Starting at less than $40,000, could Ford’s Fathom bring a sea change to electric truck sales?
The Fathom, Ford’s upcoming mid-size all-electric truck, will start at less than $40,000, the automaker announced Thursday. That base price will make it one of the cheapest trucks you can buy – gas or electric.
“That would certainly open up a new front on truck pricing in Canada,” Robert Karwel, director of OEM solutions at J.D. Power Canada, said in an email. “The average transaction price in Canada for a small pickup truck sits at around $53,000.”
The truck is expected to launch next year, with a base price of $39,995 plus $2,695 for destination and delivery fees, Ford said.
But, unlike the pricier EV trucks for sale here now – including the Chevrolet Silverado EV ($68,633 base MSRP plus fees), GMC Sierra EV ($84,642) and Rivian R1T ($145,107) – the Fathom should qualify for the federal EV rebate, which will be $4,000 next year. The rebate will bring the total base price down to $38,690 after fees, Ford said. That’s just above the current base price of the compact hybrid Ford Maverick ($36,237), but below the mid-size gas-powered Ford Ranger ($43,370).
“The idea of a lower-priced truck should resonate with buyers,” Karwel said.
What’s in a name?
Automakers have struggled to make an affordable electric truck – largely because they’ve needed massive batteries to deliver the range and towing ability that truck buyers expect.
Last year, Ford axed the all-electric F-150 Lightning – which started at $68,000 and cost $10,000 to $20,000 more than a comparable gas F-150, depending on trim – after slower-than-expected sales and billions of dollars in losses.
Instead of building an electric truck from an existing vehicle, Ford has spent more than three years designing a new truck from scratch – the first vehicle built in its new EV platform – that uses a smaller, cheaper lithium iron phosphate battery.
Around the time Ford officially announced the truck last year, it trademarked a few names – including Ranchero, Fuze, Hive and Mythic.
There’d been speculation that Ford would go with Ranchero – the name of its 1957 to 1979 car-truck combination.
So why call it Fathom? In an e-mail, Ford said the name reflects the “depth of innovation that allowed [us] to fathom possibilities once thought beyond reach.”
Few other details
Fathom is also a nautical measurement that’s exactly six feet (1.8 metres) – so could that signal the truck has a six-foot bed? Ford wouldn’t say.
Most of the truck’s specifications are still murky – Ford hasn’t released dimensions, battery size, range or towing capacity.
While Ford hasn’t revealed the final version of the truck, it has shown videos of a camouflaged prototype that appear to show a truck with a much shorter bed.
Karwel said a six-foot bed might boost sales – the Ranger’s bed is five feet (1.5 metres) and the Maverick’s is 4.5 feet (1.4 metres) – but a shorter bed probably won’t turn off most buyers looking for an affordable electric truck.
That base price is for the standard-range battery, Ford said. While that suggests there will also be an extended-range battery, Ford wouldn’t confirm that either. With most new EVs delivering at least 400 kilometres in range, how much range should buyers expect?
“It isn’t so much a number it has to get to, but rather what the whole package provides [for buyers], understanding that there are trade-offs,” Karwel said.
The right price?
Ford isn’t the only automaker aiming at a wallet-friendly pickup. Slate Auto, a U.S. startup backed by Jeff Bezos, plans a bare-bones two-seat electric truck expected to start at about US$25,000.
In late June, Slate said that it has no plans to sell it here.
Pre-orders for the Fathom are set to open in early 2027 – with deliveries expected later in the year.
It’s unusual for a car company to give an exact price this far ahead of actually launching the vehicle – but price matters for electric trucks, Karwel said.
“I think the [main] concern [for buyers] is the price versus range versus utility equation – with [extra] importance on price,” he said.
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