Ford F-150 Lightning Makes It To #1 EV Market In The World — How Will It Do?

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The Ford F-150 Lightning had a surge of gross sales on the finish of 2023, however I’ve to confess that its manufacturing and gross sales usually are not ramping up as rapidly as I’d hoped. It appears American pickup truck customers nonetheless want some extra time to get accustomed to plugin their vehicles in at house fairly than taking them to a fuel station to get robbed.

As you’ll be able to see above, the F-150 Lightning had just a bit greater than 24,000 gross sales within the US in 2023. It had practically 12,000 within the 4th quarter, which was a pleasant enchancment over the 2023 quarterly common, however that’s nonetheless removed from the 150,000 or so annual gross sales the corporate’s concentrating on. A lot must be executed to enhance consciousness and advertising and marketing within the US, little question.

However there’s one other avenue for F-150 Lightning gross sales progress, although. Exports. There are numerous international locations aching for an excellent electrical pickup truck (or “ute,” as they name them in some components of the world). The Ford F-150 model is famend globally, and absolutely Ford might discover joyful prospects in lots of markets which can be extra mature within the electrical car transition than the US. There isn’t any extra mature EV market than Norway, and it’s the place many automakers are fast to ship new electrical fashions. Almost 94% of latest car gross sales had been plugin car gross sales final month in Norway, and greater than 92% had been full electrics. And, indubitably, many Norwegians have been ready for an important electrical truck just like the Ford F-150 Lightning!

With the nation’s first homeowners taking supply of the F-150 Lightning this previous week, let’s see how briskly gross sales there ramp up and the way most of the electrical vehicles Ford can promote in Norway!

“Dag Ødegaard from Lier, Norway, fell in love with Ford F-Sequence vehicles whereas touring within the U.S. Now, he’s the primary Norwegian buyer to take house an electrical Ford F-150 Lightning,” Ford writes.

“It’s becoming that Ødegaard is the primary in Norway with the truck, given his connections to America. His spouse is from Texas and he owns a retailer in Norway that sells American grill and barbecue tools.”

Nicely, that may be a becoming pair, or trio. The one query I’ve is: Is that this household associated in any option to Martin Ødegaard? Or is Ødegaard only a tremendous well-liked title in Norway?

The Ford F-150 Lightning Lariat Launch Version mannequin that Ødegaard selected has a rated vary of 429 km (267 miles) on a full cost (WLTP score system). That ought to be lots for most conventional driving. For longer journeys, effectively, Norway absolutely has among the greatest EV charging infrastructure on this planet — perhaps the very best (although, I feel the Netherlands would love a phrase on that).

“It is a dream car for us particularly as we love the USA and Texas a lot,” Ødegaard stated. “Lastly we don’t need to drive two vehicles to move two teenage youngsters, my spouse and all our baggage to our cabin in [the ski town of] Trysil. Particularly, the truth that it has 5 seats signifies that we will lastly afford to purchase ourselves a correct household pickup, which can also be totally electrical and filled with new expertise. It’s completely excellent each when it comes to consolation, area and driving.”

“This is a vital day for Ford in Norway,” stated Per Gunnar Berg, CEO of Ford Motor Norway. “As the first country outside America to get F-150 Lightning, we get the chance to ship one of the talked about electrical autos on this planet lately to our prospects. We sit up for going full throttle to provide much more Norwegians the chance to expertise an all-electric truck in contrast to the rest on supply right here. It’s each larger, stronger and extra succesful than most you’ll find on the Norwegian market, and is simply nearly as good as a household automobile as it’s for work.”

Certainly. The F-150 Lightning was really the 2022 CleanTechnica Automobile of the 12 months (by no means thoughts that it’s a truck). It’s an excellent car and deserves the entire find it irresistible will discover in Norway, different components of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and different markets the place I anticipate to see it delivered.

CleanTechnica‘s not the one media outlet to heap reward on the F-150 Lightning, although. Actually, not too long ago, Edmunds named the Ford F-150 Lightning the “2024 Edmunds High Rated Electrical Truck.” That’s the second yr in a row that the Lightning received the award, too.

“Constructing on the enchantment of the gas-powered F-150, the Lightning combines additional versatility with easy efficiency,” said Alistair Weaver, Edmunds editor-in-chief. “With its broad functionality and rugged enchantment, it feels much less like an electrical truck and extra like a truck that simply occurs to be electrical.” I’m unsure what that final line is meant to imply. Electrical vehicles have extra on the spot torque, extra energy, extra functionality in lots of regards than non-electric vehicles. However hey, no matter it takes to reward the truck and make it extra interesting to patrons hesitant to make the change to an electrical mannequin.

Naturally, Norwegian patrons received’t want as a lot convincing in relation to the aptitude or ruggedness of an electrical pickup truck. What I’m very curious to see is how the F-150 Lightning, the Tesla Cybertruck, and the Rivian R1T compete once they’re all in the marketplace in Norway and manufacturing and exports are ramped up. In a market with out practically the pickup truck historical past or model loyalty as the USA, and with patrons who’re rather more open minded about electrical autos, which truck and its capabilities will enchantment extra to Norwegians?

After all, we received’t see big volumes of gross sales in Norway. It’s a comparatively small nation (when it comes to inhabitants), its auto market can also be thus comparatively small, and solely a small portion of auto patrons are ever in the marketplace for a pickup truck — electrical or in any other case. Although, perhaps the effectivity of electrical vehicles will make vehicles a much bigger portion of the market in time. We’ll see.