by Gabrielle DeSantis

The Ford F-150 Lightning is taking the electric truck world by storm. It’s practical, utilitarian, and affordable enough where the average Joe can get their hands on it. It can perform all the necessary truck duties while eliminating emissions. In other words, Ford knows they have a winner, and they’re getting ready to double the truck’s production rate for the 2024 model year.

Ford aims to produce 80,000 F-150 Lightnings by 2024

The Ford F-150 Lightning is set to face limited production for the 2022 model year, with just 15,000 units rolling off the assembly line. This is partly due to the shortage of semiconductors, otherwise known as chips. But after surprisingly high pre-order demand, Ford is bumping up their original production goal from 40,000 units by 2024 to 80,000.

How high is the demand, you might ask? Over 120,000 people put down a $100 deposit on a brand new Ford F-150 Lightning. But they may not even get their truck until 2024, even with the increased production. Crunch the numbers, you have 15,000 units in the first year, a proposed 55,000 by 2023, and then 80,000 units by 2024. That’d mean 150,000 Ford F-150 Lightnings would be built by 2024, which meets the 120,000 pre-order demands, but will take a while to get to.

However, this gradual production shift is by far the best course of action. Electric trucks often are full of more questions and answers, including if it’s worth it to purchase one. So while some loyalists might get a little antsy waiting two years for their Ford F-150 Lightning, the logic behind the plan is completely sound.

Why Ford’s gradual production plan is the best strategy

For starters, electric vehicles make up less than 1% of the cars on America’s motorways. Yeah, they’re all over the news because they’re exciting and fresh, but they haven’t quite reached a global, or even national scale yet. And it’ll be years before they wipe out the gas car.

But consumer interest is only half the battle, and as electric cars and trucks get better, more people will turn their attention toward those options. The kicker is that EVs have to get better first. That requires new technologies, like cheaper and more efficient batteries, as well as making sure lithium suppliers can keep up with demand. In other words, the electric car infrastructure is being built up as new models are being released.

Luckily, Ford is also on top of research and development too, opening Ion Park in Romulus Michigan for battery design and testing. That way, the F-150 Lightning becomes more than just a short term success.

Ford’s goals for the F-150 Lightning beyond 2024

Ford is already looking ahead, as every automaker should, to what lies ahead. By 2025, Ford hopes to be selling 160,000 F-150 Lightnings every year, an estimate based on exponential consumer interest. According to Car and Driver, that’d make up for 18% of all F-Series sales from 2019 On top of that, the automaker is already working on a second-generation F-150 Lightning to be released that same year.

So Ford has big plans for their electric truck, it’s not just a fad like the Cybertruck might be. But in order to get to that lofty 160,000 unit goal, Ford has to ease into the electric truck transition. While the world is close to adopting all-electric cars, we’re not there yet.

RELATED: 4 Reasons Why the Ford F-150 Lightning Is Worth the Wait

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by Gabrielle DeSantis

Tesla cars are known for their high-tech features, including driving aids and safety options. The electric car brand has managed to nail down many of the safety features we’d expect from cars in the future, but they seemed to have missed out on one of the most basic forms of safety mechanisms in a vehicle: the airbags. Well, at least in the case of this particular Tesla Model X. We won’t make you skip ahead to know that the driver of the vehicle was OK after a trip to the emergency room with a concussion, but should other Tesla owners be concerned?

How the story started

This scary tale begins with Tesla Model X driver, Gavin Hornak, was traveling down the highway like any other commuter. Everything was going fine until an unnamed box truck driver, driving with a suspended license, attempted to change lanes on a day with particularly unpleasant weather, potentially not within safe traveling distance, especially for a vehicle as heavy and hard to stop on wet pavement as a box truck. Upon attempting to change lanes, the driver of the box truck collided with the back end of Gavin’s Tesla Model X, sending him into the semi-truck in front of him. The situation could have been a complete tragedy had the vehicles been moving faster than a reported 50 mph, or if Gavin had not been wearing his seat belt — which, luckily, as a responsible driver, he was.

How damaged was the Tesla Model X?

The damage to the Tesla Model X is terrifying, with the car being crushed like an accordion from the front and the back. The accident is a thing of nightmares itself, but what makes it even scarier is that paramedics and first responders on the scene reported that the airbags were not deployed. In the video below, you can see that the Tesla Model X sustained severe damage from both the semi-truck that collided with it from behind as well as the semi-truck it was pushed into. This amount of damage undoubtedly resulted in the car being totaled out from insurance and would leave in the most experienced car salvagers and YouTubers feeling intimidated.

Tesla Model X crash test ratings

According to Elon Musk and Business Insider, the Tesla Model X was the first SUV that received perfect crash test ratings, which leaves owners and potential buyers, as well as electric vehicles fans, with spinning wheels trying to figure out just what happened with the airbags that didn’t deploy. According to the driver of the totaled Tesla Model X, Gavin Hornak, there was no response from Tesla in regards to the concerning lack of airbag deployment. Wham Baam Teslacam also attempted to reach out but has not updated viewers with any information in regards to a response from Tesla.

We still don’t have answers as to why this Tesla Model X’s airbags failed to deploy in this horrific accident, but luckily for the driver, there were no serious injuries or fatalities.

RELATED: What Ever Happened To The Tesla Roadster Elon Musk Sent Into Orbit?

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