Ford ends F-150 Lightning production, starts battery storage business
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Somehow, the plan to market EVs to exactly the portion of the public (and their customer base) least interested in that technology failed to take off.
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It will, but these are slow evolving customers.
Once you tried electric, it is very difficult to go back to gas. In particular if range anxiety is gone and price is fair. And in particular if you like it BIG.
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Well, as long as duties and customs prevent foreign producers from entering the market, that's fine. But sooner or later, the time for reckoning will come, and the longer you wait, the worse it will be.
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I don't understand companies that put out a compromised product (the F150 Lightning is definitely a gas truck with batteries and electric motors shoehorned into the chassis), then cry about people not wanting their product and then going back to doing things the old way.
I drive the Mach-E - and yes, it has its shortcomings, but what they need to do is fix the shortcomings, not throw out the entire product line. God, why is iterating on new tech so hard for companies to understand??
I drive the Mach-E - and yes, it has its shortcomings, but what they need to do is fix the shortcomings, not throw out the entire product line. God, why is iterating on new tech so hard for companies to understand??
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I guess Ford is just giving up the future. Oh well, GM and Rivian's gain I guess
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Our experience with our EV has convinced me that electric is a better choice for a huge swathe of the car-driving population. And I'm disappointed that a range of factors seem to be conspiring against BEVs in North America.
But, I do wonder if large pickups - to the extent someone actually needs their combination of capabilities - are actually a pretty reasonable vehicle class against which to deploy EREVs...
But, I do wonder if large pickups - to the extent someone actually needs their combination of capabilities - are actually a pretty reasonable vehicle class against which to deploy EREVs...
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I'm sorry, this article is very misleading...
First Ford is not discontinuing the Lightning but instead changing it.
Also, Ford is going to produce an electric mid-size truck:
"The company is still planning on releasing a mid-sized all-electric pickup truck in 2027, the company confirmed Monday. The platform that powers that truck – born out of a skunkworks program led by former Tesla executives Doug Field and Alan Clarke – will also underpin other future Ford vehicles. "
First Ford is not discontinuing the Lightning but instead changing it.
Also, Ford is going to produce an electric mid-size truck:
"The company is still planning on releasing a mid-sized all-electric pickup truck in 2027, the company confirmed Monday. The platform that powers that truck – born out of a skunkworks program led by former Tesla executives Doug Field and Alan Clarke – will also underpin other future Ford vehicles. "
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And then when (hopefully) Mr President becomes Mr Former President, and EV competition heats up again, they are going to again burn billions to restart an EV assembly line?
Were businesses always so short-sighted?
Were businesses always so short-sighted?
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You must not need to haul loads in rural areas with significant one-way trips. Electric trucks simply don't have the range to haul agricultural loads (equipment, animals, hay, crops) any distance. At the moment, anyone who works or recreates with towed equipment off the main roads and outside the population centers are in the same bucket.
Adding a gas generator changes that.
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It's a bit messier than that. When my partner and I were shopping for a car, we were considering a used BMW i3. And those came in two forms, the pure electric version, and the range extended version (which had a small gas motor that can generate additional power for the battery).
The range extended version required that the gas engine turn on every so often for maintenance reasons. Additionally, it had maintenance requirements like a gas car (you need to get oil changes).
Also, if I recall correctly, if you were driving in range extended mode, you couldn't drive over 60 mph, because the small gas engine didn't put out enough power to drive faster than that.
If you didn't need the extra range, it ended up as a net negative.
(We ended up choosing a different BEV though, the i3's lack of Carplay/Android Auto was a major issue)
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Companies these days are so blinded by making as much money as possible, that they make less money......and try to goose the business with stock buybacks and huge bonuses to the people who do the least to actually produce things....
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I wonder if Rivian will survive just by being about the only game in town (assuming Chevy does a similar backpedal).
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I hope to get a used one for a steal so I can have a #vanlife adjacent house on wheels with a giant battery which allows me to camp - and work remotely as a developer - in the middle of nowhere for weeks without messing with liquid fuels or propane.
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The battery is going to be way smaller than the current one. That's why they are repurposing two battery plants.
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That's fine. But how many F150 owners do haul loads in rural areas over significant lengths? For most owners its probably more about the idea of range freedom than actual need.
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I'm wondering, is there a reason why they don't build trailers with batteries in the belly? Is that too expensive an option for towing?
