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Ford delivers 201 F-150 Lightning units as it highlights 221% increase in EV sales

One year after Ford confirmed construction of the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Mich., the first Ford F-150 Lightning pre-production units begin leaving the factory. Pre-production model shown. F-150 Lightning available starting spring 2022.

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Ford Motor Company announced it delivered 201 units of the new F-150 Lightning all-electric pickup in May, highlighting a substantial 221.5 percent increase in EV sales compared to the same month in 2021.

Ford delivered the first F-150 Lightning unit to a customer in Michigan on May 26, with 200 other units being sold by dealerships within the final five days of the month. The automaker said “many more” F-150 Lightning units are in transit to dealers as deliveries continue. Ford said more than 75 percent of F-150 Lightning reservation holders are new to the brand.

Ford F-150 Lightning customer deliveries are beginning

The 201 F-150 Lightning deliveries capped a spectacular month in terms of overall growth for Ford as it saw a 221.5 percent increase in total EV sales vs. May 2021 and a 193.4 percent increase in retail EV sales vs. the same month. Ford saw a 4.5 percent decrease in total vehicle sales and a 5.7 percent decrease in retail sales. Both decreases were compared to data from May 2021.

“While the global semiconductor chip shortage remains an issue for the industry, our inventory continues to turn at record rates with nearly 50 percent of our retail sales coming from previously placed orders,” Andrew Frick, VP of Sales, Distribution, and Trucks for Ford Blue, said. “Our newest models, including Bronco, Bronco Sport, and Maverick, continue to enhance our sales volume. Our electric vehicle sales, with the addition of F-150 Lightning this month, increased 222 percent – growing at almost four times the rate of the industry.”

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Ford’s initial electric vehicle, the Mustang Mach-E, also posted a new monthly sales record with a dramatic 166 percent increase compared to May 2021. Additionally, the E-Transit had its best sales month since its launch in early 2022, with 874 units sold in May.

Ford announced earlier today it would funnel an additional $3.7 billion into new EV and combustion engine projects, including new versions of the gas-powered Mustang and Ranger pickup. A portion of the investment is set aside to retool and update plants in Michigan, Ohio, and Missouri to be suitable for EV manufacturing. The investment aims to bring 6,200 new UAW jobs to Ford and will transition 3,000 additional temporary factory employees to full-time status.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla’s Supercharger Diner probably just secured more locations

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tesla diner
Credit: Tesla

Tesla’s Supercharger Diner in Los Angeles dominated the company’s global usage rankings after just one year, proving the concept is more than just a one-off novelty location that will fade away.

The performance could incite the company to build more locations, something that CEO Elon Musk has hinted at for some time.

Tesla’s Supercharger Diner delivered 21.2 GWh of energy in its first year of operation, the company’s head of Charging, Max de Zegher, revealed on X. Of the top 10 most utilized Supercharger locations in Tesla’s global infrastructure, the Diner in Los Angeles was the most used by drivers, and it wasn’t particularly close:

On its launch day one year ago, nobody was too sure what the Tesla Diner would be about. It seemed like an interesting concept, and considering it had been in the works for years, it was a highly anticipated launch that many were looking forward to.

Based on its success, we could see additional Diners with Superchargers built throughout the United States, and potentially beyond. Musk has said on several occasions that the company would be willing to bring the Diner idea to more markets.

Tesla makes major change at Supercharger Diner amid epic demand

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Of the markets that Musk has mentioned, both Palo Alto and Austin have come to be perceived as ideal selections. However, there are no concrete plans as of now to build new Supercharger Diners anywhere; the location on Santa Monica Boulevard will remain the exclusive spot to pick up Tesla-inspired eats, at least for the time being.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla short sellers win big after shares fall after earnings

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A red Tesla Roadster driving around a turn
(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla short sellers won big following the company’s massive fall on Wall Street after it reported subpar Earnings on Wednesday.

Tesla short sellers collected about $4.12 billion in single-day profits on Thursday, according to BloombergShares fell as much as 15 percent during Thursday’s session. It closed as one of the worst days for Tesla on Wall Street in the past three years.

Investors sold off the stock after Tesla said it would aggressively direct its spending toward AI and its Optimus robot project. The company had record revenues, which were driven by one of the strongest quarters in terms of vehicle deliveries in company history.

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However, it missed EPS estimates by reporting just $0.33, a far cry from the $0.53 analysts expected.

S3 Partners reported that about 3 percent of Tesla’s outstanding stock is sold short. Managing Director at S3, Ihor Dusaniwsky, provided the short seller’s potential profit, as well as another figure: shorts have likely had paper gains of $8.92 billion this year, as Tesla shares are down 30 percent in 2026.

Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue

Tesla has burned short sellers many times in the past, but the company’s latest Earnings Call was a chance for those skeptics to taste some payback. Although the company gave some very transparent information regarding future projects, the rollout of Robotaxi, Optimus, and Semi, many investors took their profits on Thursday.

Notable short sellers like Michael Burry have been transparent about their skepticism around Tesla shares. Burry just revealed three weeks ago that he had opened up a new short on the stock, stating he shorted Tesla shares at $416.22. “Happy it jumped back to this level,” he said in a blog post.

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At the time of publication, Tesla shares were down about 3 percent and the stock was trading at $309.92.

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Tesla door handle saga gets its latest chapter and a big change is coming

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Credit: Tesla | Model 3 Owner's Manual

Tesla’s long-standing saga regarding its door handles and a manual release has entered its latest chapter, and as a result, a big change is coming.

On Friday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) denied Tesla’s petition that was seeking a defect investigation into roughly 180,000 Model 3 vehicles for an issue involving the emergency mechanical door release.

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NHTSA said that Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect in the door handles or their emergency releases. Instead, the agency determined that it would rather solve the issue of the lack of labeling or location of emergency mechanical door releases and the federal safety rules that govern them.

Essentially, the NHTSA wants to create and enforce rules that would require automakers to make emergency door latch releases more clearly labeled in a car. Despite a Tesla having manual door releases on all four passenger doors, many people do not know they exist or how they work.

Tesla addresses door handle complaints with simple engineering fix

In recent times, Tesla has faced some criticism involving its door handles, specifically because some occupants have reported that they are unable to exit their vehicles after losing power. The door handles on a Tesla are electronically operated, but in the event that the 12V battery dies, there is a manual release that can be used.

The NHTSA only identified a single complaint involving the mechanical door releases: a 2022 Model 3 owner said the release was concealed and unlabeled after the vehicle lost power after a front-end collision. It has also already started to create a separate rulemaking process to make emergency door-egress systems more obvious.

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It should be noted that all Teslas have mechanical emergency door releases, but they are placed in various locations as the vehicles have aged and been redesigned from year to year. Refer to the safety manual for your vehicle if you have any confusion about where the emergency releases are and how they work.

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