Ford

Ford has been known to cherry pick the best features of other electric vehicles and make them their own. If a tidbit we’ve found in the Ford App comes to fruition, the F-150 Lightning will soon be able to park itself via remote control using phone apps.

Ford CEO Jim Farley made an interesting comment that highlighted just how the perception of Tesla has massively shifted in the automotive industry over the last few years.

Ford CEO Jim Farley says that the company is addressing the situation where dealers are charging ‘unreasonable’ markups on the F-150 Lightning electric pickup and other vehicles.

As Ford Motor Co. approaches first deliveries of its all electric F-150 Lightning this spring, it has shared new details regarding how future owners will soon be able to power their homes using the truck as a backup generator. Through a new partnership with Sunrun, F-150 Lightning customers will soon have a number of energy management solutions at their disposal through Ford or existing equipment.

Ford has developed a spy-themed concept game that allows Mustang Mach-E owners to turn their EVs into an “escape room” – or escape car, rather. The interactive game functions through the Mach-E’s center touchscreen, using functions within the EV to guide the driver and its passenger(s) on a secret mission to deliver a package.

• Ford’s versatile E-Transit 126-mile electric sprinter/cargo/van platform began production from its Kansas City, Missouri plant. Deliveries begin in a few weeks. I drove it, but drive impressions have to wait.
• Ford is super high on its own supply of Telematics software but equally high on its new Salesforce partnership for software and services.
• I came to California to drive a Ford F-150 Lightning and I got two awesome days in Sonoma meeting Francis Ford Coppola, chatting with some great Ford engineers/execs, drinking some amazing wine, and driving an electric sprinter van (not in that order).

We learned a lot this week as Ford flew us out to Sonoma, CA, and took us to some winery businesses that would soon be using not only electric Ford Pro vehicles but would also be using its telematics software stack to manage everything about them.

Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. recently stated it is still undecided on where to manufacture EVs in the United States, questioning the country’s demand despite soaring sales numbers from competitors miles ahead in their own electrified transitions.

Ford (NYSE: F) stock continued its upward climb today, reaching a 20-year high and a $100 billion market cap on big hopes for the all-electric F-150 Lightning and plans to lead the industry in battery production capacity by 2025.

Here we sit on the precipice of 2022, which is hopefully a shiny new start and not “2020 II.” One of the more optimistic outlooks we can share in the new year is the prospect of further EV adoption, led by an absolute slew of new EV models from all of the major names in vehicles. Below are some of the most anticipated electric vehicles scheduled to arrive in 2022, along with a little blurb about each so you can start planning which ones you want to test drive first.

Ford issued a warning to dealerships that are taking advantage of F150 Lightning reservation holders and asking for more money.

But it looks like it might not be able to prevent markups.

After sharing its quarterly deliveries to cap off 2021, General Motors revealed just how rough of a Q4 it had in terms of EV deliveries. While the legacy automaker has recently unveiled several new and exciting EVs to come, GM’s current EV output is quite nominal, opening the door for rival Ford to carry its electrified momentum to become the #2 EV automaker in the US behind Tesla.

Ford has launched the F-150 Lightning’s online configurator and revealed all prices and options in the process.

It starts at $40,000 and it can be configured to a price up to $93,000 with all the options.

As Ford enters its final phase of pre-production on its highly anticipated F-150 Lightning pickup, it has announced another doubling of its production capacity on the new EV. The US automaker expects to scale Michigan production to 150,000 Lightning EVs by mid-2023, adding to massive overall BEV outputs.

Many Ford dealers are taking advantage of the strong demand for F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck and marking it up by as much as $30,000.

New York City is closing out the year with a big electrification move as it adds 184 Ford Mustang Mach-E electric SUVs to its fleet, and it approves the option to buy 250 Tesla Model 3 electric sedans.

Most of the vehicles are going to the NYPD and other emergency service departments.

As of right now, Ford Motor Company has 200,000 reservations lined up for the Lightning, and those drivers will have the additional benefit of being able to use their Lightning to charge any other EV on the road.

Ford Motor Company has just announced a new holistic charging system for electrified fleets called Ford Pro Charging. As the world and, more specifically, commercial fleets transition to electric vehicles, Ford Pro Charging will soon provide both a software and hardware infrastructure to support charging and energy management. Even if the vehicles don’t bear the blue oval.

As Ford’s CEO Jim Farley took to Twitter to announce a three times increase in Mustang Mach-E production, the company also alerted dealers that modest price increases and new packages would be coming for 2022 models. The California Route 1 edition also got a meaningful range bump.

Meanwhile, the company delayed a much anticipated Explorer EV and its Lincoln cousin…

Ford confirmed that it now has nearly 200,000 reservations for its upcoming F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck. At this point, it represents roughly a three-year backlog. It might make it hard to get access to the vehicle.

According to a recent research study by Morgan Stanley, Ford Motor Company is on pace to outsell General Motors (GM) in the EV market for 2021. The research compares Ford’s EV sales through the first 10 months of this year against GM’s, while noting the latter’s halt to Bolt production.

Ford has started installing its Tesla Supercharger lookalike charging stations as the automaker insists on copying the design instead of the business model.