Ford is ending production of the fully-electric F-150 Lightning as part of a broader company-wide shakeup of its electric vehicle plans. In its place, Ford will sell an “extended range electric vehicle” version of the truck. This new model adds a gas generator that can recharge the battery pack to power the motors for over 700 miles. The company did not share when this new F-150 Lightning will go on sale or how much it will cost.
Ford said it will report a charge of $19.5 billion in special items, most of which will be recorded in the fourth quarter. This is due to the broader pivot affecting numerous vehicle and battery factories. This move also means Ford’s next-generation all-electric truck, internally dubbed “T3,” is now dead. The T3 was supposed to be a clean-sheet design, unlike the Lightning, which used electric vehicle technology adapted into a gas vehicle design.
Ford confirmed that it is also abandoning plans for a next-generation commercial van, though the current E-Transit model will continue. In a statement, the company wrote, “Ford no longer plans to produce select larger electric vehicles where the business case has eroded due to lower-than-expected demand, high costs and regulatory changes.”
The company is still planning on releasing a mid-sized all-electric pickup truck in 2027. The platform for that truck, born from a skunkworks program led by former Tesla executives Doug Field and Alan Clarke, will also underpin other future Ford vehicles. Ford president Andrew Frick said on a call with reporters, “Rather than spending billions more on large EVs that now have no path to profitability, we are allocating that money into higher returning areas, more trucks and van hybrids, extended range electric vehicles, affordable EVs and entirely new opportunities like energy storage.”
Ford revealed the F-150 Lightning in 2021, two years after it first announced plans for an all-electric Mustang, the Mach-E. The company initially teased a $40,000 price tag for the Lightning, which was meant to be a flagship product for its $22 billion push into electric vehicles.
However, like most large electric trucks, the F-150 Lightning struggled in the U.S. market. Part of that struggle was because the $40,000 price tag never materialized for most buyers, as that base trim was targeted specifically at fleet customers. Ford wound up selling around 7,000 Lightnings per quarter over the last two years, with a peak of nearly 11,000 in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Electric vehicles have faced significant headwinds since the F-150 Lightning was first introduced. Tesla kicked off a dramatic price war to counter falling sales, which ate into legacy automakers’ thin or negative margins. The re-election of Donald Trump, along with Republicans taking control of Congress, has led to a reversal of many Biden-era policies meant to encourage the sale of electric vehicles.