PLANT: Ford Looks for Lightning Strike with Electric F-150
by Mario Cywinski
Electric vehicles are nothing new, they have been around much longer than many people realize. Innovators who have tried to make electricity work in a vehicle, have usually come up against a number of prohibiting factors, with cost usually being on top, but another major factor being consumer adoption.
Photo: Ford Motor Company.
Uptake on electric vehicles is growing; however, the slice of the pie for EVs is still very small. Factors such as range, charging infrastructure, and most importantly, type of vehicle have been the main reasons for customer hesitancy. The majority of EVs until recently were hatchback-style vehicles, which many customers enjoy, but they are not the crossover/SUV style vehicles that are growing exponentially, or the best-selling segment of the vehicle market, pick-up trucks.
Now, it is one thing for Tesla, who has built its entire brand on EVs, to announce the Cybertruck pick-up, or for niche EV companies to do the same, it is quite another for the segment leader to announce that it is entering the ring with an electric-powered pick-up truck.
For many years, the Ford F-Series has been the top selling vehicle in both Canada and the United States. Ford has put many innovations into the F-Series, most recently with a hybrid version of its F-150 (as the PowerBoost), and before that with the introduction of an aluminum body.
Read the full story on Plant, one of Canadian Manufacturing‘s sister publications.
