Ford scraps fully-electric F-150 Lightning as mounting losses and
falling demand hits EV plans
[December 16, 2025] By
ALEXA ST. JOHN
DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. is pivoting away from its once-ambitious
electric vehicle plans amid financial losses and waning consumer demand
for the vehicles in lieu of investment in more efficient
gasoline-engines and hybrid EVs, the company said Monday.
The Detroit automaker, which has poured billions of dollars into
electrification along with most of its industry peers, said it will no
longer make the F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck, instead opting
for an extended range version of the vehicle.
Ford will also introduce some manufacturing changes; its Tennessee
Electric Vehicle Center — part of the BlueOval City campus and once the
future of Ford's EVs and batteries — is being renamed the Tennessee
Truck Plant and will produce new affordable gas-powered trucks instead.
Ford's Ohio Assembly Plant will produce a new gas and hybrid van.
The company has lost $13 billion on EVs since 2023 and said it expects
to take a $19.5 billion hit largely in the fourth quarter due to the EV
business.
“This is a customer-driven shift to create a stronger, more resilient
and more profitable Ford,” CEO Jim Farley said in a statement. “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.”
Ford said it now expects half of its global volume will be hybrids,
extended-range EVs — which also incorporate a gasoline-powered engine —
and full EVs by 2030, up from 17% this year.
“Ford’s elimination of the electric F-150 Lightning is not much of a
surprise after the truck failed to come close to filling the plant’s
capacity. Ford’s choice to convert an existing gas-powered truck to
accept the electric drivetrain helped reduce their upfront costs which,
in hindsight, was the right move,” Sam Fiorani, vice president at
AutoForecast Solutions, told The Associated Press.
“For months, the future of Blue Oval City has been in question and this
announcement locks in the direction of this large plant," Fiorani added.
"Adding an affordable vehicle to the Ford lineup fills a glaring gap in
the market.”
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The company logo is shown on the grille of an unsold 2026 F-series
pickup truck on the lot of a Ford dealership, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025,
in Littleton, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
 Several other automakers have made
changes to their electrified product plans in recent years as
consumer demand for EVs in the U.S. hasn't quite met expectations.
EVs accounted for about 8% of new vehicles sales in the U.S. last
year, but factors such as cost and charging infrastructure remain
concerns for mainstream buyers.
The average transaction price for a new EV last month was $58,638,
compared with $49,814 for a new vehicle overall, according to auto
buying resource Kelley Blue Book.
Meanwhile, while public charging availability has improved, the
industry has relied on home charging as a selling point for
prospective buyers, and not everyone has access to charging at-home.
Since taking office for a second time, President Donald Trump has
drastically shifted U.S. policy away from EVs, calling EV-friendly
policy set under former President Joe Biden a “mandate.”
Though Biden-era policies — including generous tax incentives for
consumers, and tailpipe and fuel economy rules for automakers —
encouraged EV adoption, no policies required the industry to sell or
Americans to buy EVs. Biden targeted half of new vehicle sales in
the U.S. to be electric by 2030.
The Trump administration has since slashed that target, eliminated
EV tax credits and proposed weakening the emissions and gas mileage
rules.
“The one-two punch of the public’s slow EV adoption and the Trump
administration’s softer stance on fuel economy and emissions has
encouraged every automaker to re-think their current direction,"
Fiorani added. “Electric vehicles are still the future, but the
transition to EVs was always going to take longer than automakers
have been promising the public.”
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