Ford Motor Co. said Monday it will spend about $5 billion on a new generation of affordable electric vehicles, raising its EV investment plan from $3 billion. The outlay includes nearly $2 billion to convert its Louisville, Kentucky, assembly plant and complements $3 billion already earmarked for the BlueOval battery park in Michigan. Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley called the effort a “Model T moment,” saying the company aims to deliver low-cost EVs “that delight customers in every way that matters.” The first product of the program will be a midsize, four-door electric pickup priced at roughly $30,000 and slated to reach showrooms in 2027. Ford says the truck will offer more passenger space than a Toyota RAV4, a structural battery floor, and 0–60 mph performance comparable to a Mustang EcoBoost—features meant to counter expanding competition from Chinese manufacturers and forthcoming low-price models from Tesla and startups. Production will rely on a freshly designed Universal EV Platform and a three-branch “assembly tree” that replaces Henry Ford’s century-old linear line. Ford expects the process to cut parts counts by 20 percent, fasteners by 25 percent, workstations by 40 percent and overall assembly time by 15 percent. The Louisville revamp will support about 2,200 hourly jobs—600 fewer than today—but the broader investment is projected to create or secure nearly 4,000 positions across Ford’s U.S. operations. Cost savings also come from prismatic lithium-iron-phosphate batteries that forgo costly nickel and cobalt and will be produced in Michigan using licensed technology from China’s CATL. Ford’s EV and software division lost nearly $10 billion between 2023 and 2024 and could lose up to $5.5 billion this year; executives say the new platform is designed to turn the business profitable within a year of the pickup’s launch.