Ford Fathom EV Pickup ($28,350 Starting Price) - News & Info

[EasternSierra]

Limited initial specs certainly look appealing... yeah, the name is a little bit of a head scratcher... Just because, by definition, the word might make sense, does not necessarily translate to being a good name.... I'm a fan of Ford reincarnating legacy names, but I get the case here, not to. Just don't agree with it. But anyway, excited to see more info as it becomes available.

It's going to take something really special to pry the keys to my Maverick out of my hands.... this has potential!

I can't fathom that name choice.

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[MilesTeg]

Many of us old guys have memories of taking our RWD cars in snow covered parking lots doing donuts. That taught us how to handle oversteer. In the case of my son, all of our "everyday cars" were either FWD or AWD cars. The Mustang never got driven in the winter, so my kids never got the chance to develop those skills.

Somehow I have only ever driven anything but a 4/RWD vehicle with the exception of a few road trips/limited driving in other people's cars.

When my dailies didn't have winters (before I had the money to have such luxuries) I learned VERY quickly how to drive to not die in slick conditions with RWD. My first car was a rusted out Chevy Luv with crap tires, and oh boy did it handle like shit in slick weather! But also, damn did it do donuts in snow covered parking lots, hah.

These days, my Mustang gets parked in the winter -- it runs summer tires only. Even the OE "all seasons" (Pirelli P-Zero Neros) were a death trap on dry pavement below 35ish degrees if you weren't careful. My Bronco, which is not a daily, doesn't but luckily the OE tires are 3 peak rated and as long as you drive sanely in them they are OK in winter.

 

[MilesTeg]

No I don’t notice. If you want cheap buy a civic. A throwaway vehicle after five years is horrendous financial management.

I hate to break it to you, but any Ford product fits the definition of "throwaway vehicle after five years" far more closely than any Honda, including a Civic.

 

[AZ_Liberty]

There's still a time/place/opportunity for them. You aren't noticing these $4-5 gas prices?

This. EVs are roughly 10% of the US market, and a third of Europe.

A lot of people don't want a fun or interesting car, they want a boring soul-sucking appliance of a vehicle, as shown by Honda CR-V sales. I drove a friend's Bolt. It was god-awful, but they are selling.

Ford needs a couple lower cost EVs. Frankly they need them more for Europe than here, but they do need something in that niche here as well.

 

[GoHawks63]

These days, my Mustang gets parked in the winter -- it runs summer tires only. Even the OE "all seasons" (Pirelli P-Zero Neros) were a death trap on dry pavement below 35ish degrees if you weren't careful. My Bronco, which is not a daily, doesn't but luckily the OE tires are 3 peak rated and as long as you drive sanely in them they are OK in winter.

Yeah, both my CTS-V and Roush Mustang have summer only tires.

One winter my garage door opener died. So, I pull out the CTS-V, which was dormant for the winter, onto my driveway that maybe had about half inch of hard packed snow on it.

The car sat there while I worked on replacing the garage door motor. When finished, I went to pull the car back into the garage. I started it, put into reverse and once I released the brakes, the tires just spun. I hadn't even touched the accelerator. There was no way I could get the car in the garage. My sons and I had to push it the 15-20ft back into the garage.

Once the temps get in the 30s(F), the tires become hard as hockey pucks.

 

[CarmeloS]

There's still a time/place/opportunity for them. You aren't noticing these $4-5 gas prices?

And they'll drop again, just a fact

 

[crzyhawk]

These days, my Mustang gets parked in the winter -- it runs summer tires only. Even the OE "all seasons" (Pirelli P-Zero Neros) were a death trap on dry pavement below 35ish degrees if you weren't careful. My Bronco, which is not a daily, doesn't but luckily the OE tires are 3 peak rated and as long as you drive sanely in them they are OK in winter.

This was honestly a big factor in buying my bronco. I got pretty sick of how the Mustang handled in the winter. I did it for years. It's certainly doable, but I just don't wanna drive that way anymore.

 

[MilesTeg]

Yeah, both my CTS-V and Roush Mustang have summer only tires.

One winter my garage door opener died. So, I pull out the CTS-V, which was dormant for the winter, onto my driveway that maybe had about half inch of hard packed snow on it.

