Ford Says Large Electric Trucks And SUVs Have 'Unresolvable' Problems

“For larger retail, electric utilities, the economics are unresolvable,” Farley said. “These customers have very demanding use cases for an electric vehicle. They tow, they go off-road, they take long road trips. These vehicles have worse aerodynamics and they're very heavy, which means very large and expensive batteries.”

A Ford spokesperson later clarified to InsideEVs that Farley was specifically referring to large, customer-focused "utility" vehicles—SUVs like the Ford Expedition and so on. Despite some setbacks and the cancellation of its large three-row SUV, Ford is far from done with EVs, however. The automaker is planning a midsize all-electric truck that is a kind of quasi-F-150 Lightning successor; a family of from-the-ground-up EVs on its so-called "skunkworks" platform; and a broadened series of electrified vehicles, including hybrids and extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), which Farley elaborated on during the call.