Back in 2021, Ford unveiled the F-150 Lightning, an all-electric version of its venerable pickup. A single $100 payment would get your name on the truck’s waiting list, and production was expected to begin in 2022.

Despite being a twice-over Toyota Tacoma fanboy, I was excited about this announcement. The F-150 has been America’s best-selling truck for like 400 years, and making it electric seemed like a great way to get EVs into garages that would otherwise never see one. I even sent Ford $100.

Early Signs of Trouble

Once the trucks hit the street, it was clear that there were concerns. While the powerful truck could pull just about anything, towing (or even driving with heavy loads) drastically cut into the Lightning’s range. Being based on an F-150 made a lot of sense on paper, but it meant that less hardcore mid-sized truck owners who may never run into the range-while-towing challenges weren’t going to look at it due to its size.

Then there were the cultural issues. Some Americans saw the rise of EVs as a liberal movement, and the Lightning was a bad fit in their eyes. This friction is not unique to Ford, but it was a factor that the company didn’t attempt to manage at all.

Over time, the Lightning became more expensive and less popular, to the point that production pauses were ordered. The trend was troubling, but I kept hoping it would do well for a partially selfless reason:

Ford was coming to town.

Blue Oval

…well within a short drive of town. In the fall of 2021, Ford announced Blue Oval, an enormous facility about 30 minutes from Memphis. Ian Round, Bill Dries, and Rob Moore broke the news for The Daily Memphian:

Partnering with a South Korean company, SK Innovation, Ford announced a $5.6 billion investment and 5,800 direct jobs at the Haywood County site, between Memphis and Jackson.

At a press conference Monday, Sept. 27, Gov. Bill Lee said it was “the largest single investment in this state’s history.” Lee, along with executives from Ford and SK Innovation, will be in Memphis Tuesday morning to make the announcement and share more details.

We’re going to come back to SK Innovation, but let’s get back to that 2021 article for now:

“West Tennessee will lead the future of the automotive industry,” Lee said. “We are excited about what this means for the people of Tennessee.”

The state is providing $500 million in incentives, which state Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe said was an appropriate investment.

Rolfe said the incentives will take the form of grants rather than tax breaks. The state expects the project to contribute $3.5 billion each year to the gross state product, creating 27,000 jobs directly and indirectly, not including construction. Those jobs are expected to bring in more than $1 billion in annual earnings.

“I don’t think in our wildest dreams we could have identified a greater global brand,” Rolfe said.

Construction of the 3,600-acre campus, which Lee said will begin before the end of the year, is expected to create 32,000 jobs.

Blue Oval is huge. Once the land was cleared, my Dad and I drove up there to check it out and joked that you could see the curvature of the Earth across the site. Today, that land is populated with a series of enormous buildings. The scale of the thing is unlike anything I’ve ever seen in West Tennessee.

Ford was clear from the start that the Lightning would not be built in Tennessee, but that production would remain at Michigan’s River Rouge complex. As the Lightning shared a bunch of parts and body panels with the internal combustion version, that made perfect sense to me.

Besides, the purpose of Blue Oval promised to be more exciting than a truck the world already knew about. Instead, the new plant was going to build a new electric truck and be home to facilities for building new and recycling old EV batteries.

All of that is in the background of this week’s news.

Changes at Blue Oval

Let’s circle back to SK Innovation’s partnership with Ford at Blue Oval. On December 11, it was announced that the joint venture was coming to an end. Kirsten Korosec at TechCrunch wrote about the news:

Four years ago, Ford and South Korean battery maker SK On struck a deal to form a joint venture and spend $11.4 billion to build factories in Tennessee and Kentucky that would produce batteries for the next generation of electric F-Series trucks.

The factories live on; the joint venture will not. 

SK On, a subsidiary of SK Innovation, said Thursday it reached an agreement with Ford to end the joint venture. The two companies will divide the assets: Ford will take ownership and operation of the twin battery plants in Kentucky, while SK On will operate the factory at the massive BlueOval SK campus in Tennessee.

SK On said it will maintain a strategic partnership with Ford centered on the Tennessee plant, according to Bloomberg.

When reached for comment, a Ford spokesperson told TechCrunch the company was aware of SK’s disclosure and had nothing further to share at this time.

