Ford Motor on Tuesday became the latest automaker to raise electric vehicle prices, dramatically increasing the price of its popular F-150 Lightning because of rising materials costs.
The company began production of the Lightning in April and has sold more than 4,400 units through the end of July. Ford has already taken pre-orders for more than 200,000 units, and the higher prices will go into effect for the 2023 model year.
Ford said it is increasing the truck’s starting price by $6,000 to $8,500 for new vehicles to order. After the boost, the truck will cost from $46,974 for the base version to $96,874 for the Platinum version with the extended battery pack.
The increase does not affect customers who have placed orders and are waiting for their trucks. Booking in advance helps customers have a place in line to order trucks. Ford has stopped taking orders because of strong demand but said it will continue to do so on Thursday, when the new prices go into effect.
“We announced the pricing prior to reopening the order bank so that our pre-orderers could make an offer,” said Marin Gjaja, customer manager of Ford’s electric vehicle division, known as the Model e. make an informed decision about ordering a Lightning.”
Other automakers have also increase the price of their electric cars. Tesla has raised the price of the Model 3 and Model Y by thousands of dollars in recent months, with the cars now starting at around $47,000 and $66,000 respectively.
All car prices, including regular gas-powered models, have risen because a shortage of computer chips has prevented manufacturers from producing enough cars that consumers want to buy. Electric vehicle prices have also risen as the supply of raw materials needed to make batteries has not kept pace with rapidly growing demand. Raw material costs are also affected by disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine. Ford executives said in July that the company expected raw materials costs to increase by about $4 billion this year.
The health care and climate bill is called Inflation Reduction Act Passing Congress can help make electric vehicles more affordable by providing buyers with tax credits. But many current models like the F-150 Lightning may not qualify because the bill requires a certain percentage of the car’s batteries to be manufactured in North America with materials from allied countries. The percentage would have to increase every year for the car to continue to qualify for the tax relief.
