Toronto, Ontario – In this week’s electric and autonomous vehicle report, Ford announces a release date for the F-150 Lightning, the federal government invests in medium and heavy-duty fleet conversions and Volkswagen reports a spike in EV sales since the beginning of the year.
Lightning Strikes
A release date of April 26 has officially been confirmed for Ford’s F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck.
Ford CEO Jim Farley tweeted on Wednesday that the “F-150 Lightning strikes” April 26 and a launch event at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Mich. will mark the day.
As the electrified version of Canada’s most popular truck model, the Lightning is certain to serve as a benchmark for the future of EV adoption domestically.
The Ford F-150 Lightning’s battery is expected to offer a range of 370 to 515 kilometres on a single charge.
Putting the Right Fleet Forward
The federal government announced on Thursday an investment of $547.5 million over four years to launch a new purchase incentive program for medium and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles to help businesses upgrade their fleets.
Part of the aim of this investment is to put medium and heavy-duty vehicle fleets in a better position to align with the goal of having 35 percent of such vehicles be electric by 2030.
The government also plans to purchase at least 5,000 zero-emission buses to aid municipalities in converting their local transit systems to electric options.
“Transportation accounts for 41 percent of the polluting greenhouse gases we emit in Quebec. Helping Quebeckers make the switch to electric vehicles is absolutely essential to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and building a low carbon economy,” said Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault at Lion Electric in Saint-Jérôme, Que.
The ID Bump
Volkswagen AG reported an EV sales bump of 65 percent in the first quarter of 2022, as compared to last year, and has the ID.4 all-electric crossover to thank for it.
A total of 99,100 EVs have been delivered to customers in the first three months of the calendar year, up from 60,000 during the same period last year.
Of the 99,100 vehicles delivered, Volkswagen says that about 30,300 of them are ID.4s.
Volkswagen said its order bank for electric vehicles has grown to around 300,000 total units.
“Demand for our all-electric vehicles is very high worldwide, and our order books are thus well filled,” said board member Hildegard Wortmann.
In terms of its overall Q1 2022 sales, Volkswagen suffered near 30-percent declines in units sold.
