Ford already has more than 160,000 reservations for its 2022 F-150 Lightning electric pickup, due for deliveries starting in 2022. Yet of the retail reservation-holders in that crowd, a recent survey suggested that nearly 80% have never owned a battery electric vehicle before.
That’s a great thing for EV adoption, but it also means that Ford needs to do much more to get customers ready for the experience—beyond what it might have done for the Mustang Mach-E, for instance, which is more of a niche model.
For that, Ford is launching an augmented reality (AR) experience that it says “will offer these knowledge-hungry customers an immersive, informative experience on the all-new F-150 Lightning.”
Ford F-150 Lightning augmented-reality experience
In this case, it might be more than just a silly marketing exercise. Called “F-150: Strike Anywhere,” and accessible via Ford.com, it’s powered by Google Cloud and takes the form of thirteen interactive animations about everything from the frunk and battery range to charging—and the ProPower Onboard power takeoff plus, perhaps, the Lightning’s potential as home power backup. Visitors also have the ability to select a color and trim—base, XLT, Lariat, and Platinum—for the truck and place it “anywhere in their own environment,”
Don’t expect top-trim Lariat and Platinum models to make up most of these customers. Ford is hoping that work environments—and fleets—will make up a big portion of the backdrop. For that, Ford is expecting many fleet and work customers to opt for the base $39,974 Lightning Pro version, with about a 230-mile range, versus the version with a larger pack and up to a 300-mile range that will sell for $10,000 more.
Ford F-150 Lightning augmented-reality experience
The pool of Lightning reservation-holders includes Ford newbies as well as EV newbies (and, likely, plenty of truck newbies). Ford also says that its survey results suggest that 56% of F-150 Lightning reservation-holders haven’t ever owned a Ford vehicle. So just imagining themselves with an electric Ford pickup—and yes, where they’re going to charge it—sounds like a very good start.
