Ford’s new EV pickup is named Fathom, will start at $28,350

It almost looks like they have framing to obscure the true shape under the tarps

Especially since the sole reason for that bullshit is skirting fuel mileage requirements.

I hate how bad the visibility is in new cars. Tiny windows. Massive hoods. Huge blindspots.

They probably have a frunk up there. But they could have sacrificed a cubic foot and sloped it down for safety and efficiency.

*child murderer

You dont need it on ICE either.

At some point you need to stop letting perfect be the enemy of the good. Bezos is a Slate investor, but that hardly makes a slate something that's made by Bezos. It doesn't seem connected to the Amazon ecosystem in any way.

It's really easy to purity test oneself into complete irrelevance.

Check out telo - i really like them (wish it were more affordable, but still, if i were to buy a new vehicle, itd be that one once available and vetted)

"The public doesn't want EVs" -Ford after fucking up again

One thing I will say is I wager they will have a midgate option, which could promote the bed to vaguely serious compared to a Maverick, in some situations. They have a few times mentioned surfboard in the bed, and double downed in their sort of reveal trailer, where they clearly show it laying down with tailgate up.

May be a decent compromise in a truck market obsessed with crew cabs.

Why won't they make a basic body on frame truck with a 6' bed? I want it.

I put money down on a Slate. It was the closest to what I wanted; a simple, no bs, light duty truck that's electric.

Their site puts it at just a little bigger than 1980's Toyota pick-up.

The upcoming Slate truck appears to be the closest thing to that ideal.

This is nothing close to a "monster size truck", it's actually quite small. Its smaller than a Maverick even. And while you can argue its not quite as small as the compact pickups of yore, there's absolutely no universe where it's "monster sized".

A Maverick is almost exactly the same size as a mid-'90s Ranger, which is a compact pickup. The only difference is that it's got more cab and less bed.

(Source: I parked my Ranger next to a Maverick once.)

Looks like a ford maverick EV edition to me.

I think I'm honestly going to do with an ebike. Car prices have gotten insane lately. I no longer travel across the country for work, and it's just me so I think I could manage regular small trips to the grocery store and back on a bike that I didn't have to do all the work to propel.

Well they have been stuffing their covers to obscure the shape, so dont know for sure. Given their bragging about aero, it likely is not as bad as it looks.

The kid killer bumper is a feature, not a bug, apparently

You think pickup buyers give a fuck about pedestrian safety?

Fuck no.

The Maverick is a truck, the mustang comes in a crossover, why even keep the names.

Based on the tone of their reveal, I'm not having high hopes for towing. Which would be a shame as I was hoping for a 4,000 pound towing capacity. Clearly targeted at city drivers that aren't doing a lot of real truck stuff.

Their emphasis on surfboard in the bed tells me they will at least do midgate for more workable bed... At least in fair weather conditions. That might make it ok at hauling wood from the store for projects.

On the carfront, would love for something like a miata, even with a short range.

Well, could be worse. Could be BMW or GM leadership... At least the seats won't be by subscription and at least it will bother to support Carplay/Android auto...

I hope not. I've taken my extended-range Lightning halfway across the country and back, and in certain areas you need all that range. I can't imagine having 200 miles or less, but then maybe they're explicitly not aiming at this being a vehicle you can use for taking the family on a road trip the way that the Lightning is.

Sounds like it will be a poor road tripper, but on the other hand, I have used a DC charger exactly once in three years of EV ownership, so I personally am not going to fixate on that. Of course I have about 270 miles of range so a shorter range could change that equastion...

My brain immediately substituted Chrysler for that. Still works.

Gotta keep that grille big and manly, especially to make up for the fact that it’s electric! The lives of a few children are inconsequential compared to that.

They need to change the safety loopholes on trucks for that to happen.

Bui eka-laya mu-mu Penomele ki-ki bo-bo

Ford did do that, from 1998-2002.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Ranger_EV

Too bad they were expensive "compliance cars" with shitty Ni-MH batteries and were mostly leased to fleets.

Just like cyberpunk 2077... Just like cyberpunk 2077!

It looks like it's intentionally wrapped in a way that hides the proper shape right now, like there's a plastic bag on the front with something inside making it stick up more. Maybe I'm wrong, but remove all that and I think it's just generic Ford truck shaped.

Idk, it's giving me vibes of lowered trucks from the early 00's. Pretty dumb but somehow I enjoy it.

If the pickup is at a lower height, less ostentatious/dangerous grill, and shorter than 200 inches, I won't begrudge someone a pickup compared to an SUV.

I'd get far more use out of a pickup bed than I do the back seats of my sedan. I have to borrow my dad's truck 4-5 times a month. I haven't opened the back doors on my car probably since may, and that was just to clean it. If a decent manufacturer made a small pickup with a single cab and a full bed I'd buy it in heartbeat. Unfortunately all we get now are these little shits with 4 foot beds and seating for 5.

The release? Seemingly mostly for the Ford marketing folks that think the customers care more about what they name a car and pictures of random people doing stuff more than any actual actionable information about the vehicle.

A small-ish electric pickup? People who wanted cheaper and/or smaller than the current wave of EV pickups. Especially a lot of folks that installed EVSE in their garage for their cars and full-size pickups frequently don't fit in garages.

Slate is in the same area and has quite a bit of interest, despite being yet another unproven manufacturer. Depending on the details of the truck, this could take advantage of the same niche but with a more familiar brand and potentially executing some things better when it comes to truck features. One issue I recall with a colleague's Tesla was that they got a lot of the 'boring car stuff' wrong, and I wouldn't be surprised if Slate makes some similar mistakes. Particularly I suspect Ford will get the two-row seating/serviceable bed compromise down better than Slate. Though Ford could still flub the size and not fit in my garage while absolutely a Slate could, will have to see. I wish Ford would embrace the "maker" sensibilities that Slate seems to cater towards but they will absolutely fail at that.

At this price, its range wont be great as a truck, so id say people who want to haul some stuff within the region, or do shorter range towing. Like a boat to the nearby lake.

If you buy one you can give it to anyone or keep it for yourself. You decide.

People that couldn't afford the $100k Ford Lightning.

People who can't fathom a Ford lasting more than 4 years.

The US auto industry lobbied many hours and many dollars to set up protectionist laws so that startup companies and foreign competitors were at a disadvantage. These have been the laws so long it hurts.

One of the rumors has me particularly wondering about this point... Allegedly no low-voltage battery. Low voltage is 48v (fine) but not even a 48V, just pulling from the traction battery. So the gigantic battery pack is now constantly running instead of being disengaged most of the time it is sitting.

I guess I haven't heard anything suggesting EVs have safety issues more often when charging, so maybe it's ok, but would want some assurances that there are good reasons why they skip a discrete low voltage battery when everyone else seems like they need to.

Finally I can touch up my hair on the worksite. These safety helmets are brutal on my balayage

Marketing execs can’t figure out why the F150 Lightning failed. Is it because they priced it at luxury vehicle prices? Fuck no, it must be because consumers were too dumb and must have thought it was a trim level or something. So this time they aren’t going to reuse an existing name.

The F150 lightning is a fantastic truck. But the first BEV should have been the mid size, and maybe shoot for more range which is what consumers constantly doubt by streamlining the design a bit.

They decided to not make it a phev after doing some testing a few years back. Otherwise I'd already own one. Especially since they have AWD on the hybrid now.

They kinda learned that a while ago, the maverick is one of the best selling trucks on the market right now.

As an American, I can imagine. But I'm still making 2003 money so I'm not buying anything this year.