Ford Cancels Electric F-150
fliptop writes:
The American consumer is speaking clearly and they want the benefits of electrification like instant torque and mobile power. But they also demand affordability:
Just four years after it was launched, the Ford Motor Company has pulled the plug on its electric F-150 Lightning truck. The company instead will reportedly be focusing on hybrid vehicles and a future lineup of smaller and more affordable electric vehicles.
In a call with reporters on Monday, Andrew Frick, the president of Ford Blue and Ford Model E, the company's commercial and electric divisions, said, "The American consumer is speaking clearly and they want the benefits of electrification like instant torque and mobile power. But they also demand affordability ... rather than spending billions more on large EVs that now have no path to profitability, we are allocating that money into higher-returning areas," per NPR.
When the truck was announced in 2021, the company said that it would cost just $40,000. However, once trucks began to roll off the production line, the company was unable to hit this target. For the 2025 model, the price started at around $55,000. Ford also reportedly lost money on every vehicle, despite the higher price point, with electric vehicle sales being lower in recent years than expected, and production costs not coming down.
[...] With the end of the Lightning electric truck, the company will pivot its Kentucky battery production site to build batteries for storage instead of trucks. These batteries could be used for the electric as well as data centers and other industrial customers, the company said.
Previously:
- F-150 Lightning Production Halted Indefinitely As Ford Bets On Gas Trucks Again
- Ford Will Lose $3 Billion on Electric Vehicles in 2023, It Says
- Ford Dealers Can Ban F-150 Lightning Customers from Reselling Trucks to Discourage Scalpers
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