Ford may not resume production of F-150 Lightning

[JExpedition07]

As many know it was paused due to a fire at an aluminum supplier plant and low demand, but demand has been faltering lower and lower and now Ford may not be resuming production in any capacity. Alot of work went into it, it just didn’t deliver on range. One of the better looking EV’s in my opinion styling wise.

EV trucks are failing not just at Ford, but just about everywhere. While sedans and SUV’s continue to see some traction, the EV trucks have non-existent demand.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/report-ford-f150-lightning-electric-truck-maybe-discontinued

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[Porpoise Hork]

Not surprised. People who buy a truck to do truck things steered clear of it or any EV truck for that matter. To add to that a large percentage of the people who did buy it or that rolling dumpster fire of a Tesla traded it in within 2 years of ownership and went back to an ICE powered truck or something else.

No sense in continuing to make them if no one is buying them.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

I mean if all you do it go back/forth to work and "occasionally" load up the bed with bags of mulch from Home Depot cause your wife decided to spend 20 minutes working in the flower beds in March... Sure it'd be a reasonable choice. But anything more than that and you're kinda pushing it's capabilities.

 

[Suns_PSD]

The future of FS trucks and SUV's is PHEV. This is pretty clear.

I still want an EV commuter car though in addition to my truck. It would work great about 60% of the time for me.

I would have bought my 3rd Canyon in a row if GM had made the current gen (3rd?) hybrid and offered a 6' bed as that's the right size for me.

Oh well.

 

[OneMore]

Hopefully Ford will make the F150 Powerboost more viable. Install larger battery that will allow 40+ miles of electric only operation. Bump output of inverter to 10kW.
A F250 Powerboost would be great.
I like my Powerboost that has the ability to power our home and much more.
I will be interested to see what the new Ram hybrid has to offer.

 

[XLT22]

Not surprised. People who buy a truck to do truck things steered clear of it or any EV truck for that matter. To add to that a large percentage of the people who did buy it or that rolling dumpster fire of a Tesla traded it in within 2 years of ownership and went back to an ICE powered truck or something else.

No sense in continuing to make them if no one is buying them.

The actual numbers put out contradict people "going back to ICE" when you dig into it. The massive convenience of EVs outweighs the benefit of being able to drive an ICE vehicle 400 miles then refuel quickly.

Seriously, people that aren't driving 300+ miles every day LOVE their EVs. The Lightning absolutely needs more range, and Ford needs to whack their dealers over the head to get them to sell it. Dealers have actively sabotaged many from buying it over the last few years based on anecdotes.

Even an additional 75 miles of battery would be great in the Lightning. It would be enormously short sited to kill it, even though there's a new EV platform coming. Lots of contractors in my podunk little city use them already for "truck" things every day. They aren't driving more than 100 miles a day I'd bet and do just fine pulling their crap around. Get that towing range up to a legitimate 250-300 miles with a trailer and they wouldn't be able to keep the line running fast enough.


Lastly, a lot of people in the US think we're special and EVs won't work here. That's a sad indictment of our education system and peoples' unwillingness to challenge false narratives. EVs are the future and it's coming quickly despite the current political climate in the US. Once the supply chains are in place they're far cheaper to build and cheaper to run for the consumer. Places like China have a climate that's just as cold, with cities just as large or larger than ours and big distances between them. EVs are quickly becoming the default there choice there. Even for heavier trucks you see more of them every day. If Canada allows the Chinese companies to come in and start building like they've done in Mexico, there's going to be a reckoning with the US based automakers. Protectionist trade policies can't save them forever.

 

[Snakebitten]

There are Lightning owners that rave about them and are a perfect fit too.

I'd be one of them if I hadn't been so miffed about the early on bait&switch they pulled on the XL trim. ($39,999)

I've come close a couple times of letting my "principled" never-Lightning-now boycott go, as a result of some excellent used truck bargains. It's those long distance RV tow needs that nix it.

