With batteries scarce and the cost of raw materials high, Ford (NYSE: F) has announced that it will be increasing the price of its 2023 Lightning F-150 pickups due to "significant material cost increases and other factors." A day after the announcement, CEO Jim Farley, told reporters that consumers shouldn't expect to see the cost of raw materials used to manufacture electric vehicles (EV) go down soon.
"I don't think there's going to be much relief on lithium, cobalt and nickel anytime soon," Farley told reporters on Aug. 10. "I don't think we should be confident in any other outcomes, than an increase in prices."
The price increase will range from $6,000 and $8,500 per vehicle, depending on the model. The starting price for the electric-powered F-150s will be increasing from about $40,000 to $92,000 last year to around $47,000 to $97,000 for this year's model. Those prices don't include tax, shipping, or delivery costs.
Ford said that customers who are waiting on the delivery of a pickup won't see the price increase, but some portion of customers holding purchase reservations will be impacted.
Order reservations for the F-150s were actually put on hold last December after the company saw higher-than-expected demand for the electric pickups. The company said that orders will resume on Aug. 11, though the waiting period for orders hasn't been reported. During the initial phase, Ford received more than 200,000 orders for the trucks but has only delivered around 4,400 vehicles so far, according to CNBC.
Along with an increase in price, the 2023 F-150 Lightning will also be getting a boost in range. Standard models will have a range of 240 miles, ten miles further than 2022's model, and upgraded models will offer a range of up to 320 miles.
During the pandemic, the raw materials need to manufacture EV batteries more than doubled in price, and Ford is far from the only carmaker reacting by raising prices. Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), General Motors (NYSE: GM), Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN), and Lucid (NASDAQ: LCID) have each introduced price bumps on their EVs, some by much more than several thousand dollars.
While the expectation has long been that the cost of producing EVs would go down over time, that hasn't been true in recent years. That's largely due to the spiraling demand for lithium, cobalt, and nickel, and the resulting price jumps. In response, some carmakers are trying to come up with lower-cost, nickel or cobalt-free, lithium-ion alternatives, including Ford's lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries.
"That's why we think LFP technology is critical ... We want to make these affordable," Farley said.
Ford is also investing in the development of solid-state batteries for EVs, a safer and more powerful version of existing batteries. Ford is backing solid-state battery startup Solid Power (NASDAQ: SLDP), which announced on Aug. 9 that it will be introducing prototype batteries by the end of the year, though vehicles equipped to harness those batteries aren't likely to hit the market for at least a few years.