How do you design a $30,000 electric pickup? Inside Ford's skunkworks.
Ford is developing a $30,000 electric pickup through its Electric Vehicle Development Center (EVDC) in Long Beach, California, aiming to streamline innovation with a 'skunkworks' approach. The EVDC operates with significant autonomy to bypass traditional corporate bureaucracy, drawing inspiration from Lockheed Martin's historic model. Key personnel, many with Tesla backgrounds, are leading the effort to create Ford's modular Universal Electric Vehicle platform.
- ▪Ford's Electric Vehicle Development Center in Long Beach is designed as a 'skunkworks' to accelerate EV innovation.
- ▪The EVDC is led by Alan Clarke, vice president of Advanced Development Projects, who previously worked at Tesla.
- ▪The Universal Electric Vehicle platform aims to underpin all of Ford's future electric vehicles.
- ▪The skunkworks model is based on 14 management rules established by Lockheed's Kelly Johnson in the 1940s.
- ▪Ford's EVDC operates independently from its headquarters in Dearborn and its EV office in Palo Alto.
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2027 How do you design a $30,000 electric pickup? Inside Ford’s skunkworks. We tour Ford’s top-secret Electric Vehicle Development Center in California. Kyle Hyatt – May 5, 2026 11:39 am | 46 Jiaqi Liang, senior director of electrical hardware at Ford's Advanced EV team, seen here in the high voltage lab at the Electric Vehicle Development Center in Long Beach, California. Credit: Ford Jiaqi Liang, senior director of electrical hardware at Ford's Advanced EV team, seen here in the high voltage lab at the Electric Vehicle Development Center in Long Beach, California.
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