Ford Launches F-150 Lightning EV, Built At Rouge Electric Vehicle Center In Dearborn

(CBS DETROIT) - An electrifying day here in Dearborn as Ford launches the F-150 Lightning, the company's first EV pickup, that's being built at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center.

On Tuesday there was a live band, food stations, and a celebration at the Rouge.

"Here on a site that is more than 100 years old, we've built everything from the Model-A, to the Mustang, to the F-150, the best selling truck in America for 45 years in a row," William Clay Ford Jr. Fords Executive Chairman said to a crowd.

Now the plant in its newly build Electric Vehicle Center is building the F-150 Lighting EV.

Fresh off the assembly line, four Lightning vehicles were rolled out in front of a crowd of employees and customers.

"Today is as much about who we are as where we're going as a company and as a country, bold, innovative, forward-thinking," said Ford's CEO Jim Farley to the crowd.

The Lightning joins Ford's other EV's the E-Transit and Mustang Mach E, and can be used for everything from towing to camping to powering a home officials said.

"This truck is going to change everything it has capabilities that nobody has ever seen," said Ford.

I was lucky enough to take a ride in one of these beauty's, and I must say for a pick-up it was very smooth, and has some get up too! In a demo a Ford employee took me to the test track, and proved the new EV goes from 0-60 in 4secs!

Officials say their goal is to produce 150,000 Lightning units at the Rouge per year, and 600,000 total EV's annually by 2023.

"It's build Ford tough, build for America and built right here," Ford said.

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