Ford officially launched its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck today, roughly 11 months after we got our first glimpses of what the battery powered workhorse would look like. “Trucks are rolling off the line today,” said Ford’s CEO, Jim Farley, at the conclusion of the event. “We will begin shipping Lightnings in the coming days, starting with our Pro series.”
As those first EV trucks get delivered, Ford also said in a statement that it is commencing “full production” of the electric pickups.
Here’s what to know about the truck and the company’s EV plans, by the numbers.
150,000
Ford says that it would like to produce 150,000 of these new electric pickups annually. Farley noted that they had to increase the size of the factory, called the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, in Michigan, two times. “We’re busting our butts to make more of these,” he said. “Demand for Lightning has literally pushed out the walls of this building where we are twice.”
Originally, the company had planned to make fewer of these new rides annually, but said in January that it would boost that number to 150,000, “roughly doubling” their production goal.
600,000
All told, Farley said that by the close of 2023, Ford would be making 600,000 electric vehicles annually. Ford also makes the Mustang Mach-E electric vehicle and the E-Transit van.
4 power outlets
That’s the number of power outlets in the vehicle’s frunk, or front trunk, which is officially called the “mega power frunk.” (Here’s how a cardboard box figured into that part of the vehicle’s design.) There will also be five outlets in the bed of the truck, and two in the cab. As for the frunk, it can also carry 400 pounds of goods, whether that’s in the form of some very heavy groceries, a bunch of bricks, or whatever you want to tote.
20,000 sheets of plywood
That is the number of pieces of plywood that Farley boasted you could cut with a circular saw that’s plugged into the vehicle. While your average person probably won’t be cutting that many pieces of plywood with a saw connected to their truck, the point is that the 10-kW-vehicle is also a “powerplant, but on wheels,” Farley said.
About 4 seconds
That’s the pickup’s approximate 0-to-60 acceleration time. To put that in perspective, the “Performance Version” of Ford’s electric crossover, the Mach-E GT, will do the same in 3.5 seconds, GMC’s new electric Hummer will do it in 3 seconds, a Lamborghini Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae will do so in 2.8 seconds, and a Tesla Model S Plaid in around 2 seconds. Safety tip: You shouldn’t accelerate that fast unless you’re on a track, and besides, there are more important aspects of a vehicle than its acceleration time.
230 – 320 miles
A more practical number for EV owners to consider is the range, and this is the Lightning’s range of ranges, depending on which version you purchase. The price for the least expensive version of the vehicle comes in under $40,000. There’s a catch, though: They’re hard to get. “Due to high demand, the current model year is no longer available for retail order,” Ford notes in a video.
[Related: Little green Corvette: Chevy’s classic car is going electric]
Ford isn’t the only company making a noteworthy new electron-fueled pickup truck. Others in the category include the GMC Hummer EV, the 2024 Chevy Silverado EV, and the Rivian R1T.
Farley also hinted about an additional vehicle in the works, saying that the company is “already pushing dirt down in Blue Oval City in Tennessee, for another electric pickup truck that’s different from this one.” Besides F-150s, Ford also makes other pickups like the Maverick and Ranger.
Watch the event, below:
