Production of the all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning has begun, but company CEO Jim Farley said the automaker's already hard at work on another electric pickup. The tease came at the production commencement ceremony for the Lightning.
Farley let the cat out of the bag, saying, "I wish we could bring you all down there, but we're already pushing dirt down in Blue Oval City in Tennessee for another electric pickup truck that's different from this one." Pretty strong statement, right? After the event, he continued to say that "it's another truck. This is not our only truck. We said very clearly we want to be the leader in electric pickup trucks."
As for what kind of electric truck we're talking about here, it's anyone's guess. Farley gave out no real details other than to confirm that it is, in fact, a truck. That said, Ford's global director of sustainability Cynthia Williams went on record last year to say the automaker is focused on EVs with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of under 8,500 pounds. That means an electric Super Duty truck is unlikely at this point. The Maverick is already available as a hybrid, so a fully electric model could be the next, while the next-gen Ford Ranger has also been slated for electrification.
The Blue Oval City Farley refers to Ford's multi-billion-dollar complex in Tennessee. The campus sprawls over 3,600 acres and will handle the production of Ford's F-Series electric trucks starting in 2025. The location will eventually produce 150,000 Lightning trucks annually. The campus joins new Ford facilities in Kentucky and Texas as the automaker accelerates the growth of its electric vehicles program.
That Ford is now building the F-150 Lightning is significant on a few levels. With more than 726,000 units sold in 2021, the current F-Series line is America's best-selling automobile. An electric version of such a massively popular vehicle is a big deal. It's also a shot across the bow of Tesla: Farley openly admitted his company wants to overtake the automaker as Ford plans to build 600,000 EVs globally by the end of next year, bringing it much closer to breaching Tesla's sales dominance. Keen observers may also note that Ford somehow delivered an electric truck to market before Tesla, despite announcing it after the Cybertruck.