Ford Motor Co. has announced plans to reveal its highly anticipated battery-electric pickup called the F-150 Lightning. The new EV will be introduced to the world at Ford’s world headquarters in Dearborn, Mich., on May 19.
The F-150 Lightning will make its grand debut on a live broadcast on Ford’s social media channels and will be shown in New York’s Times Square in New York City and Las Vegas Boulevard. The automaker said that there will be a total of 30 ways to watch either physically or digitally.
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“Every so often, a new vehicle comes along that disrupts the status quo and changes the game … Model T, Mustang, Prius, Model 3. Now comes the F-150 Lightning,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement. “America’s favorite vehicle for nearly half a century is going digital and fully electric. F-150 Lightning can power your home during an outage; it’s even quicker than the original F-150 Lightning performance truck; and it will constantly improve through over-the-air updates.”
The original F-150 Lightning debuted as a V-8-powered pickup truck in 1993. The automaker also used the Lightning name in the late 90s and early 2000s as its 380 horsepower supercharged V-8 models.
The new version of the Lightning marks the beginning of Ford’s shift towards electric vehicles. Farley says that the new truck’s straight-line speed is sure to impress, claiming that the new Lightning is even quicker than the original.
As traditional combustion engine-powered pickup trucks dominate the automotive market, electric truck models are expected to be an important part of the EV market’s growth. Ford has promised its pickup will be a true work truck, as it tries to differentiate itself from competitors like Tesla and General Motors.
Production of the pickup is scheduled to begin next spring at Ford’s Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Michigan. According to the automaker, the F-150 Lightning is expected to arrive in dealerships by mid-2022.
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