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What is Ford’s Project T3 next-gen electric truck?

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With Ford Motor Co.’s announcement that its next-gen electric truck will be built at BlueOval City, the company’s new mega-campus in West Tennessee, we have a whole lot of questions. Namely, what in the heck is Ford’s Project T3, and when can we expect to see it?

While Ford’s press release offered appropriately vague information about the new truck, it did offer a few nuggets worth mentioning.

What does Ford’s Project T3 stand for?

This is an easy one. Project T3 stands for “Trust The Truck,” which is a code name that stuck after the development team made it their rally cry. On a deeper level, it means this next generation truck will be fully updatable and constantly improving as well as support towing, hauling and exportable power.

You know, it’ll be a truck you can trust as a, well, truck.

Production begins in 2025

Ford is investing $5.6 billion into BlueOval City campus and creating about 6,000 new jobs in the area. In addition to being Ford’s first carbon neutral vehicle and battery manufacturing campus, it will be capable of building 500,000 electric trucks a year at full production.

Though the plant likely won’t be fully operational when it comes online, it will build this next-gen truck in some capacity starting in 2025.

With this production schedule, this means we’ll likely see information starting to eke out about this truck later this year with a full-scale reveal happening sometime in mid- to late-2024. We’d also guess this means it’ll be a 2026 model.

Built from the ground up as an EV

Ford is calling Project T3 a “second-generation” electric truck. While the Ford F-150 Lighting is essentially an electric truck built on a modified version of the gas-truck platform, this new electric truck is being built from the ground up in tandem with the new assembly plant.

“Project T3 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to revolutionize America’s truck,” Jim Farley, Ford president and CEO, said in a press release. “We are melding 100 years of Ford truck know-how with world-class electric vehicle, software and aerodynamics talent. It will be a platform for endless innovation and capability.”

Ford's Project T3

Will it be full-size, midsize or compact?

At least initially Ford’s Project T3 truck will be built in addition to the F-150 Lightning. But Ford says this new truck will “further grow and re-invent the Ford truck franchise.”

So, does that mean it will be in a different segment or further grow the full-size electric truck segment. The short answer is: We don’t know.

We’ve known for a year that Ford’s Project T3 truck was coming because Farley told us it was coming at the kickoff for the F-150 Lightning production. We even speculated at the time that this meant the truck would be midsize.

But, the new comments about towing and hauling capability have us second-guessing that this will be a midsize truck. Plus, Farley is calling this new truck a “Millennium Falcon — with a back porch attached.”

That all seems like full-size language to me – unless it’s a midsize truck like we haven’t seen before. Which is totally possible.

The bottom line

We don’t have a lot of details right now on Ford’s Project T3, but we expect them to start trickling out within the next 6 to 12 months. So, stay tuned.

If you could build an electric truck from the ground up, what would it look like, what kind of range would it get, and what would the max towing capacity be? Comment below.

 

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Jill Ciminillo

Jill Ciminillo is the Managing Editor for Pickup Truck + SUV Talk as well as a Chicago-based automotive writer, YouTube personality and podcast host, with her articles and videos appearing in outlets throughout the U.S. Additionally, she co-hosts a weekly radio show on car stuff for a local Chicago station. Previously, Jill has been the automotive editor for both newspaper and broadcast media conglomerates. She is also a past president for the Midwest Automotive Media Association and has the distinction of being the first female president for that organization. Jill is also currently a juror for the North American Car, Utility and Truck of the Year (NACTOY).

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