Ford Motor Co. said Thursday it can restart production of its F-150 Lightning on March 13 after it halted output of the electrical truck after a battery fire in early February.
Ford has not set a date for resuming deliveries. The U.S. automaker said because it “ramps up production, we’ll proceed holding already-produced vehicles while we work through engineering and parts updates.”
Ford said the production restart date allows time for SK On, the automotive battery unit of SK Innovation, battery cells to be built into battery arrays and packs delivered to the Lightning production line. Ford said an EV truck caught fire Feb. 4 during a pre-delivery quality inspection in an organization holding lot in Dearborn, Mich., and spread to 2 other trucks. The automaker halted production the following day.
Ford said “within the weeks ahead, we’ll proceed to use our learnings and work with SK On’s team to make sure we proceed delivering high-quality battery packs – all the way down to the battery cells.”
Ford previously has said it was targeting annual production of 150,000 Lightning electric pickups by the autumn of 2023.