Last year Ford Motor suspended production of an electric pickup truck, shut down a battery factory in Kentucky and booked a $20 billion loss to account for its diminished plans.
Then, last month, the senior executive who oversaw development of this new technology left the company.
But Ford executives insist that those setbacks do not mean that the company has given up on electric vehicles. As evidence, they point to a former warehouse here in Long Beach, Calif.
There, a team lead by Alan Clarke, a Tesla veteran, is building a new electric pickup truck that will go on sale next year, the first of many models designed to compete on price and technology with the best cars sold by Chinese automakers.
Ford has begun lifting the secrecy that has shrouded the project, and last week allowed reporters to tour its Electric Vehicle Development Center in Long Beach.
Mr. Clarke acknowledged in an interview with The New York Times that last year was tough on morale for his young team, which includes former employees of Tesla, Apple and other tech companies.
