The electric vehicle (EV) industry has been in a whirlwind lately, and Ford has been strategically taking advantage of this to build a secret team focused on developing affordable EVs.
According to a TechCrunch analysis of LinkedIn data, Ford has grown this team to roughly 300 employees in the past year. This impressive group includes around 50 talented individuals from Rivian, more than 20 from Tesla, and a dozen from Canoo, a company facing financial difficulties. Additionally, Ford has recruited around 10 employees from Lucid Motors and a handful of engineers from Apple’s disbanded EV project, known as Project Titan.
The growth of this secretive team reflects the industry’s current focus: dramatically reducing the cost of EVs. This strategy is crucial for Ford to not only catch up to Tesla but also to fend off the growing competition from affordable Chinese EVs. “Our entire EV team is laser-focused on cost reduction and efficiency,” said CEO Jim Farley in February when revealing the project to analysts. “The ultimate competition will be affordable Teslas and Chinese manufacturers.”
These new hires join a team that was already bolstered by Ford’s acquisition of Auto Motive Power (AMP) in late 2023. This team of over 100 people was brought in to develop a low-cost electric vehicle platform for future vehicles that can truly compete with Tesla on a mass market scale.
Even before the acquisition, Ford was actively building the team. The main hub is situated in Irvine, California, which also happens to be Rivian’s headquarters. In the latter half of 2023, Ford strategically hired about a dozen former Rivian employees, many of them engineers. They also recruited Canoo’s former software operations director and a senior fabricator.
Hiring went into high gear at the beginning of 2024. Ford brought in a senior mechanical design engineer who worked on Tesla’s “gigacasting” team. This innovative technique involves creating a vehicle’s underbody using just a few large pieces instead of traditional welding or riveting, simplifying the manufacturing process.
Rivian’s decision to lay off 10% of its workforce in February presented an opportunity for Ford. The Advanced EV team took advantage of this by hiring another dozen engineers in the following months. Additionally, Ford brought on Canoo’s former VP of engineering in May.
More recently, Ford has expanded the team’s presence in Palo Alto. They’ve recruited electrical engineers and program managers from AV companies like Nuro and eVTOL startups like Joby. Notably, in May and June 2024, they also added several Project Titan engineers to the Palo Alto office.
Interestingly, very few of Ford’s new hires come from outside the EV industry. Those who did tend to have experience with eVTOL startups like Joby, Archer, and Supernal.
While Ford declined to comment on specifics regarding how they’re building the team (known internally as Ford Advanced EV), they did acknowledge that some of the team’s work might be applied to other company efforts beyond the low-cost EV project. They emphasized that the Ford Advanced EV team is a key part of their global strategy to establish focused technology and product development teams near talent hubs. This team is positioned to be a leader in developing innovative EV products and technologies.