Ford F-150 Lightning breaks monthly sales record, doubling in November
CEO Jim Farley announced the Ford F-150 Lightning had its best-ever sales month, breaking the record in November.
Ford Lightning sets new sales record in November
Farley said the company sold nearly 4,400 electric trucks this past month, an over 100% increase compared to last year.
The uptick comes after Lightning sales fell by 46% in the third quarter. Ford told Electrek in September that “F-150 Lightning production is starting to ramp after a six-week shutdown.”
Ford said it was on track to triple EV pickup production after revamping its Rouge EV plant in Michigan.
In October, Ford sold 3,712 Lightning models, up 52.4% over 2022. The record November sales performance comes despite Ford scaling back on EV investments.
Ford announced last month that it would be “re-timing and resizing some investments,” including at its Michigan EV plant. The plans call for cutting its investment by nearly $1.5 billion and expected jobs to 1,700.
When Ford initially announced plans this February, it called for 2,500 new jobs and 35 GWh annual LFP battery output (starting in 2026). That would be enough to power around 400,000 EVs.
Ford now expects to have around 20 GWh output, over 40% less than initial plans. The plant expects to produce LFP batteries for about 230,000 electric models annually.
The automaker has already delayed its 600,000 EV run rate goal until next summer. It’s also cutting one of three shifts at its Rouge EV facility, where the Lightning is built.
Ford’s chief communications officer, Mark Truby, told reporters that the decision was based on “demand and the expected growth for EVs.” Ford is pushing back around $12 billion in spending on EVs.
Farley said the company will have more EV sales news on Monday. Check back next week for the latest.
Electrek’s Take
Despite setting a record in November, Lightning sales are well below where they should be. And Ford doesn’t seem to upbeat on where they are headed.
The company introduced significant incentives on the Lightning in October, including up to $15,000 off. The deal is good on a lease or purchase.
The shutdown at Ford’s Rouge EV plant was intented to speed up production, not slow it. Ford’s initial plans called for Lightning production to hit 150,000 by mid-2023. That would be about 12,500 a month.
With new competition like Tesla’s Cybertruck launching this week, the path will not get any easier.
Ford did add a new “Flash” trim (pictured above) to the 2024 Lightning lineup. The new model hits the “sweet spots” with modern features at the right value. It will include an extended range battery (providing up to 320 miles range), an interior loaded with tech, Ford Tow Tech Package, and a heatpump, starting at $69,995.
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If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you combine a fruit cart, a cargo bike, and a Piaggio Ape all in one vehicle, now you’ve got your answer. I submit, for your approval, this week’s feature for the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week column – and it’s a beautiful doozie.
Feast your eyes on this salad slinging, coleslaw cruising, tuber taxiing produce chariot!
I think this electric vegetable trike might finally scratch the itch long felt by many of my readers. It seems every time I cover an electric trike, even the really cool ones, I always get commenters poo-poo-ing it for having two wheels in the rear instead of two wheels in the front. Well, here you go, folks!
Designed with two front wheels for maximum stability, this trike keeps your cucumbers in check through every corner. Because trust me, you don’t want to hit a pothole and suddenly be juggling peaches like you’re in Cirque du Soleil: Farmers Market Edition.
To avoid the extra cost of designing a linked steering system for a pair of front wheels, the engineers who brought this salad shuttle to life simply side-stepped that complexity altogether by steering the entire fixed front end. I’ve got articulating electric tractors that steer like this, and so if it works for a several-ton work machine, it should work for a couple hundred pounds of cargo bike.
Featuring a giant cargo bed up front with four cascading fruit baskets set up for roadside sales, this cargo bike is something of a blank slate. Sure, you could monetize grandma’s vegetable garden, or you could fill it with your own ideas and concoctions. Our exceedingly talented graphics wizard sees it as the perfect coffee and pastry e-bike for my new startup, The Handlebarista, and I’m not one to argue. Basically, the sky is the limit with a blank slate bike like this!
Sure, the quality doesn’t quite match something like a fancy Tern cargo bike. The rim brakes aren’t exactly confidence-inspiring, but at least there are three of them. And if they should all give out, or just not quite slow you down enough to avoid that quickly approaching brick wall, then at least you’ve got a couple hundred pounds of tomatoes as a tasty crumple zone.
The electrical system does seem a bit underpowered. With a 36V battery and a 250W motor, I don’t know if one-third of a horsepower is enough to haul a full load to the local farmer’s market. But I guess if the weight is a bit much for the little motor, you could always do some snacking along the way. On the other hand, all the pictures seem to show a non-electric version. So if this cart is presumably mobile on pedal power alone, then that extra motor assist, however small, is going to feel like a very welcome guest.
The $950 price is presumably for the electric version, since that’s what’s in the title of the listing, though I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. I’ve bought a LOT of stuff on Alibaba, including many electric vehicles, and the too-good-to-be-true price is always exactly that. In my experience, you can multiply the Alibaba price by 3-4x to get the actual landed price for things like these. Even so, $3,000-$4,000 wouldn’t be a terrible price, considering a lot of electric trikes stateside already cost that much and don’t even come with a quad-set of vegetable baskets on board!
I should also put my normal caveat in here about not actually buying one of these. Please, please don’t try to buy one of these awesome cargo e-trikes. This is a silly, tongue-in-cheek weekend column where I scour the ever-entertaining underbelly of China’s massive e-commerce site Alibaba in search of fun, quirky, and just plain awesomely weird electric vehicles. While I’ve successfully bought several fun things on the platform, I’ve also gotten scammed more than once, so this is not for the timid or the tight-budgeted among us.
That isn’t to say that some of my more stubborn readers haven’t followed in my footsteps before, ignoring my advice and setting out on their own wild journey. But please don’t be the one who risks it all and gets nothing in return. Don’t say I didn’t warn you; this is the warning.
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Environment
Podcast: Trump/GOP go after EV/solar, Tesla, Ford, GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Trump’s Big Beautiful bill becoming law and going after EVs and solar, Tesla, Ford, and GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
Today’s episode is brought to you by Bosch Mobility Aftermarket—A global leader and trusted provider of automotive aftermarket parts. To celebrate Amazon Prime Day July 8th through 11th, Bosch Mobility is offering exclusive savings on must-have auto parts and tools. Learn more here.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
- Electrek FSGP 2025: New teams, new cars, same solar spirit
- Congress votes to send 2 million US jobs to China, increase deficit, energy costs
- Tesla (TSLA) confirms 384,000 deliveries in Q2 2025, right on expectations
- Tesla prototype sparks speculation: a Model Y, maybe slightly smaller
- Tesla launches Oasis Supercharger with solar farm and off-grid batteries
- Tesla unveils its LFP battery factory, claims it’s almost ready
- Here’s why Ford’s electric vehicle sales crashed by nearly a third in Q2
- The Chevy Equinox EV is GM’s breakout star, but that’s not the only surprise
- Xpeng launches G7, a new Tesla Model Y competitor for just $27,000
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:
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