"On Thursday, CEO Jim Farley gave a brief update on the project's progress on social media. That included a bit more on how exactly the company plans to radically simplify manufacturing and reduce the number of parts needed to build a car. More On Ford's 'Skunkworks' EV Project "Ford will use large unicastings for the first time on the Universal EV Platform," he said. "The radically simplified aluminum unicastings condense over 146 parts into two, and enable the assembly tree method at the Louisville Assembly Plant." Ford has mentioned the use of large castings before. But the specifics of condensing well over 100 parts into two seem to be new."
"Those large pieces are central to Ford's novel "assembly tree" approach, where an EV is assembled in three sections that are then combined at the end of the line. They're also key for slashing manufacturing complexity and cost, which the automaker has said is a priority for the UEV project. According to Farley, the Universal EV Platform is meant to match the production costs of BYD's made-in-Mexico EVs."
Ford plans a $30,000 midsize electric pickup built on a Universal Electric Vehicle Platform that emphasizes manufacturing simplification. The platform uses large aluminum unicastings that condense more than 146 parts into two major pieces and enable an "assembly tree" production method at the Louisville Assembly Plant. Vehicles will be assembled in three sections that are combined at the end of the line. The design approach targets about 20% fewer parts overall and 25% fewer fasteners, seeks to cut complexity and cost, and aims to match BYD's made-in-Mexico EV production costs.
#universal-ev-platform #unicastingsgigacastings #assembly-tree-manufacturing #parts-and-cost-reduction
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