Ford Motor became the latest automaker to raise the price of electric vehicles on Tuesday when it significantly raised the prices of its popular F-150 Lightning amid rising material costs.
The company began making the Lightning in April and had sold more than 4,400 by the end of July. Ford has made reservations for more than 200,000, and the higher prices will go into effect for the 2023 model year.
Ford said it raised the truck’s starting prices by $6,000 to $8,500 for newly ordered vehicles. After the increase, the truck will cost from $46,974 for a base model to $96,874 for a platinum version with an expanded battery pack.
The increases will not affect customers who have already placed orders and are waiting for their trucks. Reservations give customers a place in line to place an order to buy a truck. Ford stopped taking orders due to strong demand, but said it would resume on Thursday, when the new pricing takes effect.
“We have announced pricing ahead of the reopening of order banks so that our reservation holders can make an informed decision about ordering a Lightning,” Marin Gjaja, chief customer officer for Ford’s electric vehicle division, known as Model e, said in a statement.
Other automakers have also increased the prices of their electric cars. Tesla has increased the price of its Model 3 and Model Y by thousands of dollars in recent months, with the cars now starting at around $47,000 and $66,000.
All car prices, including conventional gasoline models, have risen due to a shortage of computer chips that prevented manufacturers from producing as many vehicles as consumers want to buy. The price of electric vehicles has also risen as the supply of materials needed to make batteries has failed to keep up with burgeoning demand. The cost of raw materials has also been impacted by disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the Russian war in Ukraine. Ford executives said in July that the company expected material costs to increase by about $4 billion this year.
The climate and health care bill known as the Inflation Reduction Act and being passed through Congress could help make electric vehicles more affordable by offering buyers tax credits. But many current models, such as the F-150 Lightning, may not qualify because the bill requires a certain percentage of a car’s battery in North America to be made with materials from allies. To remain eligible for the tax benefit, the percentage would have to increase each year.
