Just now hitting the market, Ford's F-150 Lightning is poised to open the floodgates for electric vehicle adoption in the U.S. by showing how much an EV can do. While Tesla started the EV revolution, Ford will likely get credit for taking these vehicles mainstream, according to Axios. The Ford F-150 Lightning is the most anticipated vehicle in decades — and, so far at least, lives up to the hype.
Ford F-150 Lightning review: A watershed moment for electric vehicles (Axios)
Excerpt from Axios: Priced just under $40,000, the F-150 Lightning is a versatile and affordable gateway product that can be charged in under an hour. Ford is overhauling its F-Series pickup truck — America's best-selling vehicle — by ripping out the engine and transmission and replacing it with an electric powertrain. It's a bet-the-company move that, if all goes as planned, will attract buyers who never considered an EV — or a pickup — before. So far, it looks like a success: Ford has taken nearly 200,000 reservations and already bumped up production capacity twice, hoping to hit an annual rate of 150,000 by next year.
Car and Driver writes that Henry Ford was an employee of and friend to electricity pioneer Thomas Edison, so it shouldn't be much of a shock that in the early days of his car company, Ford developed an electric car. That early EV never made it to production in large part because the bestselling Model T was just that, a bestseller. Today, the Ford F-series is America's current sales champ, and Ford has chosen to leverage that brand with its first electric pickup, the F-150 Lightning.
2022 Ford F-150 Lightning Electrifies America’s Bestselling Vehicle (Car and Driver)
Excerpt from Car and Driver: Naming this F-150 "Lightning" isn't as egregious of a sin as the Mustang Mach-E, a name many of those with blue-oval blood cells consider sacrilegious. Buyers will recognize it as an F-150. But underneath it is closer to Mach-e GT than to any other F-150. All Lightnings get two motors, one on each axle, and a big battery between the frame rails of a modified F-150 chassis, with the biggest mod being the trailing arms that give the Lightning an independent rear suspension. The body is all but identical stamped and welded aluminum. The Lightning gets a closed-off grille with just a small opening for some heat exchangers, a sculpted hood, a flat and armored floorpan, and different taillights.
MotorTrend reports that pickup trucks were the longest holdout in the transition to electric vehicles, and for good reason. Their use cases are different, more diverse, and more challenging than anything a car or SUV deals with. They need to tow and haul and off-road as well as they commute, and those all take radically different skill sets.
2022 Ford F-150 Lightning First Drive: A Monumental Electric Pickup Truck (MotorTrend)
Excerpt from MotorTrend: The Lightning is one of the most important pickup trucks—vehicles, really—in history. Forget early adopters, environmentalists, and technophiles. This truck has to convince construction workers, farmers, ranchers, surveyors, and everyday truck fans that electric pickups aren't just viable but desirable. That an EV truck not only can do the work but also do it better. It does that. To get to brass tacks, the Lightning is the best-driving, best-riding, and best-handling F-150 you can buy. Ford knew its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck would be one of history’s most significant vehicles, and it didn’t miss.
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