This news made waves locally as well. Sophia Surrett at The Daily Memphian wrote:

The separation, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2026.

“This strategic decision enables both companies to each focus on their core strengths, enhance operational flexibility and respond more effectively to market dynamics,” according to a statement released by SK On.

Ford would not comment.

The BlueOval City facility, under construction, will become SK On’s second wholly owned U.S. plant with SK Battery America in Commerce, Georgia.

Ford’s lack of comment had many folks in my neck of the woods nervous. Blue Oval is already behind schedule, and with the Lightning (and the overall EV market) in trouble, some wondered if a new electric truck was even feasible.

That brings us to yesterday’s news. Let’s start with the plant. Those battery facilities will be repurposed to build “Energy Storage Systems,” and more than 1,600 people will lose their jobs in the transition, even though Ford is promising that some 2,100 jobs will be added back to the plant once its overhaul is complete.

(These changes mean that the U.S. government will be modifying the $9.63 billion loan it awarded Ford and SK to support the joint venture.)

The bigger news for Blue Oval is that the not-yet-opened plant will be retooled to build gas-powered trucks. Sophia Surrett:

Ford Motor Co. on Monday, Dec. 15, announced it is scrapping plans to build electric trucks at BlueOval City and instead will build gas-powered trucks there, beginning in 2029.

Ford’s $5.6 billion BlueOval City in Stanton, Tennessee, was initially to be the site of its Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center, where its Model T3 electric truck would be built.

Now, the facility is being renamed the Tennessee Truck Plant, where “affordable” gas-powered models will be produced.

This pivot is expected to cost Ford $19.5 billion and push Blue Oval’s opening date to sometime in 2029, a full four years later than originally planned.

So, to recap, in the last few days:

• Ford and SK have ended their joint venture to produce and recycle EV batteries.
• Ford did not comment on the change.
• Ford announced a massive change for Blue Oval’s already-announced production and timeline

This news has been disappointing to my friends and family, some of whom live within miles of Blue Oval. They don’t all think EVs should be the future, but they can agree that having thousands of new jobs in West Tennessee is a good thing.

Ford’s pivot away from EVs should not be surprising, nor should the incredible hoops the company jumped through to make the news seem positive:

Ford Motor Company today announced a series of actions to sharpen its Ford+ plan, ^{executing a decisive redeployment of capital to meet customer demand and drive profitable growth.}

The company is shifting to higher-return opportunities, including leveraging its U.S. manufacturing footprint to add trucks and vans to its lineup and launch a new, high-growth battery energy storage business. As part of these actions, Ford no longer plans to produce select larger electric vehicles where the business case has eroded due to lower-than-expected demand, high costs and regulatory changes.

This approach prioritizes affordability, choice and profits. Ford will expand powertrain choice — including a range of hybrids and extended-range electric propulsion — while focusing its pure electric vehicle development on its flexible Universal EV Platform for smaller, affordable models.

“This is a customer-driven shift to create a stronger, more resilient and more profitable Ford,” said Ford president and CEO Jim Farley. “The operating reality has changed, and we are redeploying capital into higher-return growth opportunities: Ford Pro, our market-leading trucks and vans, hybrids and high-margin opportunities like our new battery energy storage business.”

Under this new direction, Ford expects “approximately 50% of its global volume will be hybrids, extended-range EVs and fully electric vehicles, up from 17% in 2025.”

In 2021, when the Lightning and Blue Oval were announced, Ford said “40% of its sales globally to be electric vehicles by the end of this decade under a new plan to increase investment in EVs to $30 billion through 2025,” according to Michael Wayland at CNBC.

Grounding the Lightning

Beyond the changes at Blue Oval, Ford also announced changes for the F-150 Lightning:

Ford Motor Company today announced the next generation of the F-150 Lightning, a truck engineered to redefine what an electric pickup can do.

Leveraging advanced Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV) technology, the next-generation F-150 Lightning will offer the best of both worlds: the seamless, instant power of an electric powertrain and the freedom of a generator-backed estimated range of more than 700 miles.

