Head Bounty Hunter: Alan Clarke and Ford’s Radical EV Gamble

The former Tesla engineer discusses joining Ford, building the UEV platform, and finding efficiency in the future of EVs.

On this episode of The InEVitable, we chat with Alan Clarke, executive director of advanced EV development for Ford Motor Company. Before diving into this episode, we highly suggest you check out this article by our colleague Alisa Priddle, which provides the latest update and background information on the Universal Electric Vehicle (UEV) project Clarke has been in charge of, since joining Ford in 2022. For the deeply InEV invested, we recommend checking out Ford’s 14-minute “Bounty Hunters” video, as we reference the topics and experts shown in this video throughout the ‘pod.

Steely-Eyed Veteran

While Clarke may look young, especially alongside grizzled Lieberman and wizened Loh, he is a steely-eyed veteran of the automotive industry, having spent almost his entire career at Tesla, during its earliest years of Model S, and then subsequently through the often rocky rollout of Model X, 3, Y and Cybertruck. Along the way, Clarke played key roles in projects big and small, including the Model S’ automatic, pop-out door handles and its revolutionary battery pack and the revolutionary, clean-slate engineering project that was Tesla’s battery swap system. And when we say key roles, Clarke has his name on no less than six Tesla patents, including the aforementioned door handles, battery packs, and swapping stations, as well as Model S seat mounts and the Cyber truck’s rollout tonneau cover.

From Tesla to Ford?

For these reasons, and many more, Ford was happy to backup a dump truck full of cash (allegedly) to get Clarke to leave Tesla and join its new EV skunkworks program that is now based in Long Beach, California. We ask Clarke about that recruitment process, including why he decided to leave America’s leading EV startup to work for FoMoCo, and who made the overture (hint, it was another Tesla legend and InEVitable guest, Doug Field).

And of course, we go deep on what he can tell us about the new Ford UEV vehicle platform, which will launch with a new small EV pickup truck sometime in 2027, the first of a series of vehicles that will be built on this flexible EV architecture. Of particular interest is the extreme pursuit of efficiency as outlined in Ford’s “Bounty Hunters” video, as well as the teasing shots of the mini-trucks wind-cheating shape. Is Ford making a trucky truck for the truck-lovers or a slick Tesla-shaped lozenge with a bed? We grill Clarke for answers.

Tesla War Stories

But wait, there is much more. After going into detail on Ford’s plans, we ask Clarke to recount his time at Tesla, and go through some of the highs and lows of his storied career. We start with that first Model S, which he worked on from prototype through production, with chief engineer at the time, Peter Rawlinson, another guest on this show. We chat about some of the early MotorTrend testing of the Model S, and subsequent major projects, all the way to Cybertruck, which we were the first to preview way back in 2019. If you look in the background of this story’s lead photo (reposted below), you can see Alan in the white shirt, behind to Elon Musk.

At well over two hours, it’s one of the longest episodes we’ve done in a long time. Special thanks to Alan Clarke for enduring the long (and hot – we turn off the HVAC in the studio for noise reasons) grilling. Check out the episode right here or wherever you get your ‘pods.