Ford today provided a statement to TechCrunch detailing its plan to restart F-150 Lightning production. The manufacturing lines will start rolling again on March 13. The automaker says that will allow for the EV’s battery pack to be reworked to include SK On’s battery cells. Ford also says it will continue to hold already-produced vehicles as it works “through engineering and parts updates.”
This comes weeks after Ford paused the production and shipment of F-150 Lightning for an unspecified battery concern. On March 14 Ford said the initial stoppage occurred after a vehicle failed a post-production quality control test at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center. The company tells TechCrunch it is unaware of any incidences of this issue in the field. As a result, dealers can still sell Lightning models on the lot.
Since launching the vehicle less than a year ago, Ford has only issued one recall for the vehicle, and it was related to a tire pressure sensor. Ford has yet to issue a recall or dealer notice associated with this instance.
Ford paused production of the vehicle as it was beginning to scale production numbers. It said previously it intended to make 150,000 Lightning models by the end of 2023. Ford reported it shipped 13,258 Lightning models in 2022.
