In the first 12 hours after they became available, Ford Motor Company secured a total of 20,000 reservations for the Ford F-150 Lightning all-electric pickup, an impressive total indeed. However, it’s unclear just how many of the truck’s reservations will be filled for the 2022 model year – its first on the market, as Ford CEO Jim Farley revealed that 2022 F-150 Lightning production will be limited.
According to Automotive News, Farley said that Ford has already “made a call on volume,” but he declined to say what 2022 F-150 Lightning production would be limited to. According to Wolfe Research, the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center is capable of producing 80,000 trucks per year, a number it determined based on available capacity data.
This approach is nothing new, of course, as 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E production has been capped at 50,000 units, but it is notable, particularly for anyone who wants to secure a first-year F-150 Lightning. And with the semiconductor chip shortage raging on with no end in sight, it’s also unclear if it will also affect F-150 Lightning production when it begins next spring.
Ford recently announced that it would idle both of its Ford F-150 plants – the Ford Dearborn Truck Plant and Ford Kentucky Truck Plant – as it continues to struggle with the chip shortage, which may force the automaker to halve its production in Q2. Regardless, it’s clear that the demand for Ford’s first-ever all-electric F-150 is there.
It’s also worth noting that virtually every other all-electric truck coming to market is facing the same slow ramp-up in production. Tesla is aiming to begin Cybertruck deliveries by the end of 2021, but admits that production won’t fully ramp up until 2022. Additionally, Rivian will be building its R1T pickup in extremely limited quantities for the foreseeable future.
We’ll have much more on the F-150 Lightning soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford F-Series news, Ford F-150 news, F-150 Lightning news, and non-stop Ford news coverage.
Comments
One question I have is where is all the electricity going to come from to charge all these predicted electric vehicles. I mean during the hot summer months some cities experience brown outs do to the demand just by cooling units.
So far, so good…