Ford F-150 Lightning manufacturing restarts March 13, no recall but

Ford on Thursday confirmed that it’s going to restart manufacturing of the F-150 Lightning electrical truck on March 13 at its Rouge Electrical Automobile Middle in Michigan.

The restart, Ford defined in an replace assertion, permits time for battery cells from provider SK On “to be constructed into battery arrays and packs and be delivered to the Lightning manufacturing line.”

“Within the weeks forward, we are going to proceed to use our learnings and work with SK On’s group to make sure we proceed delivering high-quality battery packs—all the way down to the battery cells,” mentioned firm spokesperson Emma Bergg. “As REVC ramps up manufacturing, we are going to proceed holding already-produced autos whereas we work via engineering and elements updates.”

In all, Lightning manufacturing will probably be at a standstill for a few month. Ford confirmed on Feb. 14 that it had suspended each manufacturing and shipments of the Lightning on account of a possible battery challenge. 

2022 Ford F-150 Lightning pre-production

2022 Ford F-150 Lightning pre-production

Later that week, Ford confirmed that the difficulty was certainly associated to the battery. Particularly, an F-150 Lightning caught hearth outdoors throughout a pre-delivery high quality verify. 

At the moment, Ford mentioned that the corporate had recognized the “probably inhabitants of autos affected by the difficulty,” and mentioned that there was no motive to imagine that vehicles already delivered to prospects are affected by the difficulty. 

Ford gave no additional indication {that a} recall is within the works, however given the element relating to engineering and elements updates, it might nonetheless be a risk. 

2023 Ford F-150 Lightning

2023 Ford F-150 Lightning

The Lightning performs a key position in proving the expertise, on the best way to a next-generation full-size electrical truck already beneath improvement and to be made in bigger numbers. Since its authentic reveal and even earlier than deliveries began final Might, Ford boosted manufacturing of the Lightning to 150,000 yearly, though it solely delivered 15,617 Lightnings in 2022. The corporate in December once more raised the worth of the F-150 Lightning by 1000’s—mountain climbing the bottom model to virtually 40% above its authentic worth—and it has continued to report sturdy demand.