Ford F-150 Lightning Sales Numbers Improved But Are Still Softer Than Expected

Chris Teague
by Chris Teague

A year after its release, the Ford F-150 Lightning remains one of the most elusive new vehicles, and wait times for factory orders extend to a year for some configurations. Year-to-date sales of the truck tally 3,600, better than before, but lower than expected. Despite that, Ford’s pushed into new markets with the truck, announcing recently that it would begin selling the Lightning in Norway.


It can be confusing to parse Lightning sales numbers because they’re not always broken out of general EV sales or Ford’s F-Series truck sales. InsideEVs has a good breakdown that shows Ford has sold 3,600 Lightnings so far this year, along with 4,409 Mustang Mach-Es and 761 E-Transit vans. Ford sold 1,336 Lightnings in February, but that’s less than the company’s production capacity and lower than it should be, given the strong demand. 


That said, Ford announced it would double Lightning production to 150,000 units annually, so these concerns will likely be temporary. At the same time, Ford is taking the truck to the country with the most EVs per capita, Norway. An astounding 80 percent of new vehicle sales in the frosty nation are electric.  The Blue Oval said it would sell a limited number of the American Lightning in a Lariat Launch Edition trim. 


[Image: Ford]


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Chris Teague
Chris Teague

Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.

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  • Kevin Kevin on May 01, 2023

    Hmm..A vehicle review from a Lightning owner,sure why not.I have some time.I know nothing about scalability but looks like the automotive industry is moving ahead at warp speed to an EV future..with or without the naysayers.

    The last gas fill-up for our trusty 2017 F150 KR 5.0 Coyote cost over $200. NIice truck.Like most PU's costly on the daily wallet. The Lightning connected to the FordPro home charger will cost approx $12:90 to full charge. AT 9.5 cents a kilowatt hour.."Mastercharge at home.Don't leave home without it"

    99 % of our travel is within a 100 mile radius of home. Range has not been an issue The 1st month of ownership I experienced thd Ev phenomenon of Range Anxiety. I soon got over as we learned the capabilities of the truck. Never ran out of juice,but did help out a soul who ran out of gas in January.He wasn't left stranded on a cold winter highway.

    The Lightning has been good for the local small town ecomony.We now supprt the local stores,more than before.No need to travel hours away.Two well,stocked grocery stores with friendly staff are are 20% of battery capacity away.The money saved traveling to bigg centres is now happily injected into our local economy.Mom and pop operators over the big box frenzy.Winter cold weather driving you lose 25 % of the range. Was never left stranded with an empty battery.Plan your trips in advance.

    The Lightning is the quickest truck quietest truck and nicest (Platnium) truck we ever owned.The wife loves the funk. Fit and finish is topnotch. The paint was free of flaws and all panels fit like they should.The one problem a charging door cover that tends to stick at minus 4O. The interior has always been free of squeaks and rattles.Thankyou Ford!. It was nice to receive an email with photo of the truck as it left the production line. Unfortunately the Lightning sat in a Michigan parking waiting a month for available micro chips.An ownership problem experienced by many regardless of brand

    The truck feels very solid on the road. Always in four-wheel drive, one has to make sure both hands are on the wheel when the throttle is tramped.With massive amounts of torque the tires easily break contact with the road surface.Its scarily quick. The concept of one peddle driving takes a day to master as the regenerative braking returns kinetic energy to the massive lithium battery nestle in the frame.

    Fellow Lightning drivers know what I write. The Lightning turns heads everywhere it goes.So many nice folk approach and want to more about the EV PU truck segment. Most like it,some don't.Have never been coal rolled or had a charging station blocked.Folks are polite here on the prairies.

    Towing,not a problem. Did all the Rv long distance when the kids were little. The Lightning easily pulls the 35 ft travel trailer to the lake and back. For drivers who have difficulties in reverse with a trailer , Ford back up assist works wonderful.Hookups are a breeze.The jacknife experience is one of the past.

    Seems some folk have issues with the weight of the truck. IT weighs similar to the F250 and causes no more wear and tear for road wear than it's ICE cousins. We do wait for an extra inch of ice when fishing on the lake this last winter.There was a poor bugger in his new RAM Hemi Longhorn who would not wait.Fortunately no one hurt excpt a wallet.The PUwas pulled from the lake and now a sad expensive writeoff.

    For this family the Lightnjng has been a sensible replacement. Great granpas buggy is still with the family, the horse is long gone and the ICE PU a distant memory.Well done Ford.This Lightning owner is content and feels privileged to own this amazing pickup truck.






    • See 1 previous
    • Lou_BC Lou_BC on May 01, 2023

      @Kevin - nice post


  • Cprescott Cprescott on May 01, 2023

    You jack up the price after promising one thing and then expect that the parting gift of lower than expected battery range with a free garage fire to be enticing at $20k above announcement price? Ford is just trying to go bankrupt.

    • EBFlex EBFlex on May 01, 2023

      Really the benefits of this truck are endless lol


  • 28-Cars-Later 28-Cars-Later on May 01, 2023

    "It can be confusing to parse Lightning sales numbers because they’re not always broken out of general EV sales or Ford’s F-Series truck sales. InsideEVs has a good breakdown that shows Ford has sold 3,600 Lightnings so far this year, along with 4,409 Mustang Mach-Es and 761 E-Transit vans. Ford sold 1,336 Lightnings in February, but that’s less than the company’s production capacity and lower than it should be, given the strong demand. "


    You so sure about this "strong demand"? Mach-E has sold 1-2K units nearly month since the beginning (maybe if half of production weren't exported it would be higher) and given the price tag roughly 1K F-150s sounds about right. The fact its apparently less than production capacity suggests "strong demand" needs to be viewed with skepticism.

    • EBFlex EBFlex on May 01, 2023

      *artificial "strong demand".


  • Colin Colin on May 02, 2023

    I agree with you on the problem with the F-150 and all electric cars. IT essentially the rocket problem. Needs more power, which means bigger engines, and more fuel, which makes more weight needing bigger engines to lift the additional fuel, and etc. The only way to make progress is not to use batteries, or the holy grail find a new battery. Given no new chemistry has been discovered that beats Li i don't hold my breath that something is on the horizon. We're also not accounting for impractically long recharge times for huge battery banks.


    A point of clarification; what has changed in LiLon battery's is not energy density, watts/kg, its volumetric efficiency, watts/liter. Essentially the size of the battery has shrunk in volume, but the mass hasn't changed. The batteries may get a bit smaller in volume in the future assuming we haven't gotten close to minimizing their volume, but their weight isn't going down. ITs a function of chemistry and physics of the battery. This makes packaging easier but doesn't solve the weight problem. ITs the same problem in lead acid, the more energy you want to store, the more lead needed. You can change the shape of the box, use AGM and etc to make it physically smaller, but your not going to change the amount of lead needed to store a given amount of energy.


    Batteries have yet to come close to the power to weight ratio as chemical fuels. Or nuclear diamond batteries or Radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG, RITEG). Ultimately they fulfill a role, but are not a scalable technology for meeting high energy needs.





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