Ford CEO Jim Farley launched into an EV highway journey in an F-150 Lightning pickup truck to achieve perception into the experiences of Ford’s EV prospects.

Farley and his celebration set off this week from Silicon Valley, driving south to Los Angeles after which west to Las Vegas, traversing components of the enduring Route 66 alongside the best way, the Ford CEO wrote in a LinkedIn submit. Among the many deliberate stops might be a charging station that Farley says prompted Ford’s deal to undertake the Tesla cost port, referred to as the North American Charging Normal (NACS), for future EVs.

2023 Ford F-150 Lightning

Alongside the best way, Farley plans to go to “researchers, companies, sellers, salespeople, EV conversion outlets, EV drivers, and communities” and use the identical roads and charging infrastructure as strange EV drivers, in an effort to be taught in regards to the real-world expertise of EV use. Farley famous that earlier in his profession at Toyota, he utilized insights from one other highway journey to enhancing the automaker’s bread-and-butter Camry midsize sedan.

“Listening is how we be taught,” Farley mentioned, “and that is what we’ll be doing from the highway.”

Ford F-150 Lightning at Tesla Supercharger

Farley could already pay attention to one of many greatest points within the present EV local weather. In a dialogue of Ford’s quarterly earnings report final week, he confirmed the automaker is reducing its 2023 EV manufacturing targets. Farley pointed to value as the primary purpose, saying that greater than 30% of shoppers intend to purchase an EV, however that prime buy costs are holding many potential prospects again. He beforehand pointed to the beginning of an EV value warfare earlier this 12 months.

The F-150 Lightning has gained the approval of truck patrons and media—in a primary drive we discovered it to be nothing in need of revolutionary—but it surely’s additionally a poster youngster for EV value inflation. Whereas Ford in July lowered the worth of the Lightning by $9,979 on the bottom Professional mannequin, it had beforehand raised costs 4 occasions because the truck’s launch in April 2022. Even with the worth minimize, the present base value of $51,990 (together with a $1,995 vacation spot cost) continues to be 25% larger than the $41,669 base value from the time of its introduction.