Ford Lightning Pickup To Help Maintain And Operate Nearly 15,000 Wind Turbines In The US

More than 300 electric trucks will enter the fleet of Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine maker.

Ford F-150 Lightning - Vestas Fleet

Iulian Dnistran

By: Iulian Dnistran

May 26, 2023 at 4:19am ET

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The Ford F-150 Lightning all-electric pickup has been picked by Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, to lead its shift toward becoming a carbon-neutral company by 2030 without using carbon offsets.

Specifically, the Denmark-based energy solutions company has integrated more than 300 Lightnings into its service fleet and installed several Ford Pro Chargers across its network to keep the batteries of the pickups topped up.

And this is where it gets really interesting because even though many of Vestas’ turbines are located in remote areas, the electric pickups can get there with a low state of charge and then use some of the energy produced by the wind turbine to recharge while the employees work on the equipment.

Gallery: Vestas orders over 300 Ford F-150 Lightning electric trucks for wind turbine maintenance

Ford F-150 Lightning - Vestas Fleet

Source: Vestas

Furthermore, workers can provide power to their hand tools via the truck’s Pro Power Onboard feature, which offers an available 9.6 kilowatts of exportable electricity from several 120-volt outlets and a single 240-volt plug, acting like a mobile generator but without the nasty gasses.

According to Vestas, when modern EVs first came to market, it was hard to find larger options capable of storing and transporting the necessary tools its technicians needed when conducting maintenance or other work on a wind turbine. But, with the introduction of the Ford F-150 Lightning, the company found an ideal vehicle for its operators which combines utility, range, and sustainability.

“Vestas is on an ambitious sustainability journey, and we need to collaborate with like-minded leaders across the various sectors of our supply chain to reach our bold targets,” said Michael Kraft, Vestas’ Fleet Manager in North America. “With Ford being one of those leaders here in the US, incorporating the F-150 Lightnings into our service fleet was a good fit for us.”

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Currently, the turbine maker’s North American fleet comprises around 1,850 vehicles, so with the recent order of over 300 Ford zero-emission trucks, electric vehicles will make up 20 percent of its fleet.

Additionally, because the Ford Pro Chargers have a CCS plug, they can be used on other brands of EVs, not just Ford, helping Vestas keep its all-electric fleet moving.