According to Reuters, Ford plans to raise production of its upcoming F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck. Ford made the decision in response to high early demand, with 120,000 client reservations for the vehicle already made before of its spring 2022 release.
Ford's new strategy calls for production to increase to 15,000 vehicles in 2022, 55,000 in 2023, and 80,000 in 2024. When the second-generation Lightning, which will be built on Ford's new electric-only TE1 platform, hits the road in 2025, Ford plans to sell 160,000 units (as opposed to the current Lightning which uses a modified F-150 platform). We don't know if they decide to continue increasing production after 2025 (but they should).
To achieve these new production targets, Ford will invest an additional $850 million. By 2025, the business aims to invest more than $30 billion on electric car initiatives.
Ford has previously increased the manufacture of the F-150 Lightning. They announced a proposal in November to add 350 new production employees and increase production by 50% over earlier plans. As a result, Ford now wants to make three times as many electric F-150s as initially planned.
Electrek got a chance to see the F-150 Lightning in person when it was launched earlier this year and was very impressed. We also spoke with Ford's head of battery electric vehicle development, who stated that the business is not entering into electric pickup trucks to make a few of them, but rather to go large with them.
Despite this second rise in output, Ford's electrification ambition is still small when compared to the number of gas-powered F-150s it plans to sell in the same time frame.
Every year, Ford sells almost one million F-series trucks. In total, Ford expects to sell around 140,000 electric F-150s (only 20,000 more than have already been booked) and nearly 4 million gas F-series trucks between now and the end of 2024. Over the course of their lives, each of those gas F-series trucks will release nearly 100 tonnes of carbon into the environment, along with a slew of other pollutants.
Early buyers may face high prices as a result of the limited production plan. Early Mach Es have already seen significant price increases at Ford dealerships. Dealerships aren't going to want to sell off an F-150 Lightning with 120,000 early reservers and only 15,000 vehicles made in the first year if they have ten more buyers eager to buy the same car at MSRP.
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