Ford CEO Takes F-150 Lightning On Road Trip Across American West

Jim Farley wants to learn more about the experiences of Ford EV customers.

Ford F-150 Lightning Platinum driving

Dan Mihalascu

By: Dan Mihalascu

Aug 11, 2023 at 4:44am ET

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Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley has wrapped up a three-day road trip across the American West in an F-150 Lightning with the goal of learning more about the experiences of Ford EV customers.

The executive has documented it extensively on social media, especially on his X (formerly Twitter) account. Joined by other Ford execs, Farley started the trip with the F-150 Lightning on August 7 from Silicon Valley, headed south to Los Angeles and then west to Las Vegas, driving on the iconic Route 66 along the way.

In a LinkedIn post, Ford's head honcho said one of the stops would be at a charging station that prompted Ford's move to adopt the Tesla charge port – the North American Charging Standard (NACS) – for future EVs.

"There is no better way to see America than from behind the wheel. I first learned that on family trips as a kid," Farley wrote.

He also said he would use the same roads and charging infrastructure as ordinary EV drivers so that he can see what the real-world experience of EV use is like. Furthermore, he was planning to visit "researchers, businesses, dealers, salespeople, EV conversion shops, EV drivers, and communities."

Interestingly, Ford's CEO noted that earlier in his career at Toyota, he spent nearly a year on the road the lessons learned during that road trip helped him improve the Camry mid-size sedan. "Listening is how we learn, and that's what we'll be doing from the road," Farley said.

From the many updates he posted on social media, we can see that Farley has dropped by a Cars and Coffee meetup, visited Ford dealers and the company's Greenfield Labs in Palo Alto, and spent time at various charging stations.

He also visited a Vestas wind farm to see how they are using the F-150 Lightning Pro trucks in their fleet, and got to check out a pre-production version of Ford's BlueCruise software along the way.

Jim Farley also sat down with F-150 Lightning owners and EV advocates to hear their perspectives on the electric future and how Ford can keep innovating to improve its products.

What do you think?

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It sounds like a fun time away from the office and, most importantly, a great way to learn more about the Ford EV customer's experience, whether it's charging, driving, and using electric vehicles in all sorts of scenarios.

In the coming days, Farley will attend a Ford dealer meeting in Las Vegas, the final destination of his road trip.