A fresh report has seemingly revealed when Ford plans to start production of a fully electric Ranger bakkie, right down to the month…

Though Ford has yet to officially confirm plans to launch a fully electric version of the new Ranger (saying only it has “future-proofed” the platform), such a move seems virtually inevitable. Now, a report out of North America claims a battery-powered Ranger bakkie will go into production before the end of the decade.

According to Ford Authority, the folks over at AutoForecast Solutions – a Pennsylvania-based company that describes itself as the “premier provider of global automotive forecasting databases” – say the Blue Oval brand will commence production of a fully electric Ranger in August 2029.

The report suggests the battery-powered bakkie will be built at Ford’s facility in Tennessee, which will also reportedly produce a fully electric Bronco as well as the next-generation F-150 Lightning.

Considering the new Ranger has only recently gone into production (and the fact light-commercial vehicles tend to have lengthy lifecycles), it’s worth noting an electric Ranger would likely be sold alongside standard versions of the bakkie powered by internal combustion engines.

Ford already builds an electric pick-up truck in the form of the F-150 Lightning.

Interestingly, earlier reports have suggested a partially electrified iteration of the bakkie – so, with either a straight hybrid or plug-in hybrid powertrain – is also on the cards. A hybridised Ranger would surely launch before the fully electric model, possibly as early as 2025.

Of course, the Ford Authority report focuses on the United States, so it’s unclear whether the Dearborn-based firm’s Silverton facility here in South Africa would also be in line to build either hybrid or fully electric Ranger models. Bearing in mind Europe (the continent driving the global automotive landscape’s electrification through increasingly strict emissions regulations) is a top export market for Ford’s locally produced bakkie, we’d speculate the chances are pretty strong.

Since the new Amarok is built (by Ford in South Africa as part of a global alliance) on the same platform as the Ranger, hybrid and electric versions of the Wolfsburg-based brand’s bakkie are surely also on the way…

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