 

[JumboJVT]

Don't suppose the sunset of the Fed subsidies has anything to do with Ford's decision?

 

[js312]

I think a plug-in hybrid version of the PowerBoost would be a great option with potential for shorter trips on all electric with the flexibility of a gas engine. I would consider it next time around if it became a reality.

I am in rural New England and fully electric vehicles are tougher to live with here than they would be in many other places. We have extremely limited public charging and our electricity rates are among the highest in the country so charging at home is very expensive if you don't have a solar array that produces enough to offset it.

In a more populated area with less distance to drive to get anywhere (I am an hour from the closest interstate highway), lower electric rates, and more public charging all electric would be more feasible.

 

[RLXXI]

If they cut production, it just makes my Lightning that much more rare,... it'll be worth a fortune 30-50 years after I'm dead.

That's ok though, I'm enjoying the hell out of it now. If any of y'all get a chance to test drive one DO IT! Over 50 years of driving all kind of vehicles, this one is easily the most fun to drive.

 

[XLT22]

Don't suppose the sunset of the Fed subsidies has anything to do with Ford's decision?

If it did it'd still be short sighted. Other countries that have sunsetted subsidies have seen a rebound and continued growth of marketshare within a year to 18 months.

Dropping the subsidy was incredibly dumb in just about every way. The point of it was to build up the industry and to a large degree it did. Cutting it off before it's ready to roll puts American companies at a huge disadvantage.

 

[JExpedition07]

There are Lightning owners that rave about them and are a perfect fit too.

I'd be one of them if I hadn't been so miffed about the early on bait&switch they pulled on the XL trim. ($39,999)

I've come close a couple times of letting my "principled" never-Lightning-now boycott go, as a result of some excellent used truck bargains. It's those long distance RV tow needs that nix it.

They just needed to fix the range issue (and price issue)

 

[powerboatr]

Gm cant give away the hummer ev

That being said
An ev full size pickup..is great for some
We would like something like the mach e. For our 80% driving events
A hybrid duperduty
Really expanding the supier poweboost is more realistic
Ford never really advertised the ppwrboost and its outstanding pickup

Long haul
Ice or hybrid

 

[rtf150]

Maybe. And this is a maybe. But is it plausible that Ford is willing to let the full EV truck market slide to Rivian, Scout, and etc so they can transition all the battery technology to the hybrid/ plug in hybrid and the potential for a extended range hybrid similar to BYD? And or IF Stellantis debuts its Ram Charger. (Which boasts 690 mile range/14K tow capacity and over 2500 payload etc. Farley has stated multiple times that the EV market is in competition with China. Period. “China could put us all out of business…” (Farley)

https://www.autoblog.com/news/ford-ceo-says-chinese-automakers-could-put-us-all-out-of-business
BYD is on the march in several markets around the world like Australia where Ford already sells a plug in hybrid Ranger.

Several on here myself included have felt that Ford is holding onto the next gen Powerboost transition and a possible hybrid F250. Literally sandbagging…So maybe they are holding off to produce some Powerboost variations such as plug-in as well as extended range? If Ford produced an extended range EV truck (no need to plug in) with towing capacity of 12,000 lbs (conservatively) on a chassis to allow for the payload needs that one would have to give up on a current powerboost 1/2 ton truck plus produce 7.2-10K PPOB… or more! I think it sells! Think about it. No driveshaft. 4 elec motors. Independent suspension. I also believe the stealerships hold this back as well…because then they need trained tech’s to service these new fangled abominations! And many that own a PB know this issue firsthand.

 

[moritzes]

I also believe the stealerships hold this back as well…because then they need trained tech’s to service these new fangled abominations!

Certainly for hybrids. From the dealer perspective I think pure electric may present the opposite problem--they are so easy to take care of that service revenue on them is much lower. Our Mach-E only has to go in every 10,000 miles, and even that is basically just for a multi-point inspection and tire rotation. Cost is around $20 from a good dealer, a little more if you need a new filter or the like

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