Ford is scrapping plans to manufacture fully electric full-sized pickup trucks, marking a dramatic shift in the automaker’s electrification strategy as consumer demand fails to materialize as anticipated.
The company will absorb approximately $20 billion in costs related to the strategy change, but executives expect the recalibration to deliver stronger profitability over the long term by redirecting capital toward products consumers actually want to buy.
Ford President and CEO Jim Farley characterized the pivot as a “customer-driven shift” that will strengthen the company’s competitive position.
“The operating reality has changed, and we are redeploying capital into higher-return growth opportunities: Ford Pro, our market-leading trucks and vans, hybrids and high-margin opportunities like our new battery energy storage business,” Farley said in an announcement Monday.
Kelley Blue Book automotive expert Sean Tucker said the cancellation of the all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup headlines the substantial changes Ford announced.
“They’re cancelling a number of large EVs that they had planned, but they’re not abandoning the EV market,” Tucker explained.
Ford stated it still expects about half of its global inventory will consist of hybrids, extended-range EVs, and fully electric vehicles by 2030, up from 17 percent this year.
The company has ambitious plans for its universal EV platform, which will be used to roll out lower-priced, smaller cars and trucks, beginning with a midsize pickup in 2027.
Meanwhile, an extended-range EV version of the F-150 will come to market to replace the fully electric Lightning model.
An extended-range EV uses gasoline power to recharge the EV battery, but the gas doesn’t directly power the vehicle’s movement. The engine effectively functions as a generator, not actually connected to the drivetrain in any way, Tucker said.
An extended-range EV solves the fundamental problem of towing that has held electric trucks back from wider adoption, he explained.
“All trucks lose about half the range when they tow, regardless of what their fuel source is,” Tucker said. “But that’s a much bigger deal when stopping to recharge takes hours than it is when stopping to fill a tank takes two minutes.”
Additionally, big trucks are most popular in parts of the country where EV charging infrastructure remains sparse, Tucker noted.
Ford said the next-generation extended-range EV F-150 will add an estimated 700-plus mile range and tow “like a locomotive,” addressing the two biggest concerns truck buyers have expressed about electric powertrains.
Tucker said Ford made the correct decision given market realities.
“It was an understandable decision in 2021 to say, ‘Our bestselling product is the F-150. Why don’t we just electrify our bestselling product first?’ But the market for electric full-size trucks just hasn’t really emerged,” Tucker said. “And I think that the EREV is probably a more realistic technology, that the sort of person who’s interested in a full-size truck might listen to that more than they would to a pure EV.”
Tucker said Kelley Blue Book estimates dealers have about a 147-day supply of fully electric F-150 Lightning trucks, so consumers who want to purchase one still have time before inventory runs out.
American automakers face a challenging balance between domestic and international markets, with about a quarter of the overseas market already electric. In the United States, it’s just 7 percent or so, Tucker said.
That creates a two-tiered, expensive production strategy: one for the North American market and one for the rest of the world, requiring separate manufacturing processes and supply chains.
Tucker said the U.S. market is still moving toward EVs, but it’s progressing more slowly than initial projections suggested when automakers committed billions to electrification.
Ford’s decisions have more to do with market demands than politics, Tucker emphasized, even as President Donald Trump attempts to reduce car prices by rolling back fuel economy requirements.
“Politicians want a lot of headlines talking about the automotive industry, but the automotive industry does not move at the speed of politics,” Tucker said. “If you sit down to design a new car today, it’s going to roll out to the public in about five to seven years. It’s a long design cycle. So, I don’t think they’re making a lot of quick decisions based on something the president did last month.”
The $20 billion write-down represents one of the largest strategic pivots in Ford’s recent history. The costs include cancelled production facilities, retooling expenses, and the write-off of research and development investments in all-electric truck technology.