Unlike a traditional hybrid, the F-150 Lightning EREV is propelled 100 percent by electric motors. This ensures owners get the pure EV driving experience they love – including rapid acceleration and quiet operation – while eliminating the need to stop and charge during long-distance towing. Like the current F-150 Lightning, the next-gen version will also offer exportable electricity that can power everything from work sites to camp sites to homes during a power outage.

“The F-150 Lightning is a groundbreaking product that demonstrated an EV pickup can still be a great F-Series,” said Doug Field, Ford’s chief EV, digital and design officer. “Our next-generation F-150 Lightning EREV will be every bit as revolutionary. It delivers everything Lightning customers love – near instantaneous torque and pure electric driving. But with a high-power generator enabling an estimated range of 700+ miles, it tows like a locomotive. Heavy-duty towing and cross-country travel will be as effortless as the daily commute.”

In short:

• The battery-only F-150 Lightning is gone.
• The next Lightning — which has neither an announced price or launch date — will be an EREV.
• Like its predecessor, this truck will not be built at Blue Oval.

That is a lot of news, ^{and it’s all part of Ford “following customers to drive profitable growth.”}

The Lightning is ending production, and while Ford will not commit to any details about production or availability, the EREV news is interesting.

If you are not familiar, EREVs are electric vehicles with a small gas engine onboard to keep the battery charged. Their range can be incredible, as you can keep the wheels turning as long as you have gas in the tank.

Ironically, this news comes three months after RAM did the same thing. Ford is far from the first company to talk about these drivetrains, never mind actually shipping them.

Ford’s press release goes on to directly address concerns people have had about the Lightning, including its range with and without a trailer behind it. Whether or not customers will ever benefit from such a truck remains to be proven.

It’s Personal

When Ford announced the Lightning in 2021, I wrote:

I really like this approach: taking a regular, super-popular vehicle and turning it into an EV is a reasonable approach. I fully anticipate that my Toyota Tacoma will be the last internal combustion vehicle I own.

I want to live in a world where I could go buy an affordable, mid-sized electric truck if an asteroid hit my garage and totaled my pickup. I love everything about the Rivian R1T, but it’s too expensive. Toyota has announced an electric Hilux for some markets, but it’s not coming to the U.S. While the Lightning was too big for me, Ford was likely the first major brand to offer a mid-sized electric truck. Having it built in my backyard would be a bonus.

There are a bunch of startups looking at this market, but uhhhh, I don’t want to sign up for something that turns out to be a Fisker Ocean with a pickup bed.

If I didn’t want to buy another pickup, my options are much better. Siblings Kia and Hyundai are both shipping impressive EVs. The Chevy Bolt is coming back, and some electric Volkswagens can be bought below MSRP every day of the week.

I am not the only bearded dude who may look for a truck with a battery in it over the coming few years. Ford should have its new EREV Lightning on lots as soon as it can, and then work to deliver a full EV version that can meet the needs of more people when the time comes.

But…

The EREV’s Timing

…the automotive industry takes years to change. The time it took the Lightning to go from announced to on sale doomed it. The rest of the world includes silly things like the economy and energy costs and environmental concerns and a political system that drastically changes between administrations.

When the Lightning finally made it into the world, the world had changed around them. What was a promising look at the future could never survive the present.

Will the same thing happen to EREVs? By the time they really arrive, will the market be ready to move past them?

EREVs will provide a bridge until companies are ready to return to the business of fully electric cars and trucks.

After all, many customers have legitimate reasons to pick an EREV over an EV. That said, many customers would be delighted with an EV if they tried one and if they were less expensive. It may not matter to me or you, but a lot of people need something with a huge and reliable range.

This is not all bad news. It’s easy to see the upsides of EREVs. They take gasoline to run, but far less gas than vehicles with an ICE under the hood. They contribute to pollution, but are far more efficient than the V6 or V8 they probably replaced. From one point of view, EREVs are an improved version of hybrid powertrains, which are readily available at every dealership in America today.

Ford and others turning to EREVs would be a bigger loss if more Americans were already in an EV, but that’s not true yet. Given the card we’re being handed, EREVs may be our future for a while. It is disappointing, but at least it’s not a full retreat to purely gas-powered vehicles.

I remain hopeful that when Ford returns to a place willing to build full EVs, my state will be a proud part of that work. I just hope it’s sooner rather than later.