Ford introduces fully-electric F-150 Lightning for 1st time in CA at Palo Alto's Greenfield Labs

PALO ALTO, Calif. (KGO) -- Ford has come a long way since the Model-T.

With their newest vehicle, the Ford Motor Company has captured lightning in a bottle, or should we say in a truck.

On display for the first time in California Thursday was the fully-electric Ford F-150 Lightning, the future of EV.

"This truck was designed to show people what an electric truck can do," Ford Battery Electric Vehicles General Manager Darren Palmer said. "It's more powerful, it's faster, it's quieter, less maintenance and cheaper to run."

RELATED: Ford reveals fully electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck

At Greenfield Labs in Palo Alto, Ford focuses on out-of-box thinking and software development, meaning there was no better place to show off the new tech-savvy F-150.

In addition to extra storage space, better towing ability and faster speeds, the Lighting is the most technologically advanced Ford truck ever with tech to power a full-home for three days.

Ford says that they created the Lightning with the typical truck owner in mind.

They wanted to include everything owners wanted in their vehicle and make it better.

The Lightning will get around 300 miles on a charge.

It will go from 15% to 80% after charging for 41 minutes at one of the 63,000 chargers across the country, the largest charging network.

The base model starts at just over $39,000.

But tech experts say it's also a step towards a cleaner country.

RELATED: California Dreaming: How the Golden State is at the forefront of the electric vehicle revolution

"I think this is a pivotal vehicle for the US," Tech Radar's Myriam Joire said. "We have a lot of EVs out there and more coming, but I think this is going to be really critical to getting the average person on board in the US."

Transforming the number one selling vehicle in the country is Ford doing its part as the nation hopes to move into a zero-emission future.

With the Lightning on display in DC Thursday, President Joe Biden signed an executive order setting out a target of 50 percent of all vehicles sold by 2030 to be electric.

"They're a vision of the future that's now beginning to happen, a future of the automobile industry that is electric," Biden said.

This follows a commitment from Gov. Gavin Newsom to require that sales of all new vehicles be zero-emission by 2035 in California.

The president looks to the American car companies like Ford to lead the way.

"Ford is going to invest $30 billion by 2025 for a whole portfolio of vehicles," Palmer said. "The thing they all have in common, they all do things that gas vehicles never did."

"We really think that this is the water shed moment for the stark transition to get our customers going from gasoline engines to all electric," Ford F-150 Lightning Marketing Manager Jasen Turnbull said.

The Ford F-150 Lightning will hit the streets in 2022.

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