Ford
The recently revealed F-150 Lightning is Ford's first all-electric truck, but it won't be the company's last.
Although Ford hasn't officially announced any new electric pickups yet, it has given every indication that it's working on a battery-powered version of the mid-size Ranger or its new compact truck, the Maverick. Or both.
During an event in May, Ford announced two new platforms it'll use for a slew of electric vehicles it's planning to unleash over the next several years. One will underpin future utility vehicles and full-size pickups, presumably including the next-generation F-150 Lightning around the middle of the decade.
The other will form the basis for a huge variety of all-wheel-drive and rear-wheel-drive models, including commercial vans, off-road SUVs, family haulers, and "mid-sized trucks," Ford COO Hau Thai-Tang said.
Unless Ford plans to shake up its pickup lineup with a brand-new electric model — which would go against its strategy to "electrify our icons" — that probably means an electron-powered Ranger of some sort is on the way.
That truck could be called the Ranger Splash, judging by a trademark application Ford filed earlier this month first spotted by the auto site CarBuzz. Ford sold a sporty pickup called the Ranger Splash in the mid-1990s, and it applied this month to use the "Splash" name on "Motor vehicles, namely, automobiles, pick-up trucks, electric vehicles, sport utility vehicles, off-road vehicles, and their structural parts."
While that's not exactly a smoking gun, the theory isn't so far-fetched given that Ford lifted the Lightning moniker from a high-performance F-150 it sold in the 1990s. Still, Ford could be looking to trademark "Splash" for something else entirely, like an options package.
An electric take on the Maverick — Ford's small pickup due out this fall — could also be just over the horizon. In an interview with Insider this month, Ford vice president Jim Baumbick, who led the pickup's development, said of a Maverick EV that he "would not ever take anything off the table, given where electrification is going."
And Ford CEO Jim Farley told The New York Times this month that he could see Ford developing a family of Maverick models, including an electric one.
More battery-powered pickups would come as part of the mammoth transition to EVs that Ford plans to undertake in coming years. The company plans for 40% of its sales to come from electric models by 2030, and pickups — a super-popular category that Ford is a leader in — are surely key to that goal.
A Ford spokesperson declined to comment on future products.
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