Ford Motor Company has zapped production of its EV truck, the F-150 Lightning, as it takes a $19.5 billion hit and ends production of several electric-vehicle models, as the auto industry’s retreat from battery-powered models continues in response to the Trump administration’s policies and weakening EV demand.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based company said it will replace the fully electric F-150 Lightning with a new extended-range electric model that uses a gas-powered engine to recharge the battery. The company is also scrapping a next-generation electric truck, codenamed the T3, as well as planned electric commercial vans.“When the market really changed over the last couple of months, that was really the impetus for us to make the call,” Ford CEO Jim Farley told Reuters in an interview.Ford said it will pivot hard into gas and hybrid models, and eventually hire thousands of workers, even though there will be some layoffs at a jointly owned Kentucky battery plant in the near term. The company expects its global mix of hybrids, extended-range EVs and pure EVs to reach 50% by 2030, from 17% today.The car company will spread out the writedown, taken primarily in the fourth quarter and continuing through next year and into 2027, the company said. About $8.5 billion is related to cancelling planned EV models. Around $6 billion is tied to the dissolution of a battery joint venture with South Korea’s SK On, and $5 billion on what Ford called “program-related expenses.”
I reported earlier this month that President Donald Trump had essentially gutted Biden’s Green New Deal and significantly reduced fuel-economy standards. The move, paired with the Trump team’s emphasis on increasing American fossil fuel production and the elimination of the EV tax break, was a contributing factor in a business decision that has since been replicated throughout the automotive industry.
The announcement amounted to an admission by Ford that it had overestimated demand for battery-powered vehicles and underestimated the staying power of vehicles powered by gasoline and diesel.Other big automakers, including General Motors and Stellantis, have also recently changed their plans and placed a far greater emphasis on combustion engine vehicles and hybrids.The U.S. auto industry’s move away from electric vehicles is also a result of a reversal in government policies since President Trump took office in January. His administration has slashed government incentives for electric vehicles while promoting fossil fuels.This month, the administration announced plans to significantly weaken fuel economy standards, which would reduce automakers’ incentive to make electric cars.
The F-150 Lightning is returning to what it was originally: A gas-powered workhorse.
The Lightning’s design evolved from what was once a gas-powered truck. And now it will come full circle; an upcoming plug-in hybrid version of the truck will once again have a gasoline engine, in the form of a generator that will allow the vehicle to keep driving even if the battery runs out of juice. The all-electric Lightning is dead; the extended-range Lightning is on its way.The all-electric F-150 Lightning was a big deal to Ford. It was announced in 2021 with great fanfare and an appealingly low price of just $40,000. But once it actually hit production lines, Ford was never able to sell it for anything close to the promised price tag; the 2025 model started at around $55,000.The truck was designed to appeal to mainstream truck enthusiasts, with no quirky EV styling. It came festooned with outlets everywhere, leveraging the onboard battery so drivers could run tools at a worksite, power appliances at a tailgate party and even run their house on it, using it like a generator during a power outage.
It must be noted that the company still plans to produce mid-sized EV trucks at a price point more appealing to the public.
For its future EV lineup, the company is shifting focus to more affordable EV models, conceived by a so-called skunkworks team in California.Ford plans to price the first model from that team at about $30,000 US and begin sales in 2027. Ford is building this midsize EV truck at its Louisville plant.“Rather than spending billions more on large EVs that now have no path to profitability, we are allocating that money into higher-returning areas,” said Andrew Frick, head of Ford’s gas and electric-vehicle operations.
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