Kumar Galhotra, head of Ford Motor’s Americas and International Markets, told Reuters before its official debut on Wednesday that, based on customer feedback, Ford has begun to increase the planned manufacturing capacity of the F-150 electric vehicle by “single Thousands of vehicles.

He did not disclose the new production target.

AutoForecast Solutions global automotive forecasting director Sam Fiorani (Sam Fiorani) said that Ford is expected to increase the annual production of F-150 electric vehicles to 40,000 or more starting in 2023.

Ford executives said that before their debut on Wednesday, they adopted a different strategy for mass sales of electric trucks and vans from Tesla or General Motors.

For commercial fleet operators

Tesla and General Motors positioned their initial electric pickup trucks as the life-use vehicles of the wealthy. Ford executives stated that they were focused on persuading commercial fleet operators (Ford dominates the market) that F-150 Lightning and Electric Transit is a reasonable and cost-effective choice. .

Ford Commercial Vehicle General Manager Ted Cannes said: “This is the only way to increase production.”

The electric version of the electric F-150 and the Ford Transit van, which will be available later this year, looks like a gasoline version and is shared with many gasoline components. The gasoline version is the most profitable machine of the second largest automaker in the United States.

The pre-tax credit for the Ford F-150 Lightning “Commercial Basic” version starts at $39,974, including the $7,500 U.S. federal tax credit that Ford buyers can still get, while Tesla and General Motors buyers cannot. The price is $10,000 higher than the cheapest gasoline engine F-150.

It comes with a “chunky”

In addition to the estimated range of 370 kilometers, the basic F-150 Lightning is also equipped with a 39.37 cm Tesla-style dashboard screen, ample “simple” storage space for gas engines, and enough plugs and juice for the building Powering Ford officials said the construction site lasted three days.

Ford said the starting price of the Lightning XLT model matched with the best-selling gasoline engine F-150 is $52,974. This is 51% higher than the base price of XLT gasoline.

Ford plans to launch a more expensive version of the F-150 Lightning, which includes a “Platinum” model with an extended range battery, and the price may be around US$90,000.

Tesla’s electric Cybertruck looks like it was launched from a sci-fi movie, and it will begin mass production in 2022, with a starting price of $39,900. GM’s first electric pickup was the “electric super truck”, the GMC Hummer EV, which was priced from $79,995 to nearly $100,000. After the first round of trial runs of a small number of trucks this fall, mass production will begin in the fall of 2022.

Fiorani said that General Motors plans to launch Raiden’s rival Chevrolet Silverado EV by the end of 2022. GM said it will build on a dedicated electric vehicle platform shared with the upcoming Hummer electric vehicle.

GM has also entered the field of electric vans through its new division BrightDrop and dedicated electric vans.

Ford used heavier steel on the frame of the F-150 Lightning, but did not perform a complete redesign to integrate the battery pack into the chassis.

Darren Palmer, General Manager of Ford Electric Vehicles, said that by staying close to the current model, Ford can provide electric trucks at a competitive price faster and “make money”.

Ford’s Cannes said that Ford plans to provide software-supported services to fleets and corporate customers, such as tracking driver behavior, predicting maintenance and planning delivery routes.

Once Ford starts charging for these services, “then you are in the subscription game,” Cannis said.