- I rode in the F-150 Lightning, Ford’s to start with electric powered pickup truck.
- The Lightning delivers absurd acceleration and dealing with for a boxy, 6,500-pound truck.
- Ford claims the F-150 Lightning hits 60 mph in 4-5 seconds and boasts up to 563 horsepower.
From afar, the all-electric powered Ford F-150 Lightning seems like almost nothing particular.
If you weren’t on the lookout for them, you could not observe the truck’s LED mild bars, enclosed grille, and delicate bodywork improvements that signal it is just not just one more of the thousands and thousands of gasoline-fueled Ford pickups found rumbling down US roadways everyday.
Stepping inside of the truck, you can find nothing at all that screams “electric powered” or “futuristic” either. Compared with some other new EVs coming to sector, it can be not overly sleek or techy seeking. The Lightning receives a giant central touchscreen but its interior is, by and huge, shared with the rest of the F-150 lineup.
Tim Levin/Insider
When the Lightning receives going, however, it will become abundantly crystal clear that it’s no regular truck, one thing I realized driving shotgun in the new vehicle all-around Ford’s Dearborn, Michigan take a look at observe.
Creeping all-around a parking good deal, the Lightning was silent, unassuming. But all that subtlety vanished the prompt the Lightning’s chief engineer, Linda Zhang, floored it onto 1 of the track’s straightaways.
From a end, the Lightning blasted ahead with spectacular force, throwing me back again into my seat. We ended up at 90 mph prior to I realized it. Receiving up to freeway speeds in a traditional truck usually means ready for gears to change as the motor revs to larger RPMs. You will find none of that hesitation in the F-150 Lightning — it will take off with all its may promptly, and it just keeps hauling.
You can working experience approximately this form of instant, highly effective acceleration in any EV, from a commuter Kia to a higher-effectiveness Audi. But the feeling is so considerably extra surreal in a cumbersome pickup like the Lightning, a truck that, by the looks of it, has no company smoking cigarettes sporting activities automobiles in a straight line.
None of this should’ve occur as a shock. Ford claims the all-wheel-travel Lightning will create 775 pound-toes of torque and up to 563 horsepower. It pegs -60 mph at amongst four and 5 seconds, creating the Lightning the fastest Ford truck at any time. Even understanding all this, hurtling all-around the keep track of so easily in some thing so massive felt weird. The way the Lightning zips all over silently, without having the familiar groan of an motor or even significantly wind noise, created the expertise even stranger.
Tim Levin/Insider
A beast of a auto, the 6,500-pound Lightning weighs over 1,000 kilos extra than a normal F-150 because of to its 1,800-pound battery pack. But you would not know it using shotgun. The Lightning felt oddly mild and feathery as Zhang flicked it all-around the monitor.
By way of sharp turns, the truck was remarkably planted. There was pretty much none of the human body roll you’d anticipate from a superior-riding motor vehicle that is some six toes tall. This is mostly thanks to its significant battery pack, which sits beneath the truck’s ground and lowers its center of gravity, helping with managing.
Parked in a ton at the keep track of following a way too-quick test ride, the Lightning could, at a glance, blend in with the other F-150s milling about. And that was variety of the position. Ford aimed to make an electric truck that is acquainted, however provides abilities to the table that you just can’t get in a traditional pickup.
The absurd performance I skilled all through my check trip is a single perk that Zhang hopes will draw potential buyers in.
“The overall performance, the journey, the ability of becoming capable to tow, to haul, and truly just move quickly — I assume is a big why-get for this truck,” Zhang reported. “It really is a single of those people automobiles that as soon as you get into it you happen to be just like, ‘Wow, I don’t assume I can go back.'”
