Lightning has struck. Actually it will strike in the spring of 2022 when the electric Ford F-150 Lightning hits dealerships. Yes, electric cars have been around and many more are on the way. But the F-150 is on another level when it comes to sales and could therefore help America hit another level when it comes to decarbonization. It’s “the country’s best-selling vehicle in every year since Donkey Kong debuted and Ronald Reagan entered the White House … ‘There’s lots of different kinds of sodas; there’s only one Coke. There’s lots of different electric pickup trucks, but there’s only one F-150,’ Jim Farley, Ford’s chief executive, told me, which may sound immodest but actually borders on understatement: Receipts from F-Series trucks alone exceed Coca-Cola’s annual corporate revenue; that of every major U.S. sports league, combined; or Disney’s global theme-park business … Or more relevant, for our purposes: Ford sells about 900,000 F-150s every year; all automakers collectively sold 250,000 new EVs total last year.” Robinson Meyer in The Atlantic: Stop Worrying and Love the F-150 Lightning. (Now I just need an excuse to need a truck. I’ll look a little weird driving around with just my MacBook Air in the bed…)

+ NPR: Why Ford Unveiling An Electric F-150 Is A Big Deal. (And why the biggest nearterm hurdle will be convincing folks to go electric.)

+ And because you just needed a smart toaster during the pandemic, the rollout of these cars will face an industry-wide challenge. The chip shortage.