“The F-150 is generally driven by people who have a certain image of driving around in a truck – and that image includes noise, gasoline and a muscle engine. We don’t know about consumer acceptance of eclectic trucks. We don’t know if they want to drive this. “
A study published earlier this year found that around 20 percent of people who bought electric passenger cars were dissatisfied with them – also because they were concerned about the lack of charging points for electric vehicles – and returned to driving traditional vehicles.
But White House officials say the pickup Mr. Biden drove on Tuesday could help overturn that calculation. The F-150 “was really a powerful work and recreational vehicle, and now you can get it without the cost of all that gasoline,” said Gina McCarthy, the White House’s national climate adviser, in an interview.
To date, only Tesla has sold electric models in large numbers, but Ford typically sells around 900,000 F-Series vehicles per year. Earlier this year, Ford began selling the Mustang Mach E, a battery-powered sports utility vehicle that resembles the company’s famous sports car.
“We’re not just electrifying edge vehicles,” said Company Chairman William C. Ford Jr. “The Mustang and F-150 are at the heart of what Ford is. This is a signal of how seriously we take electrification. “
Auto workers have raised electrical transition concerns that American automakers are increasingly embracing, as making an electric vehicle requires about a third less human labor than a vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine.
But union leaders offered tentative support for the president cheerleading for the electric pickup.
“It’s no secret that the US auto industry is at a crossroads as electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids become more common on our roads and highways domestically and internationally in the years ahead,” he told Rory L. Gamble, the president of the United Auto Workers. “Taxpayer money should be spent in support of US-built vehicles, not imports. ”
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