When Ford launched the F-150 Lightning, it must have been a little concerned that its first electric truck may not be well received. If those concerns were there, they have surely since evaporated. People from all walks of life have taken to the new EV like ducks to water, and the result of such a large and diverse group of people showing interest in the truck is a shortage of supply. The last we heard, Ford would be inviting reservation holders to place orders in waves from this month. The first wave has now been invited to order their vehicles just as planned, but there's more good news too.

Along with revealing that the first wave of reservation holders will be able to start converting their interest into concrete orders on Thursday, Ford has also announced that it's planning to nearly double production of the all-electric pickup to 150,000 units annually at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan because of "soaring customer demand."

The F-150 Lightning now moves to the final phase of pre-production as completed examples have begun rolling off the line for real-world durability testing before customer deliveries begin in the spring. More waves of reservation conversions will open in the coming months, but those who aren't invited to place an order for a 2022 Lightning will have an opportunity to order for future model years.

"With nearly 200,000 reservations, our teams are working hard and creatively to break production constraints to get more F-150 Lightning trucks into the hands of our customers," said Kumar Galhotra, Ford's president of The Americas & International Markets Group. "The reality is clear: People are ready for an all-electric F-150 and Ford is pulling out all the stops to scale our operations and increase production capacity."

This comes as Ford recently announced the tripling of its Mustang Mach-E production goals, with the aim of reaching over 200,000 units per year by 2023. At the same time, its largest, most advanced, and most efficient production facility ever is being built for the next generation of F-Series electric trucks. It seems that Ford is finally getting back on track, and we hope this positive momentum continues.