Production of Ford F-150 Lightning resumed

14 March 2023

Last February Ford factory in Rouge, responsible for manufacturing of the F-150 Lightning, ground to a halt. The reason was a battery fire on the production line - there was no damage to the factory, but the company decided on a cautious approach and launched a full investigation.

The investigation found that the reason behind the fire, which affected a fully assembled F-150 during a quality inspection and while it was being charged, was a faulty battery cell. The SK On, which supplies Ford with the batteries, altered the production process as the result of the fire.

Neither Ford or SK On revealed what exactly went wrong with the battery cell but thankfully it appears to have been a minor issue. The production has been stopped for just over 4 weeks after initially ford indicated only a 2-week stoppage. The investigation found that 18 vehicles were possibly affected with the fault and Ford recalled all of them for a free battery replacement.

Thankfully there were no injuries or serious damage caused to the production facility. The affected 18 trucks are apparently safe to drive and charge as normal but are recommended to have the battery swapped just in case.

With the production of the F-150 Lightning now resumed, Ford will want to pick up some pace. The Rouge facility was manufacturing about 2,000 trucks per month which is far off its intended target production of 150,000 units by the end of this year.

To reach that level, the Rouge team will have to crank up the numbers to 12,500 trucks per month. That is a steep ramp up curve but Ford is expanding the working force and the facility itself. Plus the Cybertruck is coming, and although it may be very late to the party, it will take customers away from every electric truck manufacturer. Ford just wants to offer a short waiting list and F-150 Lightning available for those who don’t want to wait for the Cybertruck.

Via