The car sat there while I worked on replacing the garage door motor. When finished, I went to pull the car back into the garage. I started it, put into reverse and once I released the brakes, the tires just spun. I hadn't even touched the accelerator. There was no way I could get the car in the garage. My sons and I had to push it the 15-20ft back into the garage.

Once the temps get in the 30s(F), the tires become hard as hockey pucks.

Hah! I had a similar experience with my Mustang when I first had it. I took it out on what I thought was a nice late spring day, but while on the drive it started snowing. When I got back home there was only a little bit of snow on the driveway -- about an inch. I tried going up, and no go. I got out, shoveled the driveway, and still no go. So, I took gravel from my landscaping and spread it on the driveway to finally get up.

Then my neighbor that I didn't even know, for no discernable reason other than to mock me, opened his garage and drove his AWD Audi (or something like that) up and down his driveway a few times then parked back in the garage.

 

[GoHawks63]

Prior to the Roush, I owned a 2011 GT/CS. It was early December and I hadn't stored the cars yet for the winter. One morning it was cold, but sunny I didn't take the Cadillac since that had summer tires, but the Mustang had all-seasons, so I took that to work. There was no snow predicted in the forecast.

Wouldn't you know it, an unexpected snow hit during the afternoon hours. That drive home was the most white-knuckled drive I had in a long time.

 

[SeaShed]

Ok grandpa let's get you back to bed

I don’t work at McDonalds, so the price of a gallon of gas doesn’t effect me like it does you.

 

[MilesTeg]

This. EVs are roughly 10% of the US market, and a third of Europe.

A lot of people don't want a fun or interesting car, they want a boring soul-sucking appliance of a vehicle, as shown by Honda CR-V sales. I drove a friend's Bolt. It was god-awful, but they are selling.

Ford needs a couple lower cost EVs. Frankly they need them more for Europe than here, but they do need something in that niche here as well.

Essentially the only developed nations (and China, whatever development level you might call it) where EVs are not already the dominate new vehicle purchase/market share or soon to be there are the U.S., Canada, and Japan. Even many developing nations (eastern europe, south asia) have significant EV markets.

In the U.S. and Canada, it's a combination of cultural, political and practical issues that are slowing adoption.

In Japan, which is the biggest outlier, it's because Toyota basically runs Japan, and Toyota didn't believe in EVs (they invested instead in hydrogen cars) so it's way, way behind the curve in developing EV production vehicles.

 

[CarmeloS]

Diesels should be making a comeback instead of EV's honestly

 

[AZ_Liberty]

In Japan, which is the biggest outlier, it's because Toyota basically runs Japan, and Toyota didn't believe in EVs (they invested instead in hydrogen cars) so it's way, way behind the curve in developing EV production vehicles.

Japan (1.6% EV market penetration) has poor EV sales due to the fact that it is highly urbanized. There are not millions of acres of suburbs with 2-dar garages and abundant off-street parking.

Hydrogen could actually make sense (sort of) in Japan, you would fuel a hydrogen car no differently than a CNG vehicle.

 

[AZ_Liberty]

Diesels should be making a comeback instead of EV's honestly

Diesel is a non-starter in the US. The EPA hates diesel with an irrational fury. The ultra-low sulfur mandate doubled the cost of fuel, and all of the crazy emissions gear has put a huge damper on reliability.

There is a reason US Military F-250s come with a factory emissions delete.

 

[MilesTeg]

Japan (1.6% EV market penetration) has poor EV sales due to the fact that it is highly urbanized. There are not millions of acres of suburbs with 2-dar garages and abundant off-street parking.

This contributes, no doubt, but Toyota has a 40%+ market share in Japan, with most of the rest divided by a bunch of other makers that also are just barely starting to make EVs (even for use outside of Japan).

Hydrogen could actually make sense (sort of) in Japan, you would fuel a hydrogen car no differently than a CNG vehicle.

Using electricity to power an EV is about 90% energy efficient. This includes production, transmission, storage, and all other "full lifecycle" costs.

Using that same electricity to make hydrogen (which is the only way we have to produce it at scale) is about 20-40% efficient when you include all those same "full lifecycle" costs.

Hydrogen does not make sense over EVs, except in applications where batteries cannot deliver the needed energy density (e.g.: aircraft)

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