Ford: Electric F150 Ownership Costs Half That Of Gas Pickup
There is a lot of electric Ford F150 news to pass along but we’ll get to the lead first. Ford says that electric F150 ownership will cost half of what owning a gas F150 pickup will cost. If the specs of the F150 EV for payload, towing, and performance, are similar to the gas version then we have a new ballgame here. It would be hard for a fleet company to justify purchasing a gas-powered F150 over its EV counterpart.
The electric F150 is more powerful than the gas-powered version
According to Ford’s president of the Americas Kumar Galhotra to Automotive News his estimate of lower costs is based on using no gas or oil, low electric charging rates, lower maintenance costs, and increased vehicle uptime. But Galhorta also says the F150 EV is more powerful than the gas-powered version.
He says the F150 EV will have faster 0-60 mph times, and produce more torque and horsepower than any F150 ever. While it won’t be available for two years Ford is feathering the nest in anticipation. It will soon have competition from Tesla, Rivian-which it holds a stake in, and possibly Nikola depending on the latest fraud accusations.
“The all-electric F150 was designed and engineered for customers that need a truck to do a job”
“While other electric pickups are competing for lifestyle customers, the all-electric F-150 was designed and engineered for hardworking customers that need a truck to do a job,” Galhotra told Automotive News. Proof of Ford’s commitment is the construction of a huge 500,000 square-foot facility in Detroit. This info was advanced in Ford’s 2019 contract with the UAW. It also committed to hiring an additional 300 workers to be added for battery production and electric F150 production. Ford is calling it “the most technologically advanced plant in the world.”
One thing we have wondered is how similar the gas-powered and EV versions of the F150 will look. There needs to be enough distinction between the two to help marketing the internal differences. Ford will only say that the EV will look “distinct” from the gas-powered version.
F-Series accounted for $14 billion in revenue for Ford last year
To show how important the F150 series is to Ford you only need to look at the numbers. Almost seven percent of all vehicle sales in the US are F150 trucks. A Boston Consulting Group study found that the F-Series accounted for $14 billion in revenue for Ford last year. That was over one-quarter of 2019 Ford revenue.
There are roughly 16.6 million F-Series trucks on the roads today. It is the best-selling vehicle in 39 states in the US. And for some perspective, Ford is larger than McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Nike, and John Deere.
“Built For America” is a rebuttal to Trump’s framing of Ford’s foreign interests
As part of this electric F150 news dump, Ford also premiered its “Built For America” ad campaign. It stresses Ford’s employment and American building might after President Trump’s comments about manufacturing and investment staying in this country. In spite of its manufacturing in other places, it emphasizes how big and important Ford is to the economy of the US on many levels. It is a rebuttal to Trump’s framing of Ford’s foreign interests.