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The Sheep Look Up
Ars Praetorian
If Slate and Telo can't make it, I'll take a BYD 100% tariff dealership, thanks.
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I am making fun of Ford (in large part because they deserve it), but their EV pivoting is not entirely bad. Their first plan was a crossover with muscle car branding and no door handles, followed by a large pickup truck. Changing directions is wise.
A plug-in hybrid is probably a good fit for the larger pickup market. And they are supposedly working on a smaller pickup EV, which is better aimed at denser regions with more charging infrastructure. But it is also clear they are cutting back and slow walking everything, effectively giving up market-share in the growing EV market of the future.
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"If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there."---Charles Dodgson
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Exactly this. Almost all of my clients have real use for trucks - terrible roads, full beds, things actually being towed - and the routes out to their communities and sites are, at best, sparsely electrified.
I'd bet that even for many of them, a significant portion of their daily use could be 100% on battery. But when it's -25C and you need to move a generator 700km, an EREV is going to at least significantly reduce range anxiety, if not flip the vehicle from "unviable" to "in consideration".
It's a shame that it sounds like there won't still be a pure BEV variant, however.
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The supposed midsize 2027 pickup isn’t news, we reported that months ago. Abd F-150 Lightning production has definitely ended, and Ford won’t even give a date on when the EREV replacement might appear.
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Compare that with the Hyundai IONIQ 5. Their biggest original complaints were a lack of physical buttons and inexplicably not including a rear windshield wiper. Then they did a refresh that included a rear wiper and more buttons. Other than that, I think the battery capacity grew marginally, which was probably just process improvement.
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ubercurmudgeon
Ars Tribunus Militum
So Ford truck customers can have any drivetrain they want, as long as it emits black carbon aerosol.
Edit: My mistake, I forgot that certain car manufacturers inspire almost as much humorless loyalty as Apple does. It was just a joke, referencing the famous Henry Ford quote about the choice of colors available for the Model T. I am not a GM stan nor an Elon fanboy.
Edit: My mistake, I forgot that certain car manufacturers inspire almost as much humorless loyalty as Apple does. It was just a joke, referencing the famous Henry Ford quote about the choice of colors available for the Model T. I am not a GM stan nor an Elon fanboy.
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Can you tell us a bit more about why you have to replace a vehicle that is, at worst, only slightly more than 3 years old? I know the big three lack the durability of a Honda, but I'd still hope for at least a few more years than that.
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I'm all for the EREV option, until now Ram/Stellantis has been the only maker with plans to build a full size pickup EREV but so far it's 2 years behind schedule. This type of drivetrain could do well with people who need a truck to actually do truck things with it (hauling stuff, contractors, rural property owners, etc...). Here's hoping that by the time my current ICE truck needs replacing there's some options on the market, either EREV, or a BEV with range and towing capability similar to the ICE version.
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It sounds like they are just repurposing the factories to make datacenter batteries for the AI crowd, hoping it will be more profitable. That dream will soon be another multi billion dollar blunder with the upcoming AI crash.
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Rivian makes a great truck, until you need to repair it
They are also expensive and losing money on each one they build
I really like the R1S, but the price was too high
At the current rate of the R2 does not lower costs they will not survive
Tesla will simply bring over the model YL and undercut them on price
I do hope Rivian will make it
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For a pickup, a series-hybrid makes the most sense, speaking to the amount of energy needed to do work. It also makes it possible to use the truck as a generator at worksites, etc.
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On the spectrum of compliance car to bespoke ground-up redesign, calling the Lightning a gas truck with batteries shoehorned is very misleading. Ford also isn't going back to the old way, they're adding towing as a realistic use case.
Because even though nobody ever tows anything, everyone wants to cosplay that they do, and towing is not a thing that pure EV trucks can do at remotely competitive price points, especially without incentives.
This isn't a Ford problem, this is a physics+customer+government problem.
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By the time you strap a battery onto a trailer...and then whatever you are hauling, it's gonna weigh a metric shit ton. ...yes, that is a valid form of measurement where I'm from.
So, now you possibly need two charging spots (trailers and trucks are not normally stored in the same location). Dealing with the fact that existing trailers are not designed to have the added bulk of a battery pack; the issue of cost for said trailer as it'll have to be 100% redesigned (who would do that, is another issue)...it'll never happen.
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