Ford Invests Big-time in Electric F-150

 

Last Thursday, September 19th, Ford announced that it is investing about $700 million in the future of the F-150 including the fact that production of the 2021 all-electric F-150 has started at their Rouge Center campus.

A large portion of that money will be going to construct an entirely new Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, which will be producing the new ground-breaking all-electric F-150. According to Ford, the construction related to this effort should add 300 jobs in Michigan. The facility will focus on battery assembly and production of the electric F-150 and the F-150 PowerBoost hybrid.

Ford Motor is differentiating its upcoming all-electric F-150 from those expected from Tesla and General Motors by building it for heavy-duty hauling and towing rather than recreation. “While all other electric pickups are competing for lifestyle customers, the all-electric F-150 is designed and engineered for hard working customers that need a truck to do a job,” Kumar Galhotra, president of the Americas and international markets at Ford, said Wednesday during a media briefing.

Ford F-Series pickups are the backbone of work and productivity across the United States, and therefore the Ford F-150 electric will be built as a seriously capable, purpose-built tool for serious commercial and retail truck customers. The focus of the truck will be work-first, and it will be able to serve as a power source for offsite work, in addition to delivering better output and acceleration than any current versions of the F-150 pickup. It will have a large “frunk” (trunk in front) and more importantly, it is estimated to have demonstrably lower running costs than current gas- and diesel-powered pickups.

The F-150 PowerBoost hybrid, will arrive before the fully-electric version. This gas-electric hybrid is said to have an in-bed power source and, it should be more capable than the generation that preceded it. All 2021 F-150s will have upgrades, such as the Sync 4 infotainment system and a center console that can fold into a table for work purposes.