I got on the Electric Ford F-150 Lightning early. No truck has a business as fast as this.


F-150 Lightning

Ford F-150 Lightning. Tim Levin / Insider

  • I rode Ford’s first electric pickup truck, the F-150 Lightning.

  • Lightning provides ridiculous acceleration and handling for a box-shaped 6,500-pound truck.

  • Ford says the F-150 Lightning can reach 60mph in 4-5 seconds and boast up to 563 horsepower.

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From a distance, all electricity Ford F-150 Lightning It looks like nothing special.

If you weren’t looking for them, you’ll see millions of gas-fueled Ford pickups rumbling on US roads every day, showing that truck LEDs aren’t just another You may not notice the light bar, the enclosed grille, and the subtle changes in bodywork.

When you step inside the truck, nothing shouts “electrically” or “futuristic.”Unlike some others New EV on the market, It doesn’t look overly sophisticated or technical. The Lightning has a huge central touchscreen, but its interior is generally shared with the rest of the F-150’s lineup.

F-150 Lightning

Ford F-150 Lightning. Tim Levin / Insider

But when Lightning moves, it’s quite clear that it’s not a regular truck. This is what I learned from riding a shotgun in a new vehicle around a test track in Dearborn, Ford, Michigan.

Creeping around the parking lot, Lightning was unpretentious and quiet. But the moment Lightning chief engineer Linda Zhang put it on the floor on one of the straights on the track, all that subtleties disappeared.

From the stop, Lightning exploded forward with a breathtaking force, returning me to my seat. I was 90mph before I knew it. Reaching highway speeds on traditional trucks means waiting for gears to shift as the engine spins to higher RPMs. The F-150 Lightning doesn’t hesitate-it immediately takes off at full power and it just keeps carrying.

With any EV, you can roughly experience this kind of instant and powerful acceleration. Commuting Kia NS High performance audi.. But with a bulky pickup like Lightning, the feeling is much more surreal, and by its appearance, there is no business that smokes a sports car in a straight line.

None of this was surprising. Ford promises that all-wheel drive Lightning will produce 775 pound-force torque and up to 563 horsepower. It nails 0-60mph between 4 and 5 seconds, making Lightning the fastest Ford truck ever. Even knowing all of this, it felt strange to run a track very easily with something very big. The quiet way Lightning moves around, without even the familiar engine moans and wind noises, makes the experience even more bizarre.

Ford F-150 Lightning

Ford F-150 Lightning. Tim Levin / Insider

The vehicle’s beast, the 6,500-pound Lightning, weighs more than 1,000 pounds more than the standard F-150 with a 1,800-pound battery pack. But you won’t know it’s on a shotgun. When Zhang flicked around the track, Lightning felt strangely light and feathery.

With a sharp turn, the truck was significantly planted. There was virtually no body roll that you would expect from a high-riding vehicle about 6 feet high. This is largely due to its heavy battery pack, which sits under the floor of the truck and lowers its center of gravity for assistance in handling.

After a test drive that was too short, Lightning, who parked a lot on the truck, was able to mix with other F-150s at a glance. And that was a kind of point.Ford sought to create a familiar, yet bring, electric truck function To a table that cannot be obtained with conventional pickups.

The absurd performance I experienced during the test drive is one perk that Zhang wants to attract buyers.

“Performance, ride comfort, towing, hauling, and the ability to move really fast-I think it’s a big reason-buy this truck,” Zhang said. “This is one of the vehicles like’Wow, I don’t think I can go back’once I get in.”

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