by Steve Milloy, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow and Junkscience.com Founder
As appearing in the Daily Caller
Ford Motor Co. announced this week that it is considering scrapping production of its electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck. The failed product is a small part of a much larger “green” disaster.
When the Lightning was launched in May 2021, an analyst told the New York Times: “The F-150 will put electric vehicles in a totally different realm. It’s huge for Ford, but also huge for the whole industry. If you’re going to electrify the whole vehicle fleet in the United States, the F-150 going electric is a big step in that direction.” Ford CEO Jim Farley hyped the truck as being like “a smartphone that can tow 10,000 pounds.”
As it turned out, though, the Lightning could actually only lose money for Ford – and consumers.
Ford hoped to sell 150,000 Lightnings per year but only sold 33,000 in 2024. Sales dropped precipitously in 2025 as Congress revoked California’s EV mandate and President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act terminated subsidies for EVs. And that was probably a blessing in disguise as Ford has lost a total of $13 billion on its EVs since 2023, amounting to tens of thousands of dollars lost on each EV sold.
