Ford introduced a brand new “Flash” trim of the mannequin 12 months 2024 F-150 Lighting, with a much bigger display screen, longer vary, and a warmth pump to assist enhance battery conditioning on these colder days. The corporate mentioned additionally it is anticipating to make extra F-150 Lightning deliveries to prospects later this 12 months after a manufacturing unit shutdown restricted Ford’s provide of the electrical truck.

Ford says it’s focusing on an EPA-estimated vary for Flash of 320 miles, which might match neatly in between the automaker’s Normal Vary and Lengthy Vary fashions. The F-150 Lightning Normal Vary sometimes will get lower than 300 miles of EPA-estimated vary, whereas Prolonged Vary variants can journey so far as 350 miles on a single cost.

A warmth pump can even be included with Flash, a nod to prospects who’ve complained that chilly climate tends to sap the F-150 Lightning’s battery. Warmth pumps can hold batteries at a extra optimum temperature in the course of the winter months, which helps with charging instances, vary, and efficiency. Increasingly EVs are coming with normal warmth pumps because the auto business begins to acknowledge their utility.

The brand new tech in Flash features a 15.5-inch touchscreen as normal, which is presently solely discovered within the Lariat and Platinum trims. Value-wise, the F-150 Lightning Flash will sit above the XLT within the mannequin lineup, with a $69,995 price ticket and an anticipated supply someday subsequent 12 months.

Marin Gjaja, chief working officer of Ford’s EV-focused mannequin e division, mentioned the aim was to place a number of the options within the costlier fashions that prospects like probably the most in a extra reasonably priced profile.

“We don’t even have a automobile at this worth level that’s geared up on this means,” Gjaja mentioned in a briefing with reporters Monday. “So when you take a look at the best way that Flash is supplied, it has a number of the options {that a} Lariat has, and has a number of the options that an XLT has, and never surprisingly, it lands at a worth between the 2 of them.”

Affordability is a vital topic for Ford, particularly because it pertains to the F-150 Lightning. Latest worth hikes have triggered some prospects with pre-orders to cancel their reservations.

The brand new trim apart, the movement of F-150 Lightnings to prospects ought to enhance this fall now that the corporate’s Rogue Electrical Automobile Heart reopened in August. The manufacturing unit was closed for six weeks to develop and retool the plant for elevated manufacturing capability.

The primary trace that Flash was coming was when Electrek noticed a trademark submitting for the identify earlier this 12 months. On the time, it was assumed the identify was utilized to a efficiency model of the truck, approaching the heels of a partnership between Ford and Purple Bull Powertrains on next-gen hybrid energy items. However now we all know that received’t be the way it’s used.

The F-150 Lightning Flash received’t have the curb enchantment of the brand new Platinum Black version of the electrical truck, with its factory-applied matte black exterior and restricted manufacturing run. However the introduction of a brand new trim is a sure-fire signal that Ford is ramping up its hopes for the Lightning to assist increase gross sales and gradual the EV money burn. The corporate has mentioned it’s going to lose $4.5 billion on its EV enterprise in 2023.

“We is not going to relaxation,” Gjaja mentioned. “Our plan is to scale manufacturing and scale demand for our EVs with a concentrate on profitability.”