What Ford's CEO Says About The Successor To The F-150 Lightning Electric Truck
When Ford launched the F-150 Lightning predictions of its success played out well enough, with over 200,000 reservations when it first launched, and reservations for the 2023 lightning closing as early as January of the same year. SlashGear took the 2022 F-150 Lightning for a spin and found it offers an excellent set of features, plenty of power and more than enough capabilities, ultimately delivering on Ford's electric ambitions.
Fast-forward to 2023, and Ford is well on its way to building BlueOval City — a new 3,600-acre production facility in Tennessee aimed at increasing capacity to expand on Ford's electric pickup lineup. It will start producing in 2025, with a truck the company is referring to as "Project T3" — a name that pays homage to the impact of the original Model T.
BlueOval City represents a $5.6-billion investment into Ford's electric future. The plant will employ and train over 6,000 people, and include an in-house battery manufacturing facility. During the BlueOval City Live event on March 24, 2023, Ford CEO Jim Farley spilled the beans about what the company has in store for the marque and the automotive world when the 2025 predicted production date rolls around.
A new electric Ford truck with hints of self driving
During the live event on Ford's YouTube channel, Farley made several comments about Ford's goals and intentions when it comes to the future of its EVs. He revealed that Ford's next electric EV project is being called Project T3, a throwback the Ford Model T. This is intentional, since Ford is hoping the T3 will revolutionize the EV truck space.
Ford is hoping to step up with Project T3, aiming to deliver a truck that "you'll be able to take your eyes off the road and it'll drive safely for you," according to Farley, indicating at some sort of advanced self-driving capability. Furthermore, T3 will be a "fully software-updatable vehicle," with Farley indicating that updates may be as frequent as nightly. How useful nightly updates are is perhaps questionable, but the idea of a truck that can improve range or performance overnight is interesting.
Fans of traditional Ford trucks need not be too concerned about the new direction of the T3, though. Ford aims to make the T3 comfortable for any job site, able to act as a power source in remote scenarios, and perfectly capable of towing and hauling.