“Our strategy is to electrify our icons,” Palmer explains proudly in an interview with Inverse.
He’s also responsible for three of the biggest vehicle launches in Ford history, so he’s had a busy few years. His British accent is initially surprising coming from a Michigan-based company, but it’s immediately apparent that he has a passion for electric cars. Ford Motor Companyĭarren Palmer is a 31-year Ford vet who worked his way up the company across several continents to become Ford’s general manager for battery electric vehicles.
#Ford f 150 lightning charging stations movie#
The 2001 F-150 Lightning took a brief turn at movie stardom as Paul Walker’s whip in The Fast and the Furious. It’s a resurrection of a nameplate that Ford applied to a few performance-focused trucks in the ’90s, including one that scored a Guinness record for the fastest production pickup truck in the world. But ultimately, the F-150 Lightning is the real prize - and perhaps the biggest stage yet for electric automobiles.Īnd Lightning isn’t just a buzzy name based on a pun about electricity (though it is that). For 2021, the 117-year-old company is aiming higher, starting with the eTransit, an electric version of its business-focused and ultra-popular panel van, which launched earlier this year. It even received the prestigious North American Utility Vehicle of the Year award. Last year, it released the Mustang Mach-E to critical acclaim. The F-150 Lightning is the next step in Ford’s transition to electrified cars. This is the Model T of the new millennium: a sea change moment for the entire industry and that makes it the most important car since the invention of the production line - or maybe ever. Today, Ford announced an even bigger change: It would be the first of the big-three truckmakers of General Motors, RAM, and Ford to reveal its all-electric pickup: The F-150 Lightning.īecause this is the best-selling vehicle in America, it means Lightning will introduce electric cars to millions of potential new owners, many of whom have never considered buying an EV before. In 2015, Ford made headlines as the first truck to transition to an all-aluminum for the body panels. Any change would have considerable ramifications on the entire automotive industry. That’s appropriate because the Ford F-Series of pickups have been the best-selling vehicle lineup in America for more than 40 years. First used in the late-1970s, it’s the rare tagline that has withstood the test of time. To be fair, it’s a great slogan: Just three syllables with a built-in narrative. If you talk to anyone involved in building or designing Ford pickup trucks, it won’t take long before the words “Built Ford Tough” come tumbling out.
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