Ford debuted its all-electric F-150 Lightning to appreciable fanfare a number of years in the past, and it is bought moderately effectively since then. The automaker billed it as a correct full-size truck that might do truck issues, together with towing massive trailers. Technically, that is right. Nevertheless it’s no secret that a number of components work in opposition to EVs as tow automobiles.
Talking to the media throughout Ford’s 2024 monetary convention name, CEO Jim Farley conceded that full-size battery-electric or range-extended electrical automobiles usually are not nice platforms for towing.
“It’s not excellent,” he mentioned. “In the event you tow, it’s not know-how. The batteries should be too massive.”
Merely being massive is not the issue. Whereas battery prices are coming down, Farley believes the large batteries required for giant automobiles are nonetheless cost-prohibitive at this level.
“For bigger retail electrical [vehicles], the economics are unresolvable,” he mentioned. “These prospects have very demanding use instances for an electrical car. They tow, they go off-road, they take lengthy street journeys. These automobiles have worse aerodynamics and so they’re very heavy, which suggests very massive and costly batteries. Retail prospects have proven that they won’t pay any premium for these massive EVs.”
To that finish, Ford has already canceled plans for a big, three-row electrical SUV. On this planet of pickup vans, the corporate teased a full-size electrical truck that was “one thing totally different” from the F-150 Lightning again in 2022. Little has been heard of this next-gen EV since, and at this level, it is unclear whether or not it can attain manufacturing. Nevertheless, Ford is transferring forward with plans for extended-range EVs (EREVs) that make the most of a combustion engine to cost smaller battery packs.
“Ford will likely be growing versatile, body-on-frame and unibody platforms that will likely be designed for these multi-energy powertrains which might be wanted, given the realities of buyer affordability and vary necessities,” mentioned Farley. “We’ve discovered, truly, when it wasn’t widespread to spend money on hybrids, it seems it was transfer. And subsequently, we need to lean into EREVS and different powertrains to ensure that we drift of the purchasers.”
