Ford Ends Production of All-Electric F-150 Lightning

Production of one of the original all-electric pickups has officially ended. Ford announced today that the current generation F-150 Lightning is dead, but it hasn’t given up entirely on primarily electric pickup trucks.

The automaker says that now that production of the F-150 Lightning has ended, workers employed in the production of the electric vehicle (EV) at its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Deaborn, Michigan, have been reassigned to its Dearborn Truck Plant to support a third crew for the manufacture of internal combustion and hybrid F-150s.

The name will live on, though. Ford also announced today that a next-generation F-150 Lightning is coming. However, like Ram, Ford won’t offer an exclusively-electric version of the truck, but will instead offer a primarily electric pickup with a range extender.

That means that the upcoming F-150 Lightning EREV’s wheels will be driven by electric motors, but it will have an internal combustion engine onboard that can be used to charge the batteries. That, Ford predicts, will allow the truck to go more than 1,126 km (700 miles) per fuel load.

Doug Fields, Ford’s EV chief, says that will allow the pickup to tow “like a locomotive.” Unfortunately, the automaker has yet to reveal launch timing for the F-150 Lightning EREV.

The delectrification wave will reach Ford’s commercial vehicles, too. The automaker announced today that it has cancelled development of two all-electric delivery vans, one for Europe and one for North America.

It has also renamed its Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center to “Tennessee Truck Plant.” The facility will produce all-new truck models starting in 2029. Meanwhile, its Ohio Assembly Plant will produce gas and hybrid delivery vans starting in 2029, alongside Super Duty chassis cabs.

Separately, Ford Canada spokesperson Matt Drennan-Scace told AutoTrader via email that preparations at the automaker’s Oakville, Ontario, assembly plant are on track. The complex is expected to produce Super Duty pickups starting next year.

Ford’s plan to release a next-generation EV platform is also continuing ahead. The first vehicle to be based on the new Universal EV Platform will be a midsize pickup truck that will be assembled in Louisville, Kentucky, starting in 2027.

Overall, the automaker anticipates that 50 per cent of its global vehicle volume will be electric, range-extended electric, or hybrid by 2030.