I noticed in Friday's Wall Street Journal that Ford is strongly considering ceasing production of the "electric" EV F150 "Lightning" truck, as they have sold very few of them.
The same article said that Ford has lost $13+ BILLION on EV-related expenditures since 2023. Ouch.
Ford Considers Scrapping Electric Version of F-150 Truck
Once hyped as a ‘smartphone that can tow,’ production of the money-losing EV pickup may be shut down for good
Ford Motor executives are in active discussions about scrapping the electric version of its F-150 pickup, according to people familiar with the matter, which would make the money-losing truck America’s first major EV casualty.
The Lightning, once described by Ford as a modern Model T for its importance to the company, fell far short of expectations as American truck buyers skipped the electric version of the top-selling truck. Ford has racked up $13 billion in EV losses since 2023.
Overall EV sales, already falling short of expectations, are expected to plummet in the absence of government support. And big, electric pickups and SUVs are the most vulnerable.
“The demand is just not there” for F-150 Lightning and other full-size trucks, said Adam Kraushaar, owner of Lester Glenn Auto Group in New Jersey. He sells Ford, GMC, Chevy and other brands. “We don’t order a lot of them because we don’t sell them.”
No final decision has yet been made, according to people familiar with the discussions, but such a move by Ford could be the beginning of the end for big EV trucks.
Ram truck-maker
Stellantis earlier this year called off plans to make an electric version of its full-size pickup.
General Motors executives have discussed discontinuing some electric trucks, according to people familiar with the matter. Sales of
Tesla’s angular, stainless steel Cybertruck pickup tanked this year. And EV truck-maker
Rivian has been cutting jobs to conserve cash.
A turn away from electric full-size trucks would align with Ford CEO Jim Farley’s more recent comments about the market: that EVs are great for commuting and other local driving, while hefty trucks will continue to need hybrid or all-gasoline powertrains.
Ford already
paused production of its F-150 Lightning—the bestselling electric pickup in the U.S.—last month amid an aluminum shortage. The company is weighing whether to keep that plant idle as it shifts to smaller, more affordable EVs, the people say. The company said it would restart production “at the right time.”
In October, the first month since the
end of the federal EV tax credit, Ford’s overall EV sales in the U.S. fell 24% from a year earlier. Ford dealers sold 66,000 gas-powered F-Series pickups, up a tick from a year earlier, and just 1,500 Lightnings, the fewest of any model.
Electric versions of the industry’s beefiest SUVs and pickups are stark embodiments of America’s EV reckoning. The trucks seemed a good bet amid booming EV demand and clean-air mandates that required automakers to sell fewer gas-guzzlers. That is no longer true as EV demand cools, while sales-boosting incentives and government regulations fall away.
Pulling back from producing these vehicles will cause pain through the automakers—and their suppliers. Already some plants have stopped production and put thousands of workers on unemployment lines. Ford rival GM set aside $1.6 billion in the third quarter to account for losses and said more charges will come in the future.
Electric trucks, with their hefty price tags and 1-ton batteries, were supposed to be Detroit’s answer to Tesla. Ford and GM thought their best shot was to enter with electric versions of their bestselling, most-profitable vehicles. Not only would the trucks have a built-in fan base, they also would address the EV profitability conundrum by commanding higher prices than a sedan or small SUV.
When Ford’s Farley launched the Lightning five years ago he promised a pickup as fast as a sports car and as affordable as a conventional truck. It would drive hundreds of miles on a single charge, and carry enough voltage to power a home for days.
“It’s like a smartphone that can tow 10,000 pounds,” Farley said at a celebration to launch the vehicle.
Demand was high in the truck’s early days as EV enthusiasts marveled over its zippy handling and futuristic design. Then-President Joe Biden drove one in 2021 and gushed,
“This sucker’s quick!”
Mainstream truck buyers historically loyal to GM and Ford weren’t sold.
They balked at the price. Ford initially said the trucks would start around $40,000. But basic models went for closer to $50,000, and higher-end versions approached $90,000.
Truck buyers worried the pickups would run out of juice in the middle of a job or a long haul. The trucks’ range on a single charge is dramatically reduced when towing big loads or operating in cold weather.
That has spelled massive losses for Ford and GM.
GM has also lost billions on electric trucks after rolling out a string of them in recent years, including an electric version of the F-150’s rival, the Chevrolet Silverado. The company has three electric pickups, and it sold about 1,800 of them last month, according to Motor Intelligence.
The company last month said it would idle the Detroit factory that makes those trucks until Nov. 24.
GM executives have discussed whether to cull some of those trucks from its lineup, according to people familiar with the matter. The company last month stopped making an electric cargo van, the Chevrolet BrightDrop.
A GM spokesman said the automaker has no current plans to further change its product lineup or overall direction. The company is making progress in reducing the cost of making the trucks, he said.
Ford’s Farley has conceded that, when it comes to EVs, Americans want smaller, affordable models like those sold by Chinese automakers in markets outside the U.S., and not big, pricey trucks. The company is now racing to build a compact $30,000 EV pickup.
Ford built up the capacity to make as many as 150,000 Lightnings a year.
EVs cost billions to develop and manufacture, and can only be profitable if they sell in large enough volumes to cover the cost of building them, said Lenny LaRocca, who leads consulting firm KPMG’s auto sector. And nothing suggests robust sales in the near future.
“The volumes are not hitting where people would have expected when they made these investments,” he said.
