimalist alternative.

Ford’s pitch rests on manufacturing, not just equipment. The UEV design divides the vehicle into front, rear and middle sections that can be assembled simultaneously before final assembly, cutting component and labor costs. Ford hopes scale and simpler construction can make the sticker price sustainable.

That remains the harder test. Ford’s earlier EV push was slowed not by factory capacity but by weak buyer and dealer interest, contributing to steep losses and the F-150 Lightning’s cancellation. The Fathom costs roughly half as much as that truck—but it still has to prove that affordability can create demand.

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