As reported by Electrek: Ford might not be doomed after all. The American automaker has now finally announced that it is going to launch an all-electric version of its most important vehicle program: the F-Series pickup trucks.
Last year, Ford announced plans to “bring 16 battery-electric vehicles to market by 2022” – starting with an all-electric CUV with 300 miles of range.
Last year, Ford announced plans to “bring 16 battery-electric vehicles to market by 2022” – starting with an all-electric CUV with 300 miles of range.
But the automaker still remained more focused on hybrids than all-electric vehicles.
Its more important vehicle program, the F150 pickup truck, was only supposed to get a hybrid powertrain by 2020, but the landscape has since changed a lot.
Rivian has unveiled what could be a really competitive all-electric pickup truck and Elon Musk has been heavily hyping an upcoming Tesla all-electric pickup.
It made Ford’s hybrid pickup plan a little weak, but now the company is planning to have its own all-electric F-Series truck.
Ford CEO Jim Hackett made the announcement at the Deutsche Bank Global Auto Industry Conference today:
“We are going to electrifying the F-Series with battery electric and hybrid and we are doing the same for Transit. We launched a PHEV version of Transit and that will be on a journey of electrifying Transit globally.”
It sounds like the previously announced hybrid version of the F150 is still planned for production, but it will be followed by an all-electric version of at least one pickup truck in the F-Series.
Rivian's Atlis XT is a rival all Electric Pickup Truck with a 400 mile range. The company is based in Mesa AZ. |
He didn’t confirm a timeline nor which pickup truck in the F-Series – though the F150 is a likely option.
It’s one of many EV announcements from Ford over the last week.
Ford and VW announced that they are considering partnering on electric vehicles.
Lincoln, the American automaker’s premium brand, also announced that it is making an electric car based on Ford’s Mustang-inspired EV.
The Mustang-inspired EV is supposed to be Ford’s first all-electric vehicle built to be electric from the ground up and it is due to launch next year.
Electrek’s Take
I’ve expressed before how disappointed about Ford’s EV effort to date, but this is the most encouraging announcement to date.
With the Rivian truck and the upcoming Tesla Pickup, I thought that it was ridiculous to plan a hybrid version of the F150 in 2020.
I can’t help but think that all the hype around those two vehicles has help convinced Ford to greenlight an all-electric version of the truck – or at least another F-Series truck.
Now it’s still light on the details. We will keep looking into this for more information. If you have any, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
But regardless of the details, it’s an important announcement for the US automotive market since the F-Series is the biggest vehicle program in the US and it looks like it’s starting to go electric.
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