Ford is preparing to follow up the 2022 F-150 Lightning with another full-size electric pickup truck designed from the start for “incredibly high volume,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in an interview with Automotive DriftBreath (subscription required).
The new full-size truck, which likely won’t arrive for a few years, will have a new platform, and will be built at one of the massive new factories Ford recently announced, Farley said.
Ford in September announced two massive complexes in Kentucky and Tennessee, with the Tennessee facility slated to build a next-generation truck on a dedicated EV platform. That differs from the already-revealed F-150 Lightning, which is based on the existing gasoline F-150.
Ford Blue Oval City – rendering of manufacturing complex in Tennessee, September 2021
Farley also said Lightning demand is about two to three times higher than what Ford anticipated.
Ford now has “160,000 units of demand” for the Lightning, Farley said. The automaker originally planned for manufacturing capacity “far north” of 20,000 units per year, but nowhere near that amount, he said. Ford already earlier this year doubled Lightning production to 80,000 units per year.
That was likely a response to initial customer interest. Reservations for the Lightning are nearing 200,000, and Ford is working to convert those reservations to actual orders, Farley said.
2022 Ford F-150 Lightning Pro
General Motors—Ford’s arch rival in the truck segment—is also preparing to launch its first electric pickups. GM has applied a “structural sandwich” approach to the 2022 GMC Hummer EV, giving it the capability to fit very large battery packs. But the company still needs to show that it can be scaled up at the volumes full-size electric trucks might potentially want.
The upcoming electric Chevrolet Silverado will also be a high-volume entry, with some at a price fleets can afford—although GM hasn’t yet said exactly what that means.
