Can Ford’s affordable new electric truck hit the sweet spot?

Ford has shown a first look at a new electric pickup truck, the Fathom, priced to start at $28,350 when preorders open early next year. That's well below the average new EV price of over $56,000 and far cheaper than the F-150 Lightning, Ford's earlier electric truck, which cost more than $55,000 by the time it was discontinued last year after four years of lackluster sales. The Fathom is expected to travel just under 300 miles on a charge in its base version, with higher-priced versions going farther. It's roughly the size of Ford's Ranger pickup, and Ford plans to deliver the first ones in fall 2027. The lower price comes from a new "Universal EV Platform" that lets Ford build several types of electric vehicles using shared parts and assembly lines.

The Fathom will compete with a cheaper electric pickup from startup Slate Auto, priced just under $25,000 but without extras like a radio or power windows. The Fathom is expected to include more standard features, including bidirectional charging, which lets the truck's battery send power back out — useful for running home appliances or backup power during an outage.

Affordable EVs like this matter because price has been the biggest barrier to electric vehicle adoption in the U.S., especially now that federal tax credits for EVs have ended. Cheaper trucks may give more homeowners a realistic entry point into electric vehicles, though the Fathom itself is still more than a year from reaching driveways.