Tesla revealed the Cybertruck on November 22, 2019, but deliveries will only start in late 2021. If it is ok to wait two years for a new product in Tesla’s case, Ford hopes you will think the same about its all-electric F-150. The company revealed today it will be built at the Rouge Center in Michigan with loads of interesting features, but only from mid-2022 on.
If you are willing to wait, what Ford promises is to offer the most powerful pickup truck in its current lineup. That will be ensured by two motors – or one less than the Cybertruck’s top derivative.
By the way, it will be preceded by a hybrid F-150, already named as PowerBoost. The electric F-150 is yet to be christened – or just did not have its special name revealed so far.
Gallery: Ford F-150 EV prototype towing
Whatever it is called, the new all-electric Ford F-150 will also feature a“giant front trunk” to secure important cargo and deliver a safer vehicle. Considering it will still be an F-150, the fact that it is originally conceived to be a combustion-engined vehicle may impose some compromises on the battery-powered pickup truck.
The last bits of relevant information Ford provides on its future electric F-150 relates to cost and software. Having a battery pack will allow it to provide “more than 40 percent savings for its lifetime total cost of operation” compared to the ICE F-150. Updates will also be made over the air, like any Tesla already does since September 2012.
When the $700 million Rouge Electric Vehicle Center is ready, it will add 300 jobs to the Rouge Center. For what Ford says, they will be dedicated to battery assembly, which gives us the impression that the new manufacturing center will be a battery pack production site.
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If the Powerboost and all-electric F-150 assembly also take place there, the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center will be able to deliver something the competition will probably already be selling for a while. Rivian intends to start selling the R1T by June 2021, for example.
What Ford probably relies on is on the strength of the F-150 name. If it is a burden – in a sense of not being able to develop a better EV from the ground up – it may be a benefit with a target audience deemed to be conservative. Ford may be addressing its own loyal fans, but that is not a bad thing when you manufacture the best selling vehicle in the world.