Ford
The all-electric Ford F-150 will be developed at its new manufacturing facility at Rouge Center in Dearborn, MI. (Photo: Reuters / Rebecca Cook)

Unlike its other electric pickup truck competitors, namely Tesla and General Motors, Ford Motor plans to market its upcoming fully-electric F-150 pickup truck in an entirely different way. The company announced that instead of just being a recreational vehicle, Ford has built its new electric pickup truck to be a heavy-duty workhorse for towing, hauling, and general-purpose jobs.

During a press briefing on Wednesday, Ford's president of the Americas and international markets, Kumar Galhotra, mentioned that the company's all-new electric F-150 was built for hard-working customers that are looking for a truck that can get the job done. He added that it was important for the company to retain the truck's reputation as a work truck even if it now sports an electric powertrain.

Galhotra stated that the fully-electric version of the iconic pickup truck should become available in dealerships nationwide by mid-2022. He added that the particular model, along with its larger siblings under the company's F-series trucks, has been the country's bestselling trucks for over 43 years.

 "We have a very substantial amount of brand equity in the 'Built Ford Tough' F-150 both in terms of design language, capability, and the name itself," Galhotra noted.

The company's pickup trucks and its sports utility vehicles (SUVs) have continued to be Ford's most profitable segments. In 2019, Ford sold nearly 900,000 pickups under its F-series line. This generated revenues of about $42 billion for the company during the 12-month period.

According to Ford, the electric versions of its iconic pickup trucks should give consumers much more value for money as they are expected to cost about half as much to maintain. The release of Ford's new F-150 electric pickup will be months before the release of its main competitors, namely the GM's Hummer EV and Tesla's massively-hyped Cybertruck.

Both GM and Tesla are heavily marketing their products as "lifestyle" vehicles as opposed to work and utility trucks. Ford did clarify that its new electric trucks will still be "very fun" to drive. However, Ford made it its priority to ensure the truck's work capabilities first before anything else.