The Fathom is an all-new small all-electric pickup truck from Ford; the first vehicle built on the company’s Universal EV (UEV) platform.
What is the Ford Fathom?
History
Revealed on August 6, the Fathom is designed as an affordable, fully featured electric truck designed to complete in the sub-$30,000 EV market (including the new Slate pickup).
Pricing
Prices start $28,350 for the standard-range battery version ($29,945 including $1595 destination charge).
Timing
Pre-orders begin in early 2027; a deposit amount has not yet been determined. A full reveal of the design is planned for early 2027.
Production
The Fathom will be built at Ford’s Louisville, Kentucky Assembly Plant beginning in 2027, with deliveries expected by the fourth quarter of that year.
Design
The 4-door, crew-cab Fathom will seat five with projected passenger volume greater than a Toyota RAV4 compact crossover.
Features
The Fathom will include a frunk for cargo; large high-resolution touchscreen with native Apple Map, support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto—but not CarPlay Ultra–digital key, bidirectional power capability, and BlueCruise-capable hardware for hands-free highway driving.
Efficiency
Ford claims the Fathom is 15-percent more aerodynamically efficient that other small pickup trucks currently on the market.
Name
Per Ford, the name “Fathom” draws from the unit of length (about six feet, historically the span of outstretched arms, used to measure water depth) and the idea of deeply understanding something.
The name was chosen, again, this per Ford, to reflect an expansive interior, adaptable technology, and a focus on customers’ real needs rather than a recycled historical nameplate.
Skunkworks
Fathom is the first model from a “skunkworks”-style project that Ford intended to reflect “a clean sheet” approach to vehicle design, with an emphasis on affordable engineering and efficient manufacturing.
The UEV platform is expected to underpin additional affordable Ford EVs in the future. Full specifications for the Fathom have not yet been released.
Model T Moment
Ford has referred to the Fathom (and the broader Universal EV platform/program behind it) as its “Model T moment,” because it aims to replicate the impact of the original Model T (1908-1927)—making advanced vehicles affordable and accessible to the masses through radical innovation in design, engineering, and manufacturing.
Model T
The original Model T, combined with Henry Ford’s moving assembly line, dramatically lowered costs (from around $850 at launch to as low as $260 by the mid-1920s) and put car ownership within reach of ordinary middle-class Americans. Perhaps the Fathom can put electric-vehicle ownership within financial reach of contemporary middle-class Americans. That seems to be Ford’s plan.
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Ford Fathom Pictures
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Now, how much for a Platinum with AWD and the extended-range battery?