As The First Pre-Production F-150 Lightning Is Completed, Ford Announces Another Investment In EVs

Ford today announced that the first pre-production all-electric F-150 Lightning has rolled off the line at its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, in Michigan. With the first truck comes a new investment in the plant that will add more union jobs.

The Blue Oval will invest an additional $250 million EVs, which will add another 450 hourly jobs. Most of those new workers will be working on assembling the F-150 Lightning, while some will go to other plants to make batteries and drivetrain components. In all, the investment will increase Ford’s production capacity for the truck to 80,000 per year.

“We knew the F-150 Lightning was special, but the interest from the public has surpassed our highest expectations and changed the conversation around electric vehicles. So we are doubling down, adding jobs and investment to increase production,” said Bill Ford, executive chair, Ford Motor Company. “This truck and the Ford-UAW workers who are assembling it in Michigan have a chance to make history and lead the electric vehicle movement in America.”

The new investment follows $700 million that the company funneled into the historic Ford Rouge Center to bring up to date enough to make the F-150 Lightning in the first place. It’s also part of a wider $7.7 billion investment the automaker has made in Michigan since 2016.

Real World Testing For Pre-Production F-150 Lightning EVs Begins

Now that the first pre-production models are leaving the plant, they will undergo real-world testing. Expected to start at $40,000 and with a targeted range of 300 miles, Ford has already received more than 150,000 reservations for the F-150 Lightning.

“Electrifying the F-Series […] represents a significant step toward mass adoption of electric vehicles in America,” said Kumar Galhotra, Ford’s president of The Americas and International Markets Group. “F-150 Lightning is intended to be more than a no-compromise zero tailpipe-emissions truck. It’s packed with ingenious features and technology that will improve over time, it’s exhilarating to drive and it can power your home and worksite.”

The first production F-150 Lightnings are expected to roll off the line in the spring of 2022.