Ford claims it has delivered the F-150 Lightning electric pickup to customers in all 50 states, including Alaska and Hawaii, and that it is completely sold out in the United States until 2022.
It’s a pleasant, if not very significant, a milestone for Ford as it strives to scale up manufacturing and sales of its flagship electric car. And that all occurred in two months, which Ford describes as “lightning fast.”
Ford is banking on its 119 years of manufacturing and delivery experience, as well as its huge network of dealerships, to leapfrog its competitors in the race to bring electric trucks to the most people. Trucks are among the best-selling cars in the nation, with the F-150 being the best-selling vehicle in the United States for the previous 40 years.
California, the state with the greatest EV sales, and Texas, the truck capital of the United States, top the field in F-150 Lightning delivery. However, the carmaker said that deliveries to every state in the nation occurred naturally and without intervention, which may have the effect of dampening claims that Ford underestimated the popularity of the F-150 Lightning.
The amount of electric F-150s Ford expected to produce in its first few years of manufacturing has shifted. Initially aiming for 40,000 cars per year, the business later informed suppliers that capacity will be increased to 80,000 by early 2023. That figure has now grown to 150,000 trucks by mid-2023, however, it’s unclear how many will be delivered to consumers this year.
Ford is employing a “wave-by-wave reservation mechanism” to notify consumers when they may get their Lightnings online. Ford ceased accepting bookings for the Lightning earlier this year, after collecting 200,000 refundable $100 deposits since its introduction in May 2020. (As of the writing of this article, reservations were still closed.) Ford’s Rouge Electric Vehicle Center has set a manufacturing goal of 160,000 units per year.
The problem is obtaining enough battery materials to power, not just 150,000 F-150 Lightnings, but also 270,000 Mustang Mach-Es, 150,000 Transit EVs, and 30,000 units of an unknown all-new midsize SUV slated for European release. Ford claims to have 100% of the battery cell manufacturing capacity required to make 600,000 electrified vehicles and trucks per year by “late 2023.”
