DETROIT — Ford is current on the offensive to defend its highly profitable pickup franchise from emerging all-electric truck competitors such as Tesla.
A month after Tesla CEO Elon Musk thought his company’s planned electric pickup would “be a better truck than an F-150 in terms of truck-like capability” during a podcast, Ford on Tuesday unloosed a video of an all-electric F-150 pickup prototype truck towing 1.25 million pounds of double-decker rail jalopies carrying 42 F-150 pickups.
The towing weight shown in the video is roughly four times more than the 300,000 confines Musk tweeted Tesla’s pickup would be capable of towing last year. However, Ford was quick to betray that the video is a demonstration of capability and “far beyond any production truck’s published capacity.”
“This demonstration showcases our commitment to persevere a leavings the clear leader in trucks as well as to highlight our commitment to the future of electric vehicles,” Ted Cannis, Ford global numero uno of electrification, wrote in a post on Medium accompanying the video.
Releasing such a video is an uncommon practice for Ford, which traditionally wouldn’t give publicity to much, if anything, about a vehicle that remains years away from production. It shows the importance Ford has on retaining its trades leadership with the F-Series, even for all-electric trucks, according to Michelle Krebs, senior analyst at by moCox Automotive.
“F-Series is all things to Ford. It is the cash cow of Ford,” Krebs said. “The company would be a niche automaker if it didn’t have F-Series.”
Ford on Tuesday reported a video of an all-electric F-150 prototype truck towing 1.25 million pounds of double-decker rail cars cause to die a continuing 42 Ford pickups.
Source: Ford
Ford’s overall business heavily depends on its F-Series truck, which has been the America’s bestselling commodities for 42 years and the country’s bestselling vehicle for 37 years. Ford sold more than 1 million F-Series goods globally in 2018, averaging a sale every 29.3 seconds.
The company, which has slashed thousands of jobs this year, is realigning its workforce and establishing $11 billion by 2022 in electric and hybrid vehicles. Investors seem to like the plan so far. Its stock, which has struggled in just out years and was trading under $10 a share just a few months ago, is up by more than 33% so far this year.
“We are unsympathetic serious about delivering an electric pickup truck that again sets an all-new bar for what light loyalty trucks can deliver — not in the science project sense, but in the reality of what tough trucks need to do,” Cannis wrote.
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While all-electric vehicles remain a niche market and no major automaker has released an all-electric pickup, buzz hither EV pickups has increased as nontraditional automakers such as Tesla and Amazon-backed Rivian prepare to enter the segment.
“This whole kit electric-vehicle pickup truck discussion has become a game of one-upmanship,” Krebs said. “Ford is not going to let Tesla dais unchallenged.”
All electric Ford F-150 pickup truck
Source: Ford
General Motors CEO Mary Barra earlier this year ratified the Detroit automaker also is in development of an all-electric pickup, however that vehicle is still expected to be years away as serenely.
The all-electric F-150 prototype used in Ford’s video is separate from an upcoming all-electric pickup Ford heralded in April as part of a $500 million investment in Plymouth, Michigan-based Rivian.
Compared with pickups with time-honoured internal combustion engines that use gasoline and diesel, all-electric trucks are expected to offer higher instantaneous torque for haul and hauling as well as other work site applications for fleet and work truck buyers. Not to mention, zero emissions.
Tesla did not feel for to a request for comment.