Ford takes $19.5B EV write-down and scraps the F-150 Lightning as the government-subsidized EV push collapses
Dec 16, 2025
Key Points
- Ford takes a $19.5 billion write-down on its EV business and scraps the all-electric F-150 Lightning after losing $13 billion since 2023, including $50,000 per vehicle sold last year.
- The collapse follows elimination of the $7,500 EV tax credit in October 2024, revealing that government subsidies, not consumer demand, had propped up the company's electric vehicle strategy.
- Ford pivots to profitable gas trucks and hybrids, exposing how Biden-era emissions rules forced automakers to build commercially broken products that deregulation now allows them to abandon.
Summary
Ford announced a $19.5 billion write-down on its electric vehicle business and is scrapping the all-electric F-150 Lightning to pivot toward gas-powered trucks and hybrids. CEO Jim Farley said the company has lost $13 billion on EV operations since 2023, with $50,000 in losses per EV sold last year. The economics were never viable without government support.
Ford's EV strategy collapsed when Congress eliminated the $7,500 EV tax credit in October 2024 as part of the GOP tax bill. That subsidy had artificially propped up demand but was never large enough to make the vehicles themselves profitable. Once the credit vanished, demand fell sharply. Farley cited compounding supply chain costs including battery technology licensing from Chinese manufacturers, domestic production requirements, tariffs, and geopolitical friction that made the vehicles uneconomical to build at scale.
The auto industry over-rotated on a government mandate without accounting for political risk. The Biden administration forced the EV transition through fuel economy and emissions rules, effectively requiring automakers to produce vehicles consumers didn't want to buy at prices that lost money. General Motors took a similar but smaller hit with a $1.6 billion charge and has also rolled back EV plans.
Ford's retreat represents rational capital discipline. The company can now redeploy billions into profitable gas trucks and SUVs, where it has real customer demand and can capture margins. If profitability improves, workers benefit through profit-sharing arrangements. The removal of the tax credit and looser EV mandates has given the company permission to stop burning cash on a politically favored but commercially broken product line.