It is not Ranchero. It is Ford Fathom™. $28,350 Starting Price

[DeluxeStang]

I wonder if these site colors are previewing some of the color options.

 

[commadorebob]

If the only color options are pastel, my daughter has already offered to help wrap it.

 

[Snakebitten]

The Lightning release was a fiasco for a lot of reservation holders. The vast majority of us that were wanting the $39,999 SR Pro got punked by Ford. It left a bitter taste in my mouth, and that's coming from basically an ambassador customer of 7 decades. I still burn a little when I think about it.

I'm obviously a hypocrite, to some extent, because I have purchased 3 Ford products since, including an EV. But NOT a Lightning, regardless of how much I liked and still like the Lightning. (It led me to purchase my very first ever GM vehicle in my life too. An EV truck, in fact)

So I'm totally OK with Ford choosing to take a completely different approach to options. I'm fine if they don't have 4 or 5 trim levels.

What I won't be fine with is if they pull the same stunt and deny reservation holder access to the very truck they use for hyping the new product. The base truck should be available in the numbers to meet demand.

 

[Blue Lightning]

Nice features but I wonder how many Lightning owners would go for this with a less ground clearance and interior space?

 

[rileyfromford]

And E-scape writes itself.

 

[WXman]

I'll maintain that max miles is a crappy metric to look at (as long as its' ~200 or greater).

We've had an EV in our stable going on about 3 years now. Honestly, anything over 200-225 is more than enough for most users to cover all daily driving tasks like work/doctor/store/bar store/ bar again. without any range anxiety.. assuming you have level-2 charging at home so you can tank up again over-night and start with a full charge.

I pretty much just give a shrug at anything over 250. Sure, it's nice to have longer range, but for most (but not all), 200+ is more than enough for a vehicle that goes primarily around town. Unlike the low cost of making a gas tank larger, going to a larger EV battery for more range greatly increases cost and weight

A much more pragmatic metric is the efficiency: miles/kWh. Hoping it will come in at 4m/kWh or better. (I think the SLATE is spec'd at under 3). If you do a LOT of longer drives, level-3 charging capability is also going to come into play. Hoping the Fathom comes in at 150kW or better.

Once you own an EV and tank up every day at home, you learn that "Size isn't that important"

I had a F-150 Lightning up until February of this year. We can agree to disagree.

Range absolutely matters!

And, there are only so many charge cycles a battery can withstand. So from an engineering standpoint, more range means a longer lasting vehicle.

 

[DeluxeStang]

My inside source is telling me the standard range is 200 miles, the larger pack is 280-300 miles.

Fully loaded, larger battery, AWD, nicest options, it'll be about 40k. We'll see how accurate that is.

 

[metroshot]

Nice features but I wonder how many Lightning owners would go for this with a less ground clearance and interior space?

I for one would love it - coming from the Lightning.

It was a beast to handle around congested Los Angeles traffic, tight parking spaces and awful U turn radius.

Would not fit in my single car garage (unless I moved the refrigerator which my wife did not like).

Never used the Lightning for any truck stuff - never hauled - never towed - was a daily commuter vehicle.

Traded in the 2022 Lightning a year later for more money than I paid for plus $7500 tax credit on top and got my current Mach E.

Fathom would be the perfect marriage EV (Lightning & Mach E) - smaller size, lower to the ground for my aging body, ample cabin size, plus a truck bed which I never would use.

 

[Tdubz]

My inside source is telling me the standard range is 200 miles, the larger pack is 280-300 miles.

Fully loaded, larger battery, AWD, nicest options, it'll be about 40k. We'll see how accurate that is.

200 mile range for 30k would be a huge disappointment. Nissan Leaf has 300 miles range for 30k. The Bolt has 262 for the same price as the Fathom. The Chevrolet equinox has 319 miles range for 37k. If those price and range rumors are true, there are numerous ev’s that have better range and price than the Fathom and they didn’t have to invent a whole new assembly line process to do it.

 

[mark]

I feel like it would be more impactful to do a truck conquest line. Take my Silverado. It’s my third one and I’m excited to make the switch.

Riley, good to see you reading and replying. It shows you care. Consider the CATL high end battery formulation replacing the FLP iron based formulation.

 

[mark]

At least depreciation on a $25k, or even a $30k is le$$ than the hit the more expensive EV's drop.
There's a lot of EV's that quickly depreciate more than the Slate's MSRP.

My GMC Denali EV is a good example.

Mavericks have held up well. I expect the Fathom will as well, although I keep my vehicles for until they are teenagers.

 

[onuiebvbevnulib]

My inside source is telling me the standard range is 200 miles, the larger pack is 280-300 miles.

I think your inside source is just making things up.

How the heck can the Fathom get only 200 miles range when Slate gets 205 mile range with their boxy EV truck.

The Fathom gets 50 more miles range just from Aero design improvements.

Also no way will the extended range pack be less than 300 miles and more likely 350+ miles.

 

[WXman]

I for one would love it - coming from the Lightning.

It was a beast to handle around congested Los Angeles traffic, tight parking spaces and awful U turn radius.

Would not fit in my single car garage (unless I moved the refrigerator which my wife did not like).

Never used the Lightning for any truck stuff - never hauled - never towed - was a daily commuter vehicle.

Traded in the 2022 Lightning a year later for more money than I paid for plus $7500 tax credit on top and got my current Mach E.

Fathom would be the perfect marriage EV (Lightning & Mach E) - smaller size, lower to the ground for my aging body, ample cabin size, plus a truck bed which I never would use.

I saw a LOT of this on the F-150 Lightning forum. Most users of that truck never hauled, towed, or worked with it. It always made me wonder why they got the Lightning to begin with, when there was a Mustang Mach-e on the same showroom floor that would have been more perfect for their needs.

The demographic on the Lightning forum is night and day different than the ICE F-150 forums. Interesting stuff.....

 

[mark]

I had a F-150 Lightning up until February of this year. We can agree to disagree.

Range absolutely matters!

And, there are only so many charge cycles a battery can withstand. So from an engineering standpoint, more range means a longer lasting vehicle.

From what I’ve read, the batteries have alot of charge recycles documented, especially if you are not using a rapid charge. Not an engineer, but I read alot of the data on the LFP batteries from CATL and the technolgy has been refined over the last decade.

 

[Maverstang]

I saw a LOT of this on the F-150 Lightning forum. Most users of that truck never hauled, towed, or worked with it. It always made me wonder why they got the Lightning to begin with, when there was a Mustang Mach-e on the same showroom floor that would have been more perfect for their needs.

The demographic on the Lightning forum is night and day different than the ICE F-150 forums. Interesting stuff.....

I think it is a simple case of the “missing middle”.

Most of those Lightning buyers wanted an EV, but thought the Mach-E was too small for their general needs, so they moved up to the only other Ford choice, the Lightning. I expect very few of the original pick-up driver target market actually bought Lightnings. GM didn’t sell as many Silverado/Sierra EV trucks, but they had more mid size EV vehicle choices, like Blazer/Equinox/Lyriq.

Many of those Lightning buyers will love the Fathom, but some will still pine for something bigger, like a 3 row suv.