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SEARCHCalifornia campus opening precedes ‘Model T Moment’ announcement.
The Ford EV-development center is in a 95-year-old former Model A factory.
Garrett Rowland
Ford said it opened what is calls an Electric Vehicle Development Center in Long Beach, Calif., in what was once a Model A factory.
The two-building facility, which Ford says was converted into an Army depot during World War II, will now be the automaker’s “main design and innovation hub” in Southern California, focused on developing “advanced” EVs.
Though Ford and other automakers have backed off earlier plans to switch to all-EV lineups in the next decade as adoption has flattened and Trump administration policies have discouraged segment growth, Ford appears to still be prioritizing it.
The development begs the question of whether the center is part of the “Model T moment” Ford plans to announce on Aug. 11 in Kentucky around design and assembly of “breakthrough” EVs. It will make the announcement via livestream.
Ford Senior Technical Program Manager Ann Diep alludes to the Model T as she describes the facility’s mission in a press release, and the focus appears to be on both innovation and accessibility for more consumers. EVs’ price points have been a major obstacle to adoption in the U.S.
“Interestingly, we've talked a lot about the Model T, which itself marked an inflection point between innovation and affordability," she said. "Just like that milestone vehicle, we aim for simplification, making things work well without overcomplicating them. Easy to understand, yet sparking that same kind of thrill you get when ‘unboxing’ a new gadget.”
The 250,000-square-foot campus includes design studio space, a milling and fabrication shop, and EV testing labs.
Diep says the center will collaborate with Michigan- and Silicon Valley-based Ford staff to combine industry expertise with technology startup-like “agility.”
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