Ford Names Its Tiny Truck: Meet the Fathom, Starting at $28,350
The mystery is half over. Ford has officially named its small electric pickup the Fathom and confirmed a starting price of $28,350 ($29,945 with the $1,595 destination charge). That undercuts a base Ford Maverick by $645 and lands just $3,400 above the Slate Truck.
What we still don't know: what it looks like. Ford is holding the full design reveal until early 2027, when pre-orders will also open. Deliveries are targeted for fall 2027.
What Ford Did Reveal
The feature list is aggressive for the price. Every Fathom gets bidirectional charging standard — meaning it can send power back to your house or run tools at a job site. There's a digital key standard, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a large high-resolution touchscreen.
The headline tech feature: Apple Maps built in. Ford says the Fathom is the first vehicle ever to ship with Apple's mapping service integrated natively into the infotainment system. It's also BlueCruise capable, meaning hands-free highway driving — though that will likely cost extra, as it does on other Ford EVs.
On the powertrain side, Ford is targeting at least 300 miles of range from prismatic LFP batteries manufactured at BlueOval Battery Park in Michigan. The truck sits on Ford's new Universal EV Platform (UEV) and is built using a megacasting manufacturing process — both firsts for Ford. Five seats, more passenger volume than a Toyota RAV4.
The Team Behind It
The Fathom was developed as a skunkworks project by a team working in isolation in Los Angeles, led by Alan Clarke, an ex-Tesla executive. The team includes engineers recruited from Rivian, Tesla, and Apple's car project. Ford clearly treated this as a clean-sheet effort rather than a downsized version of an existing truck.
What It Means for the Tiny Truck Space
This is a significant moment. Ford — the company that defined the American pickup truck — is now officially competing in the affordable EV truck segment at a price point that puts pressure on every startup on this tracker. At $28,350, the Fathom is more expensive than the Slate ($24,950) but comes with considerably more tech, more range, five seats, and the backing of a company with 8,000+ dealers and over a century of truck-building experience.
The trade-off is time. Slate is targeting Q4 2026 deliveries. The Fathom won't arrive until fall 2027 at the earliest, and we still haven't seen the final design. For buyers who can wait, though, this is shaping up to be the truck to beat.
Production will happen in Louisville, Kentucky, and Ford has confirmed the factory assignment. We'll update this page as the full reveal approaches early next year.