Ford’s F-150 Lightning Isn’t Dying. It’s Becoming an EREV.

By Fred Surr, EREVNow 

December 17th, 2025

Ford’s decision to end production of the all-electric F-150 Lightning and replace it with an extended-range electric version is already being framed by the pundits as another chapter in the “EVs didn’t work” story. But that reading misses what’s actually happening, and why this moment may look very different a year from now.

The F-150 EREV isn’t Ford stepping away from electric vehicles. It’s Ford doubling down on electric propulsion while removing the single biggest barrier to mainstream adoption: asking Americans to change the way they drive.

The company confirmed this week that the Lightning, as currently configured, will give way to an F-150 EREV - an electric truck whose wheels are always driven by electric motors, with a small internal-combustion engine used solely to generate electricity when the battery runs low. The result is an electric-first truck with an estimated range north of 700 miles, built in Dearborn, Michigan.

“This is a customer-driven shift to create a stronger, more resilient and more profitable Ford,” CEO Jim Farley said in the company’s announcement. Ford cited lower-than-expected demand for large, battery-only EVs, high costs, and changing regulatory conditions as reasons for the move.

The headlines that followed were predictable and off the mark. Much of the coverage treated the Lightning decision as evidence that EV adoption is faltering, or that American consumers simply aren’t ready to go electric. But Ford didn’t abandon electrification. It abandoned the idea that electrification has to be all-or-nothing. That distinction matters.

EREVs deliver the core benefits that drew buyers to electric vehicles in the first place: instant torque, lower emissions, lower operating costs, and without asking them to plan their lives around charging infrastructure that remains uneven and unreliable in large parts of the country. The gas engine in an EREV never powers the wheels. It exists for one purpose only: making electricity when it’s needed. As long as fuel is available, the vehicle keeps going.

And Ford is not the only automaker reaching the EREV conclusion. Just one day before Ford’s announcement, Hyundai published its annual “State of the Brand” message in Automotive News. A few paragraphs beneath headlines about record revenue and manufacturing investment was a clear signal about where Hyundai believes electrification is headed.

“Our extended-range EVs launching in 2027 will deliver more than 600 miles of range, eliminating range anxiety and delivering an EV-like driving experience,” Hyundai President and CEO José Muñoz wrote. That line deserves more attention than it has received. Hyundai did not describe EREVs as a stopgap. It did not frame them as a retreat. It positioned them as a deliberate extension of its EV strategy - one designed to meet US customers where they are, not where they hoped they’d be by now.

When companies as different as Ford and Hyundai, who serve different markets, different buyers, and different geographies, arrive at the same conclusion at the same time, it’s usually because the market has spoken clearly.

What consumers are rejecting isn’t electric driving. It’s uncertainty and inconvenience. They’re wary of range anxiety and the lack of charging infrastructure. EREVs eliminate those concerns quietly, without asking buyers to declare allegiance to a cause or change their driving habits.

This is why the current media narrative feels increasingly out of sync with reality. The story isn’t that EVs failed. It’s that the first wave of EVs has revealed exactly where the pressure points are - and automakers are now engineering around them.

China offers a preview. Nearly half of the vehicles sold there last year that are categorized as “EVs” were extended-range models. Adoption accelerated not because consumers “came around”, but because the products fit their lives.

The U.S. is now entering its own version of that phase, shaped by longer distances, heavier vehicles, and a truck-centric culture. In that context, the F-150 becoming an EREV isn’t a footnote to the story. It is the story. The best-selling vehicle in America is redefining what “electric” means for the mainstream.

A year from now, this moment is unlikely to be remembered as the day EV momentum stalled. Instead, it just might be remembered as the day when the industry stopped insisting on a single path forward and chose the one customers were ready to take.

That’s the story hiding in plain sight.