Ford launches F-150 EV truck in 'huge' shift to low-emissions vehicles

Ford launched the electric version of its bestselling F-150 pickup truck late on Wednesday in a move seen by experts as a "huge" step in the company's shift towards low-emission cars.

Ford’s F-Series has been the US’s best selling vehicle since the 1970s. Yet due to the pandemic, the company only sold 787,422 of the vehicles in 2020, a significant fall from the 896,526 units sold in the year prior.

The latest version of the truck was unveiled Wednesday evening, timed for the California market, which is the largest electric vehicle market in the US.

US President Joe Biden visited Ford's factory in Detroit during the past week to promote his plans to overhaul the nation’s infrastructure and promote electric vehicles.

"The future of the auto industry is electric. There’s no turning back," Biden said. "The question is whether we will lead or we will fall behind in the race to the future."

The F-150 is just one of a series of high-profile electric vehicles in the US pipeline including new models from Tesla and an electric Hummer from General Motors.

But the US must tackle significant infrastructure issues if the F-150 and other electric vehicles are to become mainstream, such as a lack of charging points. The US currently only has 100,000 charging stations.

Biden is pushing for the US to become the world leader in electric vehicles and proposed spending $174bn of his $2.3trn jobs and infrastructure package to promote the transition away from fossil fuels.