If you’re not excited about Ford’s upcoming Universal EV platform — which Ford developed secretly at its west coast Skunkworks with the goal of offering a competitive sub-$30,000 compact pickup truck among other frugal EV options — you should be. I just got an exclusive up-close look at the little electric pickup dressed in camo at a Long Beach park — it is way smaller than you think. And that’s awesome!
Rejoice, world! For far too long, we have had to deal with the scourge of ever-growing pickup trucks. Every time a new generation of a truck comes out, we learn that it’s longer, wider, and taller.
The old Ford Ranger, for example, looks like it had a few too many cheeseburgers between the early 2000s and now:
I’m pumped. Not only is Ford finally bringing back a tiny pickup truck — one seemingly even smaller than the Maverick, which itself is larger than the old Ranger — but the brand is going to offer it in EV form at a relatively reasonable price point. I’m amped, and ever since touring The Blue Oval’s skunkworks facility, I have been excited to learn more about what the thing will look like.
Well, The Autopian now has the best idea of any publication on the internet thanks to these spy shots that Autopian video manager Griffin and I took. Let’s first start with this horrible photo I took of the an old Ford Ranger tailing Ford’s prototype (OK, technically it’s the Mazda version of the Ranger, but you get the idea). It’s not that easy to tell the scale, but look at the Mazda and look at the F-150 ahead, and it’ll be clear that the new Ford EV is tiny:
Now let’s get to the nice shots; let’s first check out the side profile without getting too distracted with camouflage that looks like wrapping paper for a baby gift (seriously, I see soccer balls, teddy bears, sailboats, hearts, painters trays, bicycles, hearts… my 14-month baby would love this); Ford has some fabric covers obscuring the shape of the vehicle’s nose and its cab, but the rear does look nice and squared off. I’m standing on a 6″ curb there, to give you a sense of scale:
The windshield looks quite raked, the ground clearance looks modest, and the wheels look fairly small for a modern EV. The second row looks fairly large (at the expense of bed length — if I had to guess, that’s a 4-ft bed), and the wheels appear to have aero-caps. This is definitely a street-focused truck meant to optimize range. I just hope it doesn’t look too soft at the nose; it’s a truck after all.
Look at the size of the two adults in the front of the truck in the image above; that should give you an idea of just how small this thing is.
It’s really hard to distinguish the shapes on the truck’s body due to that camo; turns out, my son’s wrapping paper is absolute gas as car-camo. There appears to be some kind of something jutting out from the bedsides.
Speaking of the bed, that’s how it looks inside. It’s modestly-sized, but can probably easily fit a Ford 289 V8 longblock.
While the taillights are just little rectangular cutouts in the “wrapping paper,” I can see a bit of the headlight lenses through the camo, though in truth, I can’t really learn anything of value through that netting. I can tell you that appears to be a small grille opening built into the bumper, and is that a radar sensor in the center of the grille? There appears to be a piece of tape over the center of it, so maybe not. Above that center…thing… is what appears to be a front camera. Man Ford did a great job on this camo; I’m grasping at straws here.
The big thing is scale. America appears to be about to get its first-ever small, affordable, practical electric pickup truck, and I’m far, far, far too excited.
I just like small pickups, is all. I drive a Jeep Comanche around LA, and I regularly think to myself: This is perfect. An electric small pickup truck, especially a four-door? It could be the ultimate daily driver.
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Check out the video I shot above to see a bit more of Ford’s Universal EV Platform EV pickup truck.
What we really need is an Ursa Ag pickup truck
It’s nice but not for me. Glad you’re digging it though.
Did they just slap a truck-ish body down on a Mach-E skateboard?
When I first saw your video, I got serious a mini truck feeling. But wouldn’t this dig into Maverick sales? They’re not really that much bigger. Turn this into a sedan or wagon, and you differentiate the product significantly.
I mean, being a BEV is a pretty big product differentiator.
Sales are sales, and better to keep them within the company than lose them elsewhere.
This is also going to be manufactured in Kentucky, IIRC, rather than Mexico where the Maverick is assembled. So no worries about import duties and international transportation.
Yep, this will be built in Louisville at the factory that previously built the Escape.
Wish it was EREV
Why only 4″ bed?
Why not single cab?
I won’t be able to pull my 4,000 trailer on that!
SMH that’s why you don’t ever get nice things in America.
I wonder how this’ll shake out versus Telo and Slate?
5,500 pounds minimum or stay indoors.
