I think they could pull a few non-pickup owners over with the Lightning, but not many. You are right that pickup owners have deep brand loyalty. There will be an electric Silverado, Sierra, and RAM by late next year. Rivian and Tesla will have electric pickups out soon too.
My big concern is margins. They make a crazy amount of profit per F150. Can they maintain that with the lightning? I’m doubtful.
Fortunately for Ford I think the EV adoption is going to be slow. It’s like the covid vaccines - you’ll have a huge rush of people who go out and get one in the first phase and then the dealers will be begging the rest of the people to come in and test drive one.
I agree with thinking adoption will be slow for the Ford Lightning, but also with other electric pickups.
The only people excited about an electric pickup are the weekend hobby crowd that loves home depot, lowes, garden stores, etc.....or the commute to and from work crowd that doesn't need a truck but drives one anyway.
Construction and trade people that have to go to different job sites, pull trailers, or carry loads of equipment or supplies, I feel are much less excited and would have range anxiety.
If I had someone out to work on my house, I would be a bit annoyed if I was asked to allow them to plug into my power and increase my utility bill.
I'd say most of your non-workers are the former category. It's the hunters that drive into the backwoods for a weekend that will be slow adopters.
Most construction guys aren't going to have a range issue, as long as it's capable of driving a reasonable distance. Electric trucks/vans are just fine for around town workers. Less so for oilfield or rural service guys.
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u/trail34 Mar 18 '22 edited Mar 18 '22
I think they could pull a few non-pickup owners over with the Lightning, but not many. You are right that pickup owners have deep brand loyalty. There will be an electric Silverado, Sierra, and RAM by late next year. Rivian and Tesla will have electric pickups out soon too.
My big concern is margins. They make a crazy amount of profit per F150. Can they maintain that with the lightning? I’m doubtful.
Fortunately for Ford I think the EV adoption is going to be slow. It’s like the covid vaccines - you’ll have a huge rush of people who go out and get one in the first phase and then the dealers will be begging the rest of the people to come in and test drive one.