By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Ford Motor stock (NYSE:F) rose 1% Thursday as the company said it will boost output and add jobs to meet demand for its all-electric truck F-150 Lightning.
The company said it has taken more than 150,000 reservations for the trucks to date. The vehicle will be one of the mainstays of Ford’s EV play.
Ford said it is investing an additional $250 million and adding 450 more direct jobs across its Rouge electric vehicle Center, Van Dyke electric powertrain center and Rawsonville components plant in Michigan.
The investment and added jobs will help increase production capacity to 80,000 trucks a year.
Workers at the Rawsonville components plant will assemble the batteries and the Van Dyke electric powertrain center will increase its capacity to supply electric motors and electric transaxles for the F-150 Lightning.
Ford has priced its F-150 Lightning aggressively. The base model costs $40,000, making it more affordable than the next cheapest truck, the Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Cybertruck. Rivals like the Rivian R1T and the Hummer EV cost a lot more.
The vehicle has a targeted EPA-estimated driving range of 300 miles with the extended-range battery.
The company has been making all efforts to get deeper into the EV market. It has a joint venture with South Korea’s SK Innovation to produce approximately 60 GWh annually in traction battery cells and array modules, starting mid-decade, with potential to expand.
Ford is also putting in more equity in Solid Power, a producer of all-solid-state batteries for EVs. Solid-state batteries are showing great promise. They don’t use the liquid electrolyte found in conventional lithium-ion batteries, can be lighter, with greater energy density and provide more range and lower cost.