Ford's Electrification Efforts Are Going Very Well
It's always hard when an automaker transitions to something completely new. This is certainly the case with the migration from traditional gasoline and diesel-powered cars, trucks, and SUVs to electric and hybrid vehicles. Ford has gone big with electric vehicles like the Mustang Mach-E, and so far, the vehicle has proven very popular.
During a recent earnings call, Ford CEO Jim Farley talked to investors about global demand for the Mach-E electric vehicle. The Blue Oval expects global demand to reach 200,000 units during the year. However, Ford might be able to sell 200,000 Mach-E electric crossovers if it had them. The fact of the matter is that Ford is extremely limited in how many units it can produce because it can't get enough batteries.
Ford is pressuring suppliers in China and elsewhere to help supply more batteries so it can build more Mach-E crossovers and its coming F-150 Lightning pickup. Ford currently has the most popular truck in the entire country, and anyone who is considering buying an electric pickup will certainly be shopping the Lightning. However, a major caveat with the Lightning is that the electric vehicle manufacturing facility can only make about 80,000 pickups a year.
Ford already has 160,000 reservations on the books for the Lightning. Farley also pointed out that the Ford e-Transit electric commercial van will begin production soon, and it's already sold out. With so many orders on the books for three major electric vehicles, many consumers will be unable to get a vehicle for the foreseeable future.
Like other automakers, Ford is investing heavily in battery manufacturing facilities and is building a battery manufacturing plant at the campus it intends to construct in Stanton, Tennessee. You can bet in the coming years batteries will continue to be the bottleneck when it comes to producing electric vehicles. Unfortunately for consumers, short supply means long wait times and often higher prices. Dealerships looking to make as much money as possible are already marking up Mach-E's on the showroom floor with substantial market adjustments, and the Lightning pickup is expected to suffer the same fate.