Ford Decides To Build Super Duty Pickups, May Be Experimenting With In-Wheel Motors For F-150 Lightning – CleanTechnica

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The first part of this story will be of little interest to CleanTechnica readers. Previously, Ford had announced plans to build a three-row battery electric SUV at its Oakville Assembly Plant in Ontario, Canada, in 2025. In April, it pushed the start date for production of that as yet unnamed vehicle back to 2027. At the same time, Ford had suggested the Oakville factory would also become a manufacturing hub for the F-150 Lightning battery electric pickup truck. But now, according to Reuters, the company has decided to move production of its F-Series Super Duty pickup trucks to Oakville and put production of the electric SUV and Lightning on hold until the demand for electric vehicles clarifies itself.

Ford said this week it plans to add capacity for an additional 100,000 F-Series Super Duty trucks at the facility. It also said somewhat ambiguously that it wants to have the ability to use what it calls “future multi-energy technology.” There is some world class weasel wording going on there. It hints at something while revealing nothing. Could it mean some sort of hybrid set-up? Ford CEO Jim Farley has hinted his company will pivot to more hybrids as it adjusts its product mix to match demand. Would that mean a conventional hybrid, like a Toyota Prius? Somehow the idea of a Super Duty with the heart of a Prius towing a six-stall horse trailer up to the Eisenhower tunnel outside of Denver seems far fetched. Has Ford gotten so skittish about electric vehicles that the thought of a plug-in hybrid sends a cold wind through its C suite?

“Super Duty is a vital tool for businesses and people around the world and, even with our Kentucky Truck Plant and Ohio Assembly Plant running flat out, we can’t meet the demand,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement. “At the same time, we look forward to introducing three-row electric utility vehicles.” Ford has increasingly leaned into production of hybrid vehicles to win over consumers who aren’t ready to go fully electric and aims to quadruple hybrid production over the next few years.

Growth in EV demand globally has slowed, Reuters says. Although, the news clattering into the teletype room in CleanTechnica’s sub-basement does not support that rather broad assertion. In fact, we categorically reject that general statement. Nevertheless, companies like Tesla and BYD have cut prices to stimulate sales while Ford and General Motors are pulling back on many of their electric vehicle goals. Ford, which lost nearly $4.7 billion on its EV business in 2023 and has projected it will lose up to $5.5 billion this year, said in February its next generation of electric vehicles would be launched “only when they can be profitable.” Traditional automakers continue to benefit from long established factories for their gasoline-powered vehicles, making them more profitable than their EV models, Sam Fiorani, vice president at research firm AutoForecast Solutions, told Reuters.

Super Duty pickup trucks are especially popular for Ford’s commercial business and are also produced at assembly plants in Kentucky and Ohio. The company is betting on software-related services in its commercial division to drive profits in the coming years. The unit had operating profit margins of almost 17% last quarter.

Hub Motors For The Ford F-150 Lightning?

There is a whole industry devoted to photographing future cars and trucks. Manufacturers need to subject their products to real world testing before they go into production, and there are certain parts of the world where cold- and hot-weather testing take place, which means folks with cameras can wait patiently for new models to show up, photograph them, and then sell the photos to publications like Autoblog. The companies try disguising the cars, but the lenses find them — at Death Valley, in the Arctic Circle, at the Nurburgring. Today, Autoblog is featuring photos it obtained that it says show a Ford F-150 Lightning with in-wheel motors. We do not have permission to use those photos, but you can follow the link above to see them for yourself.

The photos were taken with a Tesla Cybertruck nearby, indicating Ford is benchmarking its truck against the completion, something manufacturers do all the time. A photo of the left rear wheel caught someone’s attention. In the photo, two things are obvious. First, this is an eight-lug wheel, which is not something normally seen on a light-duty pickup. Second, there is no brake caliper. Normally, that wouldn’t raise flags. Eight-lug wheels are common on Ford Super Duty trucks and drum brakes are still favored for rear axles in some applications due to their long service lives. That could indeed be some sort of prototype brake drum behind the wheel, but drum brakes are no longer standard equipment even on Super Duty (F-250, F-350, and F-450) models, and the F-150 Lightning has come equipped with four-wheel disc brakes since day one. Whatever this is, it’s not a parts bin pull from a current truck, Autoblog says.

There are more items of interest in those photos. There is a green cord that could be providing power to the rear wheel partially hidden behind a grass skirt sort of affair like you might find at your nearest Tiki bar. There is also something in the load bed with the number “2,666” on it. That could denote the weight or it could be nothing but a clever trick designed to fool the photogs. The companies know they are out there and are not above having some fun with them. Autoblog notes that if that is a 2,666 pound weight in the back of the test vehicle, that is 431 pounds more then the rated load capacity of the F-150 Lightning with the standard battery.

The Takeaway

If you have been keeping up with the news lately, you know that the Biden campaign is in deep, deep trouble. Every corporation in America is suddenly recalibrating its position in the marketplace based on a gathering consensus that you-know-who will be back in the Offal Office next January. Bloomberg reports that companies are scurrying to shut down their DEI programs, while the investment community has all but stricken the initials ESG from all documents.

It is not beyond the realm of possibility that Ford (and GM) are pulling back on their commitments to electric vehicles because they assume all the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act are going away along with commitments to expand the nation’s EV charging infrastructure and EV battery supply chain. That may be the real reason the Oakville factory will be spitting out heavy-duty trucks instead of EVs, at least until something happens to reinvigorate the momentum of the EV revolution. Corporations are the ultimate political animals and will do everything they can to curry favor with whichever party is in power. If the Democrats manage to pull off a victory in November, watch those same corporations pivot once again to align themselves with the prevailing political winds.