Ford Motor Company projects it will lose a staggering $4.5 billion on electric vehicles (EVs) in 2023, up from its previously predicted loss of $3 billion earlier this year.
Ford, which has recently reduced the price of its electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck, announced Thursday that the company is projected to lose $4.5 billion from EVs this year, according to a report by Fortune.
The company’s EV division, called “Ford Model e,” has already lost about $1.8 billion so far this year. The projected loss of $4.5 billion reportedly stems from slower-than-expected adoption of the new battery-powered vehicles.
The automaker is also pushing out its production targets, and expects to hit an annual production rate of 600,000 units a year by next year. Ford had initially hoped to reach that target by the end of this year.
Breitbart News has reported extensively on Ford’s troubles with its electric trucks, which perform especially poorly when towing.
“I had this thing charged to just over 200 miles when I started my day, so ample margin for error when it comes to range and towing and also considering the fact that the trailer was going up empty two times,” Hoover added.
After attaching the empty aluminum trailer to his truck and “pulling out my neighborhood,” which was just about a quarter of a mile away, the EV had already lost three miles of range. By the time Hoover got to his location 32 miles away, the vehicle had lost a staggering 68 miles of range.
Once he loaded up the Model A truck and drove it back to his neighborhood, Hoover “got the driving range low warning,” and saw that he only had 50 miles of range left, despite charging the EV for 200 miles at the start of his 64-mile round trip.
Read more: Green Cars, Red Ink: Ford Set to Lose $4.5 Billion on Electric Vehicles This Year
