Ford Motor took a massive step in setting the town for the fast-growing electric vehicle (ev) truck market. The company unveiled an electric version of its popular F-150 pickup truck called the Lightning. Ford’s F-Series trucks, including the F-150, make up the top-selling vehicle line in the United States, to the tune of about $42 billion.
The F-150 differentiates itself from Tesla sports cars and other electric vehicles such as the Bolt (Chevrolet) and Leaf (Nissan) in that it is specifically geared to small businesses and commercial purposes. Like building contractors and mining as well as construction companies that buy lots of pickups. The F-150 will be capable of towing up to 10,000 pounds. Its battery pack can power a home for about three days during an outage. Of benefit to commercial operators, the Lightning will have up to 11 power outlets and will be able to power electric saws, tools, and lighting, potentially replacing or reducing the need for generators.
Typically, these buyers are concerned with operating and maintenance costs in addition to the sticker price. These costs are generally less in electric vehicles. The truck will have a starting price of $39,974 for a model that can travel 230 miles on a full charge. A version with a range of 300 miles starts at $59,974. However, the total cost is even lower because buyers still qualify for the $7,500 electric vehicle purchase States such as New York and New Jersey offer additional rebates worth as much as $5,000.
Small businesses looking to for guidance on electrification should utilize the EVrinda platform.
Though they look completely different, spec-wise, the F-150 Lightning matches up well with Tesla’s Cybertruck. The Cybertruck is scheduled to hit the market first, with an expected rollout in late 2021 early 2022. The Lightning is expected to come out in spring 2022. If the F-150 can convert most of their current consumers into ev buyers (they have 20,000 reserved) it’ll be a gamechanger, but they have their work cut out for them. The Cybertruck has around 500,000 reserved. It is not difficult to see a scenario where those who operate pickup trucks for commercial purposes lean towards Ford and those who just enjoy driving pickups, or who use them to haul personal belongings lean towards Tesla.
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