--- title: 'Auto Experts Have a New Favorite Electric Vehicle (Hint: It''s Not a Tesla)' description: The auto world's favorite new vehicle is the Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck, which has won awards from MotorTrend, Edmunds and more. authors: - name: Adam Hardy role: Lead Data Reporter url: https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/ bio: Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. Adam’s work has also appeared in Business Insider, Forbes, Nasdaq, The Penny Hoarder, Yahoo! Finance and more than a dozen local and regional newspapers. education: University of South Florida, BA, Magazine Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 499 covers: - Shopping - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - The Penny Hoarder - Forbes Advisor - Creative Loafing - The New York Times - The Washington Post - Bloomberg - Harvard Law School - The Federal Register - National Consumer Law Center - CBS News - Becker's Hospital Review - Business Insider - Mother Jones - The Week - Fortune - The Philadelphia Inquirer - National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NAFSAA) - Education Advisory Board (EAB) - The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) - This Morning with Gordon Deal - Empower - Reddit social: - https://www.x.com/hardyjournalism - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardyjournalism/ editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Shopping - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2023-01-27T19:16:28.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T17:48:45.000Z' section: Shopping tags: - cars - News word_count: 422 canonical: https://money.com/ford-lightning-electric-truck-awards/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![The Ford F150 Lightning on display in an auto show](https://img.money.com/2023/01/News-Ford-F150-Lightning.jpg) A new electric vehicle is dazzling the auto industry and racking up numerous accolades. And, no, it’s not a [Tesla](https://money.com/how-to-buy-tesla-stock/). Ford’s F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck is wooing auto experts with its sleek, unpretentious design, semi-autonomous driving system and a starting range of 240 miles-per-charge on the 2023 model — all with a price that doesn’t break the bank. ## What the experts say Since trucks have been the best selling vehicles in the country for some time, experts say that if manufacturers are serious about going green, they need to put forward more attractive, electric pickup trucks. Ford’s F-150 Lightning is the perfect answer, according to numerous industry awards. - MotorTrend [named the Ford F-150 Lightning](https://www.motortrend.com/news/ford-f-150-lightning-2023-truck-of-the-year/) the best overall truck of 2023. - Edmunds crowned the 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning as the “[Best of the Best](https://www.edmunds.com/top-rated/best-of-the-best/)” vehicle this year and, of course, awarded it the [top-rated electric truck](https://www.edmunds.com/top-rated/electric-truck/) accolade. - The Lightning also garnered Kelley Blue Book’s “[Best Buy](https://www.kbb.com/awards/best-buy-awards-2023-ford-f-150-lightning-electric-truck/)” title for electric truck. “When historians write about the automotive revolution in the 2020s, the Ford F-150 Lightning will take center stage,” according to Edmunds’ writeup. ## Keep in mind Depending on the model year, the retail price for an F-150 Lightning starts between $46,000 (2022) and $56,000 (2023). While it’s no low-budget option, when compared to the average cost of other new EVs and pickups, it is a good value. - According to Cox Automotive, the [average price of a new car](https://money.com/average-new-car-price-record-high/) is closing in on $50,000. The latest stats show that, in December, the average price of a new vehicle reached an all-time high of [$49,507](https://www.coxautoinc.com/market-insights/kbb-atp-december-2022/). - Meanwhile, the average price of new EVs, which is historically much higher than regular vehicles, fell to $61,448. - The Lightning truly shines when stacked up against the cost of the average full-size pickup truck, which was [$64,207](https://www.coxautoinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Dec-2022-Kelley-Blue-Book-Average-Transaction-Price-data-tables.pdf) in December. What’s more, the 2022 F-150 Lightning is identified on the [Department of Energy’s list of vehicles](https://afdc.energy.gov/laws/electric-vehicles-for-tax-credit#/tab-2022) as potentially eligible for the [new $7,500 EV tax credit](https://money.com/2023-ev-tax-credits-save-7500/) that went into effect this year. According to the EV industry publication [Electrek](https://electrek.co/2023/01/03/which-electric-vehicles-still-qualify-for-us-federal-tax-credit/), the 2023 model may be eligible for the credit as well. - Before you run to the dealership: There are a host of other [eligibility requirements for the EV tax credit](https://money.com/2023-ev-tax-credits-save-7500/) that you’ll want to confirm if you’re interested in essentially knocking $7,500 off the price tag. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/ford-lightning-electric-truck-awards/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Shopping", "item": "https://money.com/shopping/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Electric Vehicles", "item": "https://money.com/electric-vehicles/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Auto Experts Have a New Favorite Electric Vehicle (Hint: It's Not a Tesla)" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/ford-lightning-electric-truck-awards/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/ford-lightning-electric-truck-awards/", "name": "Auto Experts Have a New Favorite Electric Vehicle (Hint: It's Not a Tesla)", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2023-01-27T19:16:28.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/ford-lightning-electric-truck-awards/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/ford-lightning-electric-truck-awards/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T17:48:45.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Auto Experts Have a New Favorite Electric Vehicle (Hint: It's Not a Tesla)", "articleSection": "Shopping", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/01/News-Ford-F150-Lightning.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Ford-F150-Lightning" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adam Hardy", "url": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/#author", "description": "Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. 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