Beyond that, though, Ford e is an opportunity to develop electric vehicles beyond just methods of transportation. “Entertainment and gaming is going to be a huge area of focus,” Alex Purdy, Head of Digital Product, suggests, “particularly given EV ownership is chaining the way that people think about their vehicles, they’re using it in totally different use cases.”
We’ve seen companies flirt with that prospect when it comes to autonomous vehicles. After all, if the EV is driving itself, that frees up plenty of time for the human who once was in control to do something else. The goal, though, might be an electric car that you choose to sit in — even if you don’t have anywhere to go.
“Our aspiration going after a lot of these use cases is, if we truly succeed, you could take the motors and the wheels off and you still have a product,” Field says.
As for when we can expect to see all of this begin to arrive, Ford won’t be drawn on specifics. The goal, Field explains, is to have this new, next-generation platform and architecture ready to land alongside the next generation of electric vehicles. Given the F-150 Lightning and E-Transit are relatively new in production, and the Mustang Mach-E wasn’t all that early before that, we could have some time to wait. Nonetheless, the bigger news in the meantime is the upcoming BlueOval City plant in West Tennessee, with production there expected to begin in 2025.
