Ford has a name for the affordable midsize electric truck it has been building toward for the past year: Fathom. The company announced the name Thursday morning along with a starting price of $29,945, which includes a $1,595 destination and delivery charge. Ford lists the truck at $28,350 before destination, and that figure applies to versions equipped with the standard-range battery. The Fathom is the first model that will be produced on Ford’s new Universal Electric Vehicle Platform, and customer deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2027.
The price lands where Ford said it would. When the company announced its affordable electric vehicle program in August 2025, it targeted a starting price of approximately $30,000 for the midsize truck that would launch the platform. The all-in figure arrives just under that threshold, which makes the Ford Fathom one of the least expensive electric pickups announced for the American market so far.
Why Ford chose the name
Ford says it selected Fathom for the meaning of the word. Bringing the truck to production required the company to reach a new depth of innovation, according to Ford, allowing it to fathom possibilities that were once considered beyond reach. The name also marks a departure from the company’s earlier electric vehicle strategy. The Mustang Mach-E and the F-150 Lightning both borrowed established nameplates to ease buyers into electric powertrains, while the Fathom is a new name with no gas-powered predecessor.
What $29,945 buys
Every Fathom will be BlueCruise-capable. BlueCruise is Ford’s hands-free highway driving assistant, which lets drivers remove their hands from the wheel on prequalified stretches of divided highway while a driver-facing camera confirms their eyes remain on the road. Beyond the driver assistance hardware, every truck will include bidirectional power capability, a large high-resolution touchscreen, and a digital car key that allows a smartphone to take the place of a physical key. Ford describes the truck as high-tech and fun to drive, and the company said in 2025 that it expects the truck to accelerate from zero to 60 mph on pace with a Mustang EcoBoost.
Bidirectional power is one of the more practical features on that list. A truck that can send electricity out as well as take it in can run power tools at a job site, keep a refrigerator cold at a campsite, or, when paired with the right home equipment, power essential circuits during an outage. Destination Charged has covered how vehicle-to-home charging works and which EVs support it, and Ford making the capability part of every Fathom means buyers will not need to climb a trim ladder to get it.
Software details are still emerging, though one piece is already known. Ford confirmed in July that Apple Maps will power the built-in navigation on Universal Electric Vehicle Platform models, and the Fathom will be the first vehicle built on that platform.
More passenger room than a RAV4
Ford projects the Fathom will offer more passenger volume than a Toyota RAV4, one of the best-selling vehicles in the United States. That comparison places the truck against compact crossovers, the heart of the American new vehicle market, rather than against other pickups. Electric platforms free up packaging space because there is no engine ahead of the cabin, which is how the Fathom can offer a frunk in addition to its bed. The combination gives owners lockable, weatherproof storage up front and open hauling space in back, a pairing no crossover can match.
Built differently in Louisville
The Fathom will also be the first Ford built using the company’s new assembly tree manufacturing process at the Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky. The assembly tree replaces the traditional single moving line with three sub-assemblies that are built simultaneously and then joined, with large aluminum unicastings standing in for dozens of smaller stamped parts. Ford has said the Universal Electric Vehicle Platform requires 20 percent fewer parts than a typical vehicle, 25 percent fewer fasteners, and 40 percent fewer workstations on the plant floor. The company expects the process to run up to 40 percent faster than the vehicles Louisville built previously, and it is reinvesting part of that gain into automated quality checks for a net 15 percent improvement in assembly speed. Ford has framed the overhaul as its biggest change to how it builds vehicles since the moving assembly line itself.
The trucks will use prismatic lithium iron phosphate battery cells that contain no cobalt and no nickel, supplied by BlueOval Battery Park Michigan. LFP chemistry costs less than the nickel-based alternatives and generally tolerates routine charging to 100 percent, which suits a truck aimed at daily commuting and home charging. Ford has committed nearly $2 billion to the Louisville plant, an investment the company says secures 2,200 hourly jobs, and roughly $5 billion across the truck and battery programs combined, which Ford says will create or secure close to 4,000 direct positions.
The affordable electric truck field is filling in
The Fathom arrives as the affordable electric truck segment starts to take real shape. Slate opened preorders for its Slate Truck in June with a starting price of $24,950 and 205 miles of range. Slate keeps its price low through a deliberately minimal approach to equipment, while Ford is betting that manufacturing efficiency can deliver a low price without stripping the equipment list. General Motors is exploring the space as well, showing midsize GMC Hummer X truck and SUV concepts in May. For shoppers, the practical result is choice. The market will soon include at least two electric pickups with starting prices under $30,000, a category that did not exist two years ago.
Ford is also making an ownership cost argument. The company claimed in 2025 that the truck will cost less to own over five years than a three-year-old used Tesla Model Y, a comparison aimed at buyers who assumed their first electric vehicle would have to be secondhand.
Preorders open in early 2027
Ford has opened a sign-up page for Fathom updates on its website. Preorders will follow in early 2027, and customer deliveries are scheduled to begin later that same year. Several important details remain unannounced, including range estimates, battery options beyond the standard-range pack, trim structure, and option pricing. Those numbers will determine how the Ford Fathom stacks up against its rivals once trucks begin reaching driveways. What is settled now is the name, the price, and the plant that will build it.
