Ford Scraps EV SUV, Turns toward Hybrid, and Delays T3 Truck

• Ford is delaying its Project T3 truck, which will likely be the Ford F-150 Lightning successor until the second half of 2027.
  

• The automaker is pivoting its plans for a battery-electric three-row SUV toward a hybrid powertrain.

• Ford claims that these retimed launches are based on looming lower-cost battery technologies.

It looks like Ford is shaking up its aggressive EV push. Ford is retiming the launch of its next battery-electric pickup truck and pivoting away from its planned three-row BEV SUV.

This news comes amid a changing EV marketplace and continued exploration into tech that could make electric vehicles more profitable for automakers. Ford is also adding some clarity toward its next generation of battery-electric commercial vehicles, with an EV van scheduled for 2026.

Of course, the big takeaway from Ford is that it is shelving its battery-electric three-row SUV.

Once expected in 2025, and then pushed back to 2027, Ford’s all-electric three-row SUV will be cancelled, with a hybrid powertrain scheduled for its next three-row people mover. Ford was apparently far enough along with this upcoming EV SUV that it’s going to “take a special non-cash charge of about $400 million for the write-down of certain product-specific manufacturing assets.”

Ford is also pushing back some of its other ambitious EV plans – namely the looming Project T3.

This second-generation BEV pickup was also originally scheduled for 2025 but won’t see daylight until the second half of 2027. According to Ford, this delay “allows the company to utilize lower-cost battery technology and take advantage of other cost breakthroughs while the market continues to develop.”

Despite the delay, Ford still plans to build its second-generation pickup at its facility in Tennessee.

It's not all bad news for EV fans, however. Ford seems to still have battery-electric vehicles on its radar and is still spooling up a battery-electric commercial van in 2026. This next-generation BEV commercial van is scheduled to be built at Ford’s factory in Ohio.

Ford has also added even more clarity to its earlier comments on a possible hybrid powertrain coming to the Super Duty line of trucks.

The automaker says in a news release, “The next-generation F-Series Super Duty pickup will have a range of propulsion options, building on Ford’s hybrid truck sales leadership with the F-150 and Maverick.” It doesn’t get much clearer than that, and Ford is essentially saying that the next-generation Super Duty will add at least a hybrid option to its lineup.

Considering this shake-up, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Ford is also reducing its expected annual capital expenditure for EVs from 40 percent to 30 percent, with a greater share going toward hybrid development. While this reduction could be viewed as short-sighted, only time will tell if it pays off.

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