Ford’s best-selling truck has an all-electric version that is already a bestseller, bringing the popular truck into the EV mainstream.
Dearborn, Michigan – The electric vehicle market is set to explode, and it looks like America’s workhorse truck is at the tip of the spear. Even though it doesn’t launch until later this year, Ford has already completely booked every electric F-150 it plans to make, setting up the car giant to get its fingers deep into the EV market.
Ford’s most popular truck is going all-electric this year, and 200,000 orders are already stacked up and waiting for the car-maker to roll the new F-150 Lightnings off the assembly line.
The electric F-150 crushes the gasoline-guzzling 2021 F-150 XL SuperCrew 4WD, and the base version of the F-150 Lightning costs about the same, with 130 more horsepower and almost three times as much torque.
This is huge news for the growing electric vehicle market, because it means giving consumers more choices than the niché Teslas, and could put the pedal to the metal to revamp the nation’s charging infrastructure for electric vehicle’s.
The Michigan automotive company is also sitting pretty with fans of its F-series vehicles, which are already the most popular truck in the US, selling hundreds of thousands more per year than competitors, and that trend is likely to continue with the hotly awaited F-150 Lightning.
If buyers, like construction firms which tend to buy trucks in large numbers, make the switch to electric, Ford could lead the charge with relatively inexpensive heavy-duty electric trucks and other vehicles.
Ford stopped taking new orders after the 200,000 mark, due to production limits, but the company announced January 4 that it is cranking its assembly lines up to hit 150,000 Lightnings per year.
Add that to the 200,000 Mustang Mach-E and 200,000 full electric Transit vans hitting the market each year, and “within 24 months, Ford will have the global capacity to produce 600,000 battery electric vehicles annually.”
Good for consumers and bad for scalpers
The increased amount of electric F-150s hitting the market throughout this year and the next will come with an interesting new attempt at dealing with scalpers.
If official Ford dealers opt in, each F-150 Lightning can be sold with a reselling ban as part of the buyer’s contract, according to CNET’s Roadshow.
The practice of snagging a hot commodity and reselling it for a profit has become a frustrating part of shipping new tech gadgets and some vehicles, because not only does scalping make prices skyrocket, it keeps people who actually want to use the car or smartphone waiting while it gets shuffled around by resellers.
Now, the anti-scalping part of sold Lightnings could cool down the usual frenzy of buying and then flipping the new vehicle at a cutthroat price.
Customers who pre-ordered a Lightning can expect to get one this year or in 2023.
Ford is making it easier for you to get in on the fastest-growing automotive trend that is another piece of the climate action puzzle
Cover photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire
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