YouTuber Nicholas Schmidt made his F-150 Lightning pre-order on May 20, 2021, on the day after the announcement day, and has now received his all-electric pickup after a touch over a year of waiting.
He claims the order was confirmed on January 7 and the vehicle assembled on April 18, although Ford said it started full-scale production later than that.
The PR department allegedly told Schmidt he was the first actual owner to have received the pickup. He was surprised to see around 100 kilometers (60 miles) on the odometer, but the dealership explained that the vehicle was tested factory-side.
Nicholas went for the $90,874 Platinum spec with 571 PS (563 hp / 420 kW), an extended traction battery and 483 km (300 miles) of EPA-rated range. A car like this comes in at a hefty premium over the entry-level $39,974 model.
The standard spec has dual electric motors, just like its more powerful counterpart, but is limited to 432 PS (426 hp / 318 kW) and 370 km (230 miles) of range.
The production is taking place at the Ford’s new factory in Michigan. The company reported having received around 200,000 pre-orders ever before the assembly began. With the demand exceeding the offer by such a wide margin, the automaker had to reschedule its planned production multiple times in order to keep up with the market.