That’s why we have a 25 Maverick with AWD and 4K tow. Hybrid so low 40s in town, low/mid 30s on the highway. Not an EV, but a worthy small pickup / road trip car (we have a high-end 4-fold flop top over the bed making it a mostly waterproof trunk.).
You know what would be an even better daily driver EV in cities and suburbs? A 4-door car with an enclosed cargo area that passersby can’t look into!
But other than that, I do appreciate that Ford sees a legitimate business case for going small again!
You know what people are actually buying to use as a daily driver? A 4-door pickup truck with an open bed.
Ford is giving people what they want instead of trying to sell people what they “need.”
They’ve suggested the possibilities of SUVs, vans, and even… gasp! cars on this platform. Maybe we’ll get a new Taurus? ????
Hmm… it’s kinda hard to tell, but is this current truck more Taurus-sized, or Focus-sized?
The last Taurus and the Maverick are around the same size. IDK if there are any official length numbers out yet for this thing.
https://www.carsized.com/en-us/cars/compare/ford-taurus-2009-sedan-vs-ford-maverick-2021-4-door-pickup/
Okay, so probably Focus-sized then, since this apparently smaller than the Maverick
None of this matters if they didn’t bring battery costs down and improved their wiring/harness/system architecture. Still in wait and see mode
I’m waiting for Mercedes to do a follow up piece on the now-debunked Donut labs solid state batteries that were claimed to be production ready. Looks like we’re waiting even longer for cheaper batteries.
The LFP Bolt is already under $30k and same for the Leaf. Don’t need to wait for solid state.
Sure, those are “reasonably” priced modern vehicles. I was commenting on something tangentially related to battery prices for pickups, which our brother Nug brought up.
It’s a brand-new architecture and designed to be both cutting-edge but affordable. Which hopefully also means fewer points of failure
I think I read this is going to have a 48v architecture I hope so but am not sure.
All things being equal, that means the copper wire diameter to power everything from lights to motors can be much smaller diameter (4x the voltage = 1/4 the current for the same power delivery). Smaller diameter wire cost much less, is lighter and easier to route.
That also means any 48v accessories are going to be proprietary -at least until the industry catches up.
48v is a great idea but the industry moves slowwwwww.
I just wanna know if I can haul a sheet of plywood
Oh it absolutely can hold a couple of sheets worth, they are just going to need to be cut in half.
Lowes (at least my Lowes) will do that for free.
Where’s the fun in that?
I used to be a pro 8-ft truck bed extremist, anything shorter was simply apostatic. But these days I’ve softened my stance and accept that most (most-most) people won’t utilize that at all, and it’s fine to haul wood with the tailgate down. However, I draw the line at 5.5 ft beds.
I can haul several sheets of plywood/drywall in my Volvo, but I’d rather do it in a truck. The Maverick can do so with the clever tailgate stops so that the load rests on top of the wheel arches inside the bed, so I’d expect such an effective analog feature to also be present in this new model.
That does ask what happens to the sheet of drywall when you hit a nasty pothole.
If they’re properly strapped in place, not much, ideally. But I do see an alarming number of unsecured loads. Folks have too much faith in gravity alone sometimes.
I would’ve expected it to Crack at the unsupported middle.
you can support them with something underneath
I could haul ply in my old Outback. The newer models don’t have a big enough opening to do it though, unless you pull some panels out, and still not flat against the wheel wells like the old cars.
If it’s like the Maverick, you can put a 4×8 sheet on top of the wheel well humps and secure the tailgate to it’s 1/2 way position by moving the 2 side cables to the mid position. The plywood lay level across it all.
What makes this more practical than a Slate? Simply the addition of 2 doors?
I think the worst thing about SUV culture is forcing every car to have high belt lines and tiny windows that make everything look worse.
I think the real size of the windows is obscured by extra camouflage along the bottom.
It’s not “SUV culture”, it’s side-impact safety standards. Metal is better at absorbing kinetic energy than glass, so high beltlines are better at protecting passengers
Because every car needs to be protected from giant SUVs? It’s an arms race. Bigger cars means continually higher belt lines for protection.
While that is true about tall SUV’s, even sedans have higher hoods for pedestrian impact safety
Precisely. And the additional seats that go behind the doors, presumably. Whether they regularly use them or not, most people won’t buy a car that only has 2 seats.
