Demand for Ford's F-150 Lightning electric pickup has surged in recent months, despite the Dearborn automaker's decision to convert the vehicle into a long-range hybrid soon.
Since Ford pulled the plug on the F-150 Lightning in December, it has become one of the most coveted used electric vehicles in the country as drivers search for affordable and fuel-efficient car models.
Ford sold 4,470 new F-150 Lightnings in the first nine months of 2026, which is down nearly 80% from the 23,034 new versions of the truck it sold in the same period last year, according to Cox Automotive, an automotive industry research firm. But the F-150 Lightning has become a fast seller on the used market, with an average number of days on dealership lots of just 16 days,
according to Recurrent, which is a Seattle-based EV market research firm.
Recurrent said the Ford F-150 Lightning has an average used price of $47,590.
The findings come as some of Ford's chief competitors in the electric pickup segment, such as Tesla, Rivian, and GMC, have discounted their electric pickups. Ford has also announced plans to develop a new $30,000 electric pickup, which it hopes will become as popular as its legendary Model T, the company's first mass-produced and widely successful automobile at the turn of the century.
With that in mind, the USA TODAY Cars team took a look at why Ford is converting the F-150 Lightning into a long-range pickup, why the company is working on a new electric pickup, and some of the best electric deals that are available.
Why is Ford changing the F-150 Lightning from an EV to a long-range hybrid?
Ford announced in December its plans to transition its F-150 Lightning pickup from a fully electric vehicle to a hybrid known as an Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV). The last fully electric F-150 Lightning rolled off the company's assembly line in December, meaning the vehicle can only be purchased as a used model now.
Ford said in a news release that it decided to shift the F-150 Lightning from a fully electric power train to an EREV format because it would "offer the best of both worlds: the seamless, instant power of an electric powertrain and the freedom of a generator-backed estimated range of more than 700 miles."
"Unlike a traditional hybrid, the F-150 Lightning EREV is propelled 100 percent by electric motors," the Dearborn, Michigan-based company said. "This ensures owners get the pure EV driving experience they love – including rapid acceleration and quiet operation – while eliminating the need to stop and charge during long-distance towing."
What makes a vehicle a long-range hybrid?
A long-range hybrid, or an EREV, is a type of plug-in hybrid car that has a gasoline engine; this engine is used solely as a power source for a larger-than-normal battery that is intended to provide extended range. It is different than most hybrids, where both the gasoline engine and battery are used to power the vehicle at various times during the car's operation.
EREVs were developed to help address consumer concerns about the battery range of fully electric cars and the fact that most hybrid cars still use gasoline engines that cause air pollution. The concern about EV battery life has bubbled up so often that it has been dubbed "range anxiety."
According to a poll released in January by EV-friendly advocacy group EVs for All America, 20% of 600 potential EV buyers in 2025 said their top concern about plug-in models is the unreliability of charger networks.
Why is Ford planning to release a new electric pickup truck?
Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a July 2026 interview with USA TODAY that his company's new $30,000 Fathom electric pickup truck would be its most important car of the future.
"I think you're going to see a product that really has a potential to change our industry," Farley said in an interview with USA TODAY. "Not just be a successful product. Like any other OEM would give you a model name. But actually a project that is almost as revolutionary as the Model T was. Which ironically it's a small electric pickup truck."
Farley said Ford believes it can compete with BYD on EV prices because it is following the principles that resulted in its legendary Model T car.
"The Model T had the most expensive metal, steel-graded metal that you could buy as an automaker," he said. "It had more expensive steel in it than Rolls-Royce used. And that was his philosophy. The best materials, the simplest design."
Farley said Ford's affordable pickup will be available by the end of 2027. He also said the $30,000 electric pickup is "probably one of the biggest bets I made as a CEO."
"We've been working on it for five years," he said. "Not sure if history is going to be kind or not, but we took a full swing."
Farley said Ford's new cheap electric pickup would be targeted at people who are currently driving small crossover SUVs like the Toyota RAV4.
"We learned a lot from Lightning," he said. "It was too big, the batteries were too expensive, but the functionality pickup people loved."
Keith Laing is an automotive reporter on the National Trending Desk at USA TODAY. Contact Keith at klaing@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ford's canceled F-150 electric pickup is suddenly a hot seller. Why?
