The soon to go on sale 2021 Ford F-150 will be unlike any previous generation of the Blue Oval's long-running full-size truck. This new generation will not only offer a gasoline-hybrid version, but also an all-electric one. Did anyone really think Ford was going to let Tesla and Nikola grab all of the attention? Although it's not scheduled to hit the market until sometime in 2022, Ford is already laying the groundwork (literally) for its first-ever battery-electric pickup.

According to Bloomberg, Ford has just begun building a new facility next to its Dearborn, Michigan truck plant that'll be tasked with handling F-150 EV production. A total of about 300 new workers will be needed. If all goes according to plan, the first electric F-150 prototypes will begin testing next year once they roll off the new assembly line.

Ford has not officially confirmed these testing plans, though anonymous sources claim they're accurate. The Dearborn facility will be shut down for two weeks in September in order to re-tool for 2021 F-150 production. A second F-150 plant in Kansas City, Missouri will undergo re-tooling in October. But it's the fully electric F-150 where the stakes couldn't be higher.

In addition to Tesla and Nikola, Ford's other big rival will be the upcoming GMC Hummer. An all-electric Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra are also in the works and, very recently, Ram has confirmed its own truck electrification plans.

But the F-Series is Ford's cash cow. Last year, nearly 900,000 examples were sold, amounting to about $42 billion in revenue. The F-Series, according to analysts, generates a majority of Ford's profit. Although we won't be seeing those F-150 EV prototypes on the road sometime in 2021, Ford has provided a preview of what's to come. An early prototype wearing previous-gen F-150 sheetmetal was revealed last summer as part of a demonstration where it towed more than 1 million pounds worth of freight trains and other F-150s.

Within the next two years, not only will there be an all-electric F-150 for sale, but also the Tesla Cybertruck, GMC Hummer, Rivian R1T, and the Lordstown Endurance, to name just a few.