But no way does a Ford base model work truck and the Lightning cost the same.
Yeah, when comparing base Lightning (Supercrew 4WD) vs the absolute cheapest gas Supercrew 4WD, the price is the same after tax credit : $47,500.
If we compare a 2-door 2WD truck to a 4-door 4WD truck, yes, the 2-door 2WD truck is cheaper (!!!), but even when we compare a 2WD 2-door to a 4WD 4-door, AND ignore the tax credit, it's still not a $20k difference.
For most reasonable comparisons (tax credit and not the 2-door 2WD work truck that Ford has greatly limited the options for because they're unpopular), they're VERY similar on price.
And those tax credits can not be depended upon year after year, and certainly not once EV's take hold. MSRP of the lightning work truck is still more than that of the gasser. That's all
We're talking about now, not some time in the future. If we want to talk future prices and credit availability, we'd also have to know a lot more about economies of scale for EVs, AND we can't even write off the possibility that Ford just lowers the price by an amount similar to the tax credit. MANY manufacturers have done that when their vehicles lost the $7500 tax credit: Chevy Bolt and, very recently, Hyundai, just to name two.
Range is less, and for MOST people, that matters.
Range matters to most people... to some level. For some use cases, specifically local fleets and commuter vehicles (owners take their SUV on family trips), range may not actually matter at all. For many use cases, range matters... to some level. If you're doing a typical "Long Trip" for Americans, you're driving ~280 miles each way. With a standard range Lightning, you'll have about 1.5 hours of charging to do, round trip. Reasonably, that's a net adder of about an hour on that trip, give or take, subtracting the time you would have stopped anyway for gas/bathroom/etc. A few hours per year for a normal use case isn't reasonably a dealbreaker. It should be considered a con and weighed against the pros: convenience of home charging, fuel savings of ~$800+ /yr for the average American, enough extra enclosed space in the frunk to hold the luggage for a family of 4, standard power outlets to power tools or essentials of your home in a power outage, better daily performance, etc.
For the huge number of people buying 4-door 4WD trucks, the Lightning can be VERY competitive on price and offer many advantages that should be balanced against the disadvantages.
Especially for work trucks/fleets where daily travel distance can be known to be under the range of the truck, it can be a very compelling option that's competitive on initial cost of ownership and wins in total operating cost when comparing 4-door trucks.
And why should one have to be a member of a private club to get a base model vinyl floor truck? Odd
You don't HAVE to be. I'm not a fleet owner, and there are several Lightning Pro (work trim) trucks available online.