Well – Slate has yet to deliver any vehicle ever, so there is that calculus that a LOT of people are doing…
For me, the dealbreaker will undoubtedly be the touchscreen-centric interior, because EVs have to be smartphones or some shit.
I can imagine that at this point, if an EV shopper test drove a car and found it had a full complement of buttons, it might sell the car.
Cool stuff. I could see myself buying one of these. I don’t currently own an EV because the vast majority of currently available EVs are overpriced or(and?) boring enough to cause me to slip into a coma.
As usual, I will complain about bed length. I think Ford should seriously consider selling a regular cab version of this. It might have limited appeal to customers who aren’t me, but I presume one of these with a 6.5 foot bed would be very appealing to fleets.
I doubt we’ll see a regular cab truck on this platform, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a cargo van.
I agree a regular cab isn’t likely, but I’m surprised there isn’t enough of a market to justify one. I still regularly see older single/extended cab rangers used as fleet trucks exclusively for local driving. Since I still see them in 2026 I presume these must have been purchased in reasonably large numbers. It seems like a single/extended cab version of this new truck with a 6+ foot bed would be ideal for this use. Plus, Ford would have no competition in this space.
A cargo van version is a good idea, though. I could see that happening.
I don’t need a pickup truck, but I am very excited for this. This is what pickups should be. Though obviously the bed is quite small, probably too small for “truck stuff”. But given how many pickup trucks get driven around with nothing in the bed… this is probably fine.
Very excited to see future releases on this platform. This is probably the most “car” vehicle ford has released in years, other than the mustang.
I think “truck stuff” these days is throwing wet, dirty, or stinky stuff in the bed, with a tonneau cover when appropriate. I could see this working for my daily, then being great to get out mountain biking or kayaking on the weekends. As it is, the bikes or boats go on racks, but the sweaty or wet gear goes into the hatch which is less than ideal.
It used to be a place for throwing your empties into through the pass-through rear cab window.
throw an ice chest, maybe a couple of lawn chairs in the back. Not quite truck stuff but a good use of the bed, especially with a folding or roll up cover. Also great for those large packages of toilet paper and kitchen towels from COSTCO 🙂
Though it’s a bit sus that they’re driving their top secret prototype through Long Beach flanked by an F150 and a Mazda B-series, not sure what kind of testing that needs vs driving through a cornfield in Iowa, but I’m glad they’re finally showing something.
That roofline is really low though, I can see why Farley said it’s not really a truck, it’s much more Ranchero-like, maybe Smyth Charger-Ute like, could be cool, but also if it’s a hit the dealers will make sure it doesn’t see south of $40k for a couple years.
“driving their top secret prototype through Long Beach flanked by an F150 and a Mazda B-series”
I thinks it was an approved “leak.” The “little birdie” prob works in the Ford press office and reads the Autopian.
Also, David and Griffin live in LA, so no need for plane tickets
No farmer is going to be buying this. Streets of long beach are the perfect test case.
Not for the fields, but maybe for town. Our farm trucks (and tractors) were all beaters.
The F-150 is almost certainly the “chase vehicle” but the Mazda Ranger is just some civilian that happened to end up behind it.
As for doing it in Long Beach that makes a lot of sense because the facility where they developed and built said prototypes is in Long Beach too and not a cornfield in Iowa.
I do think it’s funny that Slate and Telo are driving their prototypes around California completely open and Ford still feels the need to do cloak and dagger with the styling. Like are they not confident in the looks?
Well Telo pretty much showed it from the get go and Slate did their big reveal already, so not surprising they are running around un-camouflaged. Ford still hasn’t done a big reveal, so yeah they are going to keep it under wrap until then.
Looking at your handle I just realized Scout as well have been showing off theirs, before the factory was even built. I think it’s more an old school, don’t let the competition copy you until you’re already selling them type thing but again, the newer brands are letting it all hang out.
I assume that maybe they’ve covered up a bit of the windows but those pictures make it seem like visibility out of this thing is going to suck.
Look closer at the images, especially the one from the rear passenger side view. The window sills are about 3-4″ below the camo edges, with the body ending about 1.5-2″ above the door handles, and the sill extending about an inch above that.
I’m tentatively excited about this.
Pros:
-It appears Maverick-sized but with a bigger (longer) cab.
-Maverick’s 4′ bed is good for many tasks, and tailgate extenders and small trailers make up for a lot of bed room that doesn’t commonly get used
-The rear of the cab almost certainly moves out of the way, there’s no reason to camo that otherwise.
