SCHMIDT: I'm still waiting for that moment when, you know, my Aunt Jean comes down the road in an EV, and she's enjoying it, and it's just something that she felt comfortable to buy.ĬRONIN: It's the Aunt Jeans of the world the automakers need to get electric vehicles to take off.Ĭopyright © 2022 NPR.
And while Schmidt is all in on electric, he thinks about his family on the farm, and he's not sure they're there yet. SCHMIDT: We took it on a - basically a 300-and-so-mile trip the first weekend we got it and ran into an issue, like, where we couldn't find a charger.ĬRONIN: He worries that public charging infrastructure just isn't ready for long trips. Schmidt paid about a hundred grand for his. And even if you can get your hands on an electric car, they're really expensive. Shortages, rising costs, COVID factory shutdowns - the auto industry has been up against all of it. After years of buildup, Americans are clamoring for electric vehicles, and automakers don't have them. So I store my stuff in the.ĬRONIN: The glitz and glam of late night aside, Ford and other automakers are in a tough spot right now. JIMMY FALLON: (Rapping) When the trunk's in the front, then the truck's got frunk. They even got Jimmy Fallon to evangelize about the frunk in a spoof music video. Still, Ford couldn't be sure that fans of its salt-of-the-earth classic American truck would embrace an electric version, so Ford went big on advertising. And automakers are watching Ford's launch to see if this gamble will pay off. GM is rolling out an electric Silverado next year. And if they're going to build millions of EVs now and try to convert the entire industry to electric, they have to have products that people actually want to buy.ĬRONIN: And that means pickup trucks. SAM ABUELSAMID: There's a lot of money at stake. Sam Abuelsamid at Guidehouse Insights says automakers are spending close to $200 billion over the next five years just on electric vehicles. Ford and other automakers are desperately trying to catch up to Tesla, which dominates the electric car market. I mean, for a big, full-sized pickup truck, it'll do, I think, 0 to 60 in 4.2 seconds or something, which is unheard of.ĬRONIN: It was a big moment for Schmidt, but maybe an even bigger one for Ford. And the acceleration is unlike anything he's ever experienced. He uses it to haul dirt and lumber around and to tow his Airstream. He says the Lightning is just as powerful and dependable as his conventional F-150. He loved his gas-powered F-150, but he wanted something electric.
F-150s, 250s - I mean, they're literally tools for most of my family.ĬRONIN: Schmidt works in clean energy. His whole family farms, and pickup trucks are kind of, like, their lifeblood. Schmidt lives in Standish, Mich., a town of 1,500. It was the very first one to be delivered. Everybody came outside.ĬRONIN: And this wasn't just any F-150 Lightning. I remember coming up to the parking lot, and they were all, like, gathered around.
NICK SCHMIDT: When the dealership called me, they were just as excited as I was. The electric pickup truck that he reserved over a year ago, the F-150 Lightning, was finally ready to be picked up. NPR's Brittany Cronin has more.īRITTANY CRONIN, BYLINE: Nick Schmidt was at home when he got the call. The stakes are huge, not just for Ford, but for the future of electric vehicles in the U.S. Now Ford is making its biggest splash yet as it starts to deliver an electric version of its F-150 pickup truck, the country's bestselling vehicle. In the race to build electric vehicles, most automakers are chasing Tesla.
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