Ford has announced it will end production of its existing all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck and replace it with an "extended-range electric" version powered by a gasoline generator as part of an overhaul of its large-size electric vehicle strategy. The new model will add a gasoline generator to the traditional electric drive system to replenish the battery, thereby achieving a range of more than 700 miles, but the company has not yet announced the launch time and price range.
The shift will come at a high financial cost to Ford. The company expects to take $19.5 billion in charges to reinvent its electric vehicle business, including an $8.5 billion impairment on electric vehicle assets, which will be booked mainly in the fourth quarter of this year; and an additional $5.5 billion in cash charges that will be extended to 2027. The adjustment directly affected multiple factories and staff configurations, and also meant that the next-generation all-new pure electric pickup project, internally codenamed "T3", was officially suspended. Ford confirmed that previously planned next-generation all-electric commercial vans have also been abandoned and that the current E-Transit will continue to be produced.
Ford said in a statement that it no longer plans to produce some larger electric models because the commercial viability of related products has been weakened by lower than expected demand, higher costs and changes in the regulatory environment. However, the company still plans to launch a mid-size all-electric pickup truck in 2027, which will be based on a platform developed by a "special group" led by former Tesla executives Doug Field and Alan Clarke, and will be used to derive more future models on this basis. In order to reduce costs, Ford also said that it will start production of cheaper lithium iron phosphate batteries at the BlueOval battery plant in Marshall, Michigan, as planned in 2026, using technology licensed from China's Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL). These batteries will also be used in the above-mentioned medium-sized pickup trucks.
Ford President Andrew Frick said on a media conference call that instead of continuing to invest billions of dollars in large electric models with no profit prospects at this stage, it should direct funds in the direction of higher returns, including more hybrid pickups and vans, extended-range electric vehicles, affordable electric vehicles and new business opportunities such as energy storage. This means that Ford will shift from "betting on large pure electric pickup trucks" to an electrification route that focuses more on the combination of gasoline and electricity and more controllable costs.
The F-150 Lightning, officially released in 2021, two years before Ford announced the all-electric Mustang Mach-E, is seen as one of the flagship products of the company's $22 billion electrification offensive. Ford had originally emphasized that the starting price of Lightning was "less than $40,000," but this entry price was mainly for fleet users and was difficult for ordinary retail consumers to enjoy; in the past two years, this car has sold about 7,000 units per quarter in the U.S. market, with a peak of nearly 11,000 units in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Similar to other large all-electric pickups, the F-150 Lightning has always had limited recognition among U.S. consumers. Since the launch of the car, electric vehicles as a whole have encountered many headwinds: Tesla launched a fierce price war in order to offset the decline in sales, further compressing the already meager or even negative profit margins of traditional car companies on electric vehicles. At the same time, after Donald Trump was re-elected as President of the United States and led the Republican Party to take control of Congress, many Biden-era policies aimed at encouraging electric vehicle sales have been reversed, further increasing the uncertainty of traditional car companies' investment in electric vehicles and product rhythm.