Cons:
-The sideview mirror design is a bit goofy with the long arms, but I guess that’s quieter and/or more aerodynamic? May also be better for towing, though. Not as bad as the embarrassingly-silly waggy arms on the HD gm trucks.
-4-spoke wheels aren’t a good look, whether they’re on a Nissan truck or a Polestar. Let’s hope they’re just placeholders. The holes also seem a bit snug for fingers to actually use the valve stem caps
Has anyone deciphered the tire size yet? My work computer doesn’t have the ability to modify images so I can’t see myself. I’m guessing (hoping) they’re 18″ but might be 19″.
I’m looking forward to the images someone comes up with blending the covered vehicle from David’s press visit with these fresh ones.
It’d better have amber rear turn signals.
I really, really hope you’re right about the cab being able to move out of the way and make some more room in the bed.
It looks like that black tarp might be covering up for a sloping roofline. You can kind of see an outline in the side view, and from the rear you can see the “wrapping paper” camo with a CHMSL.
Looks like 245/50R20.
Earlier Ford made a big deal about the effort that went into making the mirrors aerodynamic as an example of how they are tweaking everything to get good range from a small and cheap battery
Looking back at the cab, it looks like there’s a few things going on. Maybe (hopefully) the ability to fold down the bulkhead, but you can also see the top edge of the windshield through the black mesh, and it’s low. I think they’re using the Rivian R2 or Wagoneer S aero trick where the roof slopes down for aero but they add a squared off “spoiler” to keep the side profile square. That might not bode well for rear head room.
A convertible cab would certainly enhance utility. That plus a bed extender could possibly take a full 8′ couch. I’m a little doubtful that a trick feature like that would make it into what is supposed to be a dirt cheap EV, but here’s to hoping!
Could be optional for a higher trim?
I would be shocked if anything Ford does ends up being under $30k for an EV within 2 years of release. They probably will follow their usual playbook and only release the raptor/platinum version for the first year which costs $45k+.
Ford can declare the MSRP to be whatever they want it to be, but that won’t match the reality on the ground if the Maverick is any indication. I’m betting they say MSRP is $29k for this thing, but any one you can actually find will be $40k+.
Anyone see where the charge port is located? I zoomed in on some of the pics but I’ve don’t see anything.
I strongly suspect it’s in the driver’s fender, given the camo covering that area. That would also match other Ford EVs.
Ahhh.. front driver’s side fender under the black flap. I think you’re right (that’s where the charge port is on my daughter’s Escape PHEV). Thanks
That would be a pretty bad miss given that would make most superchargers a no go.
Depends on the station, some of the newer ones I’ve seen have longer cords to support non-Tesla vehicles.
Yeah, but most of them aren’t V4 superchargers yet. I avoid Tesla chargers if I can, but having to caveat supercharger access probably wouldn’t be great for marketing.
I was curious about that as well and suspect it is under the black fabric on one of the front fenders.
I dig it.
Holy shit! It’s about time. Thanks for sharing. It does not look small, but does look short in height, like they packaged a pickup with cuv heights.
Extended cab size is big. Very curious about rear seat size.
Bed is fine for what I personally do with truck beds, size wise.
Those bed side bumper things better be housing missiles or something, cause that is one design cue I don’t get.
Overall, 6/10 with camo.
Maybe Ford’s “testing” it there which is a lousy test location with too many people and cameras to get some free media exposure? When I wintered by the Ford/Harley/Stelantis proving ground in south Florida we’d see poorly camouflaged cars driven down the main streets often, the drivers would even stop for leisurely lunches…
If only they would make a 2dr version with a nice ice engine or even a hybrid.
F-150 RCSB exists.
I cannot get enough of this 1:4 glass-to-door ratio.
Gunslit windows. Makes you feel safer. Not that you can see anything out of it to make it safer for anyone else on the road.
It is a legitimate safety feature, because the crash structure can move up the door and better handle side impact.
Seeing the potential oncoming side impact so you can avoid it isn’t measured in the crash testing, so it’s obviously irrelevant.
Not sure how we can have nice large greenhouses, like a Subaru Outback or Forester get top marks in crashtesting, but that someone justifies these gunslits for safety reasons.
You’ll notice those models don’t have the greenhouses they used to.
You’ll notice the current models do, indeed, have large greenhouses.
Large, yes, but not quite to the same ratio they did.
