Almost exactly one year after announcing the all-new F-150 Lightning electric truck, Ford finally shipped its first vehicle to retail customers. Production started last month, and on May 26th, the first customer picked up his truck at Richardson Ford in the town of Standish, Michigan.

Ford officially started shipping the new electric truck to dealerships a few weeks ago and has delivered a few models to fleet customers. However, this is apparently the very first customer delivery.

The excited Lightning buyer shared some images and details on an F-150 Lightning community forum and said his rep mentioned his vehicle is delivery number one. The user then answered a few questions about the truck and process for those interested.

This is a big deal for Ford, but it’s a big deal for the EV market in general. That’s because pickup trucks are insanely popular, especially in the US, and the Lightning is an electric version of the best-selling truck for 44 years in a row.

Considering Ford received more than 200,000 reservations for its $40,000 electric truck, the company eventually halted pre-orders. A few weeks later, Ford CEO Jim Farley promised to increase production to 150,000 vehicles per year and grow that number even more in future years.

With the excitement of the electric truck and Ford’s order system, here are a few more details from the proud new owner.

Nicholas Schmidt, the first customer, likely got his so fast because he’s a Michigan resident close to the assembly plant. It looks like he reserved a Platinum Trim Lightning on May 20th, 2021, at a starting price of $90,000. The order got processed on January 7th and manufactured on April 18th, 2022. That’s actually eight days earlier than when Ford announced production on April 26th.

Then, exactly one month after announcing production had started at the Michigan plant, the delivery arrived on May 26th. Interestingly enough, Bloomberg reported that the buyer initially wanted a Cybertruck but is now the proud owner of an F-150 Lightning.

The fact that Ford is finally delivering orders to customers is excellent, but we have a long wait before all 200,000 buyers get their vehicles, not to mention future customers. Expect to see several more deliveries moving forward, and we’re hopeful that Ford will share some details regarding upcoming delivery plans shortly.

via F-150 Lightning Forum