Ford CEO Pilots F-150 Lightning Across West As Cybertruck Launch Nears: 'A New Way To Experience America'

A group from Ford Motor Co F, led by CEO Jim Farley, is currently embarking on a road trip across the American West in an F-150 Lightning electric pickup. 

What Happened: The journey, commencing in Silicon Valley, is set to cover Los Angeles, Route 66, and Las Vegas. Utilizing charging infrastructure throughout the route, the team will engage with various stakeholders, including researchers, businesses, dealers, salespeople, EV conversion shops, EV drivers, and communities, Farley said in a LinkedIn post on Monday.

“There are things you can't learn in an office or from a PowerPoint,” Farley said. The CEO also reminisced his younger days when he drove around the country in a Mustang and the year he spent on the road for Toyota before he joined Ford.

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“Long hauling in an electric truck is an act of pioneerism, not because it’s hard or dangerous, but because it’s a new way to experience America,” Farley wrote while adding that the shift from fueling to charging stations opens up for new possibilities.

Why It Matters: The road trip comes amidst significant curiosity around Cybertruck sightings in California as it undergoes testing. At Tesla‘s TSLA annual shareholder meeting in May, CEO Elon Musk confirmed that the Cybertruck delivery event is scheduled for later this year. 

Once it hits the road, the Cybertruck will be up against the F-150 lightning and Rivian vehicles in the electric pickup truck segment.

During the company’s second-quarter earnings call last month, Musk said, "Demand is so far off the hook, you can't even see the hook." The Cybertruck crossed 1.5 million pre-orders as early as November last year. It accumulated over 250,000 pre-orders less than a week after its unveiling in 2019.

However, Farley has previously dismissed the Cybertruck as "a cool high-end product parked in front of a hotel." While the Cybertruck is for Silicon Valley people, Ford makes trucks for real people who do real work, the CEO said.

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