The Ford F-150 Lightning is the first truly mainstream electric pickup truck, built for regular truck buyers. At least, that was the idea. Now, things seem to be trending further away from that, as Ford tacks several thousand dollars onto the sticker price of each all-electric pickup it will build from here on out.
The Lightning’s order books closed a few months ago, but Ford reopened them today with a twist — every single trim level has gone up in price. Some have even skyrocketed so high that they no longer qualify for the newly-updated $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles. Ouch.
The highest percentage increase goes to the base Pro trim, which jumps by $7,000 — a full 17.5-percent increase over the 2022 model. The highest dollar increase is $8,500 on the XLT Extended Range trim. Interestingly, Ford also lists pricing for an “XLT High,” a trim that didn’t exist in the 2022 model year.
The price increases by dollar amount remain relatively consistent across the trim levels, with jumps ranging from $6,500 to $8,500. The percentage increases, naturally, drop as the trim level price rises.
Remember that the updated federal EV tax credit has an MSRP cap of $80,000 for trucks. While the Platinum never qualified, the range-extended variants of the XLT and Lariat once did. Now, they’ve been pushed just barely over the brink, no longer eligible for the federal spiff. Ford may make a few thousand dollars more on each truck, but the net cost to each Lightning buyer is considerably higher with the tax credit gone.
Ford attributed the increases to “significant material cost increases and other factors,” without specifying further. Jalopnik asked the automaker for more detail, but didn’t hear back by press time. We’ll update this story if we receive a reply. Luckily, those with current reservations for a Lightning will be exempt from the price hikes, but new customers will still have to pay the higher prices.