Ford F-150 Lightning production halted due to battery issue

Buyers waiting for their Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck might have to wait a bit longer than anticipated.

On Tuesday, Ford spokesperson Emma Bergg confirmed to Motor Authority that both a stop-build and an in-transit stop-ship order have been issued for the F-150 Lightning due to a potential battery issue.

On Wednesday Bergg confirmed the issue is related to the truck’s battery. But later Wednesday, after a report from the Detroit Free Press linking a vehicle fire to the issue, Ford clarified that an F-150 Lightning fire occurred outside the Dearborn plant, as part of Ford’s pre-delivery quality inspections.

The automaker is unaware of any incidents or issues associated with this potential issue in the field with customer-owned trucks, and no workers were injured in the incident.

As of Wednesday Bergg said that Ford believes it has identified the root cause of the issue along with the set of vehicles affected by this issue. The company hopes to conclude its investigation by the end of next week. Production of the Lightning will be on hold through at least the end of next week.

Bergg noted that what is learned through this investigation will be applied to the Lightning’s battery production process and it could take weeks. The stop-ship order will remain in place as the company works through the ramifications of the problem on its engineering process.

A stop-sale has not been issued and all F-150 Lightnings already built and at dealers are currently cleared for scheduled delivery.

The Lightning has received three price hikes since its launch nearly a year ago. Starting from $57,869, the Lightning is now 38.9% more expensive than when it first went on sale.

Update: This story, originally published Feb. 14, was updated on Feb. 15 with new information from Bergg regarding Ford’s timeline and confirming the issue is battery-related. A further update was made later Feb. 15 with Ford’s confirmation of a vehicle fire at the plant.