The Lightning pickup and e-Transit van are “targeted at real people doing real work,” said Ford Pro chief executive Ted Canis at the Reuters Events Automotive Summit.
see photosFord is facing some early pushback from key audiences for the automaker’s new F-150 Lightning and e-Transit
Ford Motor Co. sees a strong market for electric trucks and vans by 2030, but it is facing some initial pushback from commercial customers, who are vying for the automaker’s new F-150 Lightning and e-Transit. The key is the audience, a top executive said on Thursday. The Lightning pickup and e-Transit van are “targeted at real people doing real work,” said Ford Pro chief executive Ted Canis at the Reuters Events Automotive Summit. But some of those potential fleet buyers are adopting a “wait and see” attitude, partly from a lack of experience with electric vehicles and partly from a lack of clarity on government policy and regulations around EVs.
Those are not insurmountable obstacles in the long term, according to Canis, who told Reuters: “In the US, we see 70% of the full-size bus and van industry going electric by 2030. That’s more than 300,000 vehicles a year. And we It is expected that one-third of full-size pickups (the market) will be fully electric by 2030, which is more than 800,000 vehicles annually.”
With electric work trucks and vans, Canis said, fleet customers can save money on fuel, maintenance and repairs, but there is “still a fear of the unknown” about EVs among both employees and managers.
Some of those potential fleet buyers are adopting a “wait and see” attitude, partly due to a lack of experience with electric vehicles.
He said Ford is excited about the response from potential buyers driving the Lightning and that “it’s the most exciting F-150 ever.” With 150,000 reservations from both fleet and retail customers, “we have so much demand, I’m not sure how we can supply” enough vehicles.
In August, Ford doubled its production target for the Lightning due to strong initial demand for the truck ahead of its 2022 launch. Sources told Reuters that Ford is targeting annual production of more than 80,000 vehicles in 2024, up from its prior target of more than 40,000.
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