#FordLightning

Mr. Guy wrote yesterday about how Ford F-150 Lightning owners are using their trucks for so-called "truck stuff" as much, if not more, than owners of internal-combustion engine F-150s are.

Alert readers may recall a series of hiccups that have befallen the all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning so far this year, including a battery fire in a truck that was parked in a holding pen near company facilities. Ford is obviously working feverishly to fix any problems. One roadblock on the road to repair might involve words this author rarely gets to type: Industrial espionage.

Hoovie's Garage, aka Tyler Hoover, is a popular YouTube influencer, and he's claiming he's "done" with his Ford F-150 Lightning, which he owns with a friend, because the range in the winter isn't good enough.

Ford announced the long-awaited F-150 Lightning electric pickup and immediately had a “line around the block,” so to speak, with people jumping at the chance to own one. Demand has grown to the point that Ford’s looking to add a third shift at its Dearborn, Michigan, assembly plant cope. 

Over the past two months, I’ve had two chances to take a Ford Lightning for a quick spin — once around the scenic village of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin (which you probably know as the home of the famed Road America racetrack) — and once around the block in a part of Chicago dotted with strip malls.

Ford CEO Jim Farley has said he sees little reason for the automaker to bother using traditional advertising campaigns for electric vehicles. Considering how often I see the Ford logo grace whatever screen I happen to be peering into, this would seem to go against everything I’ve been conditioned to accept. However the company believes its EVs practically sell themselves already, with the executive noting that the Mach-E has been sold out for quite some time.

“I’m not convinced we need public advertising for [electric vehicles] if we do our job,” Farley said during Wednesday’s Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference.

The 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning has officially started production at the company’s Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Michigan and will apparently be getting some company at the Blue Oval City campus in Tennessee. On Tuesday, CEO Jim Farley said that the upcoming plant had been selected to produce a new model during a press event covering the official launch of the all-electric F-Series.

“It’s another truck,” he explained. “This is not our only truck. We said very clearly we want to be the leader in electric pickup trucks.”

With window stickers of Ford’s all-electric Lightning pickup having leaked late last week, there were a lot of people interested in having their “Fuel Economy and Environment” estimates verified. Ford CEO Jim Farley has obliged by confirming the figures, adding that the vehicle’s maximum range should ballpark around 300 miles (or better) unless you snub the extended-range models.

The executive confirmed the F-150 Lightning XLT, Lariat, and Pro trims at 320 miles with the bigger battery. Though those running with the standard battery pack only yield 230 miles between charging. Meanwhile, the Lightning Platinum tops out at 300 miles even due to it having gnarly tires and being less aerodynamic than its siblings.

We don’t often cover it when a manufacturer’s build and price tool goes live, because it’s typically minor news, but we’re making an exception for the much-hyped Ford Lightning.

The same forum that told us to anticipate the order bank opening for the 2022 Ford Lightning next week is now saying “not so fast, my friend” (apologies to Lee Corso).

A report from one of our corporate parent’s forums suggests that orders for the Ford Lightning may open up next week, on October 26.

That’s based on a message left to a forum user by a Ford salesperson.

It’s become something of a mantra for me, lately, but that doesn’t make it any less true. It goes like this: Electric cars aren’t coming, they’re already here. And, depending on who you ask, they’ve been here – they just haven’t quite made it into the mainstream, yet. With the dawn of the Rivian R1T ( which became the first full-size electric pickup to reach series production earlier this month), though, a lot of people would have you believe that’s set to change. I happen to be one of them.

Lost in the shuffle about Stellantis’ EV Day yesterday — and the weird slogans, especially the Dodge eMuscle thing — was another bit of news we weren’t able to get to yesterday.

Ram has an EV truck planned for 2024.

The Ford F-150 Lightning has been the hot topic of the day in the auto world since its unveiling last night, and we here at TTAC HQ are no exception.

Just this morning, our Slack discussion was about the truck’s sales potential. We came to the not-at-all surprising conclusion that yes, it will sell.

Lightning does strike twice, apparently, but perhaps not in quite the same way each time.

The Ford F-150 Lightning was once a hi-po street rod with power coming from a V8 engine. Now, however, the truck is all-electric.