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Ford introduces F-150 Lightning electric pickup with less than $40K sticker price

Move over Elon Musk, there’s another electric pickup coming to market to compete against the Cybertruck.

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Ford introduced its F-150 Lightning electric pickup this week.

The Lightning is an electric version of Ford’s traditional F-150 truck series, The New York Times reported.

The company is calling it the Model T for electric vehicles. The Model T was Ford’s iconic car that was affordable to nearly anyone who wanted one, according to the Times.

“The F-150 will put electric vehicles in a totally different realm,” analyst Michael Ramsey told the Times. “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.”

But not all people are jumping on the electric vehicle trend.

While electric vehicles are said to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions since there is no CO2 produced by them, some worry about the batteries when the vehicles are no longer driven, BBC News reported.

“Currently, globally, it’s very hard to get detailed figures for what percentage of lithium-ion batteries are recycled, but the value quotes is about 5%”, Dr. Paul Anderson, co-director of the Birmingham Centre for Strategic Elements and Critical Materials, told the BBC. “In some parts of the world, it’s considerably less.”

Some companies like Nissan are reusing old batteries on the production line. Volkswagen is either reusing or recycling used batteries, the BBC reported.

It seems the truck will be popular with motorists looking to transition from traditional fuel to electric vehicles.

CNBC reported Ford had 20,000 reservations to buy the pickup in the 12 hours after it was introduced Wednesday evening.

The F-series of pickups are the best selling trucks in the U.S. since the 1970s, CNBC reported.

The electric vehicle will look similar to the typical F-150s except the grille is closed and it has full-width lights on the front and back, Fox News reported.

Batteries, depending on the model, will provide 230 to 300 miles of power for the dual inboard electric motors for the truck.

The truck has, what the company is calling, a “frunk” or a trunk at the front of the vehicle where the motor would be located in a traditional F-150, Fox News reported. The frunk has power outlets and it is waterproof with underfloor storage that comes with a drain that can be filled with ice.

Reservations to purchase can be made here. There is a $100 refundable deposit.

The base model starts at $39,974 with the XLT starting at $52,974. The top cost for the top-of-the-line truck could be as much as $90,474, according to the Ford website.

Some of the costs can be offset with potential tax credits of up to $7,500, according to the company.

“The pricing overlaps enough with an internal-combustion F-150 to make it more palatable for a consumer,” Stephanie Brinley, an analyst with IHS Markit, told The Wall Street Journal.

Tesla’s Cybertruck’s pricing is also about $39,900 to start, according to Motortrend.

The first shipments of the truck are expected to be in spring 2022, with orders being placed in fall 2021.

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GMC is entering the electric truck market with a Hummer pickup with a starting price of $113,000, as well as, developing a Chevrolet Silverado, but which doesn’t have a price or release date, The Wall Street Journal reported.

There are also several startups, including Ohio-based Lordstown Motors, that are working on electric-powered pickups, the Journal reported.