Look closer at the images, especially the one from the rear passenger side view. The window sills are about 3-4″ below the camo edges, with the body ending about 1.5-2″ above the door handles, and the sill extending about an inch above that.
I hope you’re correct but look at the mirror placement. I don’t think the sill is 3-4″ below that.
The lighting on the “ridges” from that rear quarter shot are pretty telling. You can also see where the wrap doesn’t cover the trailing edge of the right front door and that there’s glass at least an inch below the top of the camo. The bottom of the mirror arm is roughly level with the bottom of the exposed window glass, with the (presumably rubber) sill taking up about an inch of real estate below that, with about 2″ of bodywork between that and the top of the door handles.
I think the windows are a bit taller than the camo makes them appear, as a few of the shots show a hard line under the camo a few inches down from the bottom of the windows. I do hate that automakers think the solution to making it impossible to see out of the cars is to put in cameras that show a uselessly distorted image.
Makes sense, stuff an electric drivetrain in a maverick
If you think you need a pickup with a 4 foot bed, you don’t actually need a pickup.
Explorer Sport Trac redux
Everyone’s complaint on it was that the bed was too small to be useful.
The Maverick taught them a lot about how to make a small bed useful.
Yes, by being large enough to be useful. We’ll see what this one is when released, though.
Call it the ‘Barkduster’ because that’s what it’s going to be hauling from Home Depot. Then again, getting a few yards delivered isn’t a big deal anymore.
For stinky shit there is no bed too small compared to having to carry it in the cab with you.
Or massively greasy, oily, dirty, etc. A flat rubber mat you see in many vans isn’t enough.
I have a Frontier with a short bed and its still very usable for many things: plywood, dirt, gravel, bags of mulch and gravel, etc etc. Theres a lot of things I would prefer to not put inside a car.
Baloney. A 4 ft bed is plenty for keeping dirty, stinky stuff out of the cargo area of my SUV. I don’t need to haul an 8ft plywood sheet or tow an RV.
Small 2 door pickups with 6 foot beds are impossible because nobody wants that, but 5 passenger cars with a 4 foot bed for hauling small amounts of smelly things is something lots of people need?
No, lots of people need a car that can still carry 4 people, but they want a truck instead of a sedan because they are cool, outdoorsy types. That’s a big part of why the Maverick is so successful.
But also, those of us who are outdoorsy types can see the utility of a sedan/hatchback where the cargo area is just a steel box you can hose out (with a tonneau cover, most likely).
I some actual toppers make a comeback. I have a S10 bed/topper combo that was turned into a trailer, and it’s awesome for a utility trailer behind a SUV.
“ but they want a truck instead of a sedan because they ARE PRETENDING THEY are cool, outdoorsy types”
There… fixed it for accuracy.
That’s actually what I meant, I just forgot to do tHE cApiTaLiZAtiOn tHiNG to show I was being sarcastic and dismissive.
Yeah, I can certainly see it as someone with a single cab pickup. It can be really hard to make a 3 seater work for a DD. With a smaller bed and bigger cab, you can always add cargo space if you need it by hitching up a small trailer. You can’t do that with passenger space really (except for Slate). Plus, there is a ton of stuff people move around (or imagine they move around) that a 4′ bed works perfect for and an SUV/car wouldn’t work as well or at all: push lawn mower, snowblower, grill, smelly things, bulk material like gravel or mulch, etc.
May not strictly need it, but a 4.5 foot bed sure comes in handy sometimes.
Eh, I think that’s plenty useful for a lot of people. Our last house was a smaller one on a smaller lot in the suburbs filled with such homes. My Sportwagen was perfect for DIY projects and hauling things, and I was never space constrained by it. A Maverick is just as capable in that respect, and would have worked for me just as well as the wagon did.
That said, we now have over seven acres in the country, and I got tired of using the wagon as a truck. So I bought a 97 single cab standard bed F150, which is all the truck we need and nothing more.
If you enlarge the top shot; it appears the camo is extended approx.5″ above the bottom of the side glass. Seeing a line just a couple inches above the handle, and bottom corner of B pillar. Also common to add folded cardboard/foam to hide/disguise edges before wrapping in camo, and looks like the bed and front end got that treatment.
Yep. Folks didn’t bother to actually look at the photos before knee-jerk reacting and commenting.
The windows actually seem to go “deeper” than the Maverick’s relative to the top of the bedsides. I’m hoping (but not expecting) for an F-Series-like dip in the window sill line towards the forward section of the front windows.