Ford delays Electric F150 to mid 2022

valhalla360 wrote:

Reisender wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:
Between the change in the political winds, low gas prices and risk of introducing a problematic drivetrain if they don't fully vette it (think 6.0)...it was likely a good decision.

Honestly, I would think a plub-in-hybrid pickup in the low payload/towing range would be pretty straight forward and would be a winner. Most people don't use the full capability anyway but with say a 200hp 4 banger and a 50 mile battery (easily placed under the truck bed), you could commute most days and when you do have a weekend camping trip range isn't an issue. They could easily maintain 1500lb payload and say a 5000lb tow rating. All without driving the price thru the roof.

This also addresses any concerns with battery supply limitations as they would only need a fraction of the capacity.

Done properly, it would have monster performance loaded and unloaded.

It would take a little more ground up redesign but no reason, you couldn't eventually take the same idea up into the 3/4 & 1 ton truck range.

Probably a good compromise. But I would think a little risky as well. Hybrids have been a hard sell lately and their market share is dropping over BEV’s. Might be a short term stop gap and would make the transition easier though. And it would allow for the DCFC infrastructure to build out a bit. They have to watch it though. There is going to be lots of places that won’t allow the sale of anything with a tail pipe by 2030. And even more places (cities) that won’t allow any vehicle with a tail pipe to travel.

Full size pickups are largely a US thing, so no worries about prohibiting tail pipes any time soon (plus 2030 is a decade away).

Also, it's a little early to claim dominance for EVs. In 2019, there were a little over 300,000 EVs sold in the USA, still heavily influenced by incentives and govt mandates on manufacturers. Toyota alone sold almost 300,000 hybrids in the USA during that same time period without incentives.

Also, you need to consider most households that buy EVs still have a ICE based car for longer trips...that's usually the pickup or big SUV. A plug-in-hybrid allows them to keep that truck for it's intended purpose and still get 95% of miles under electric.

No doubt. But, in my mind they need to be planning for the inebidible 9.5 years away. Although Europe is not a full size pickup market Britain is and we see them there commonly. GM and Ford lose market share every year for various reasons. EV growth is pretty consistent. I know nothing about the auto industry but would think Ford would want to be part of a growing market. Or maybe they have a different business plan. Who knows.