Ford has increased the prices of their EV F-150 Lightning ute due to supply chain disruptions and rising costs to make the EV ute. Prices on the more affordable 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning Pro model have increased by $5,000 USD.
F-150 Lightning Pro now starts at $51,974
Ford has increased the prices of their very popular Lightning EV ute from $46,974 to $51,974 USD. The new price now puts the more affordable variant at early $80,000 AUD given the current conversion rates.
A spokesperson from Ford attributed the price rises to rising material costs and supply chain challenges:
“Ongoing supply chain constraints, rising material costs, and other market factors.”
The new prices will not affect existing order holders but only those that place a new order.
The prices of EV utes have been going up in the US due to high demand and supply chain constraints for most of 2022.
Earlier this year, Rivian increased the prices of its very popular EV ute, the R1T, by up to $12,000. This applied to existing and new customers.
After customers started cancelling their existing orders due to the company’s price-hike move, Rivian backtracked very quickly for existing order holders but kept their prices high for new customers.
The prices of EV utes remain high and Ford’s increase in prices on the F-150 ute shows that the inflationary, supply chain and cost pressures are here to stay for the foreseeable future.
State of EV Utes in Australia
In Australia, we have been waiting for new EV utes for a while. Now, we are starting to see some US companies like Rivian and GMC Hummer send some test vehicles to our shores.
With more price hikes to US-made utes on the cards, there are some emerging EV utes from China ready to hit our market in the next 12 months.
These are being made by very large automotive companies at scale which both Rivian and GMC Hummer have not achieved just yet.
Given this trend and the desire for fleets in Australia to go green rapidly emerging, affordable EV utes might just be the way forward until the US-made EV utes can come down in prices and head our way.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.