Though It Will Lose $3 Billion, Ford Still Wants Everyone to Trust the (EV) Truck

Naturally, the biggest cash cow from the EV stable is not the Mustang Mach E California Route 1 ($57,995) or the GT ($63,995), but rather the 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning, which kicks off at an MSRP of almost $56k for the Pro model (452 hp, with the standard battery). Prices have surely gone overboard recently, and the XLT goes for at least $63,474 with the standard range or from almost $81k with the extended pack. And yet, somehow, the full-year loss for the Model e unit is projected at no less than $3 billion.

Alas, the Blue Oval company is prepared to reap the benefits of its massive investments in EVs soon – and does smart tricks like asking Volkswagen to help it with the MEB architecture to create a $48k Ford Explorer EV in Europe, for example. Meanwhile, at home in America, FoMoCo is hard at work putting into shape BlueOval City, the company’s all-new mega-campus located in West Tennessee that was announced back in 2021. Interestingly, we are now getting a bit of insider information about one of the site’s most important endeavors – dubbed ‘Project T3.’

This is to be Ford’s next-gen electric truck, which will start manufacturing in 2025, and a model that will be produced at a “radically efficient and carbon neutral” truck plant with a build capacity of 500,000 EVs when in full swing. According to Ford, Project T3 is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to revolutionize America’s truck,” as it strives to mix and match its renowned truck experience with stuff like “world-class electric vehicle, software, and aerodynamics talent.”

By the way, there is also an explanation regarding the new model’s codename – as ‘Project T3’ can be translated into ‘Trust the Truck.’ And Ford and partner SK On will invest no less than $5.6 billion in the BlueOval City campus, creating in the process around 6k new jobs, and will be the American company’s first carbon-neutral vehicle manufacturing and battery production location – ahead of powering all Ford plants globally with renewable and/or carbon-free electricity by 2035.

Reading between the lines, ‘Project T3’ is probably the placeholder for the F-150 Lightning’s second generation, but there are not a lot of details regarding its capabilities. Only that it is not a “back porch with an engine attached,” as PJ O’Rourke once described American pickups, but rather this new truck is going to be “like the Millennium Falcon – with a back porch attached,” explained Jim Farley, Ford president, and CEO.

Anyway, the Blue Oval Company is certainly moving fast, as opposed to its competition. Indeed, while the F-150 Lightning arrived slightly after the GMC Hummer EV and Rivian R1T, it has already taken a commanding lead in the novel sector of full-size electric pickup trucks. And it could be a genius blow to the competition’s strategy to produce an all-new generation when others are just heading out with the first deliveries of the Chevy Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV or the Ram 1500 REV and the perennially late Tesla Cybertruck! Alas, do remember this is Ford we are talking about, and they also have a track record of arriving late at the party…