The best selling vehicle in Canada has gone electric
May 19, 2021
10:00 PM EDT
After years of hype, Ford has pulled back the curtain on its all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck.
The truck has been in development for the last three years and is the follow-up to the Mustang Mach-e that was revealed in 2019. A lot is riding on the electrification of the F-150 considering Ford’s F-series trucks are the most popular vehicles sold in North America.
The truck starts at $58,000 CAD and has a range of 370km. The more tricked-out ‘XLT’ version starts at $68,000 CAD and can drive 483km per charge. This is roughly $10,000 CAD more than it costs to convert the U.S. base price of $39,000 USD (roughly $48,000 CAD).
This price puts the electric F-150 more in line with Tesla’s Cybertruck that starts at roughly $50,980 CAD, and vastly undercuts the presumed to be expensive electric Hummer and the Rivian R1T, two other hotly anticipated electric trucks.
The Lightning is also the fastest truck that Ford’s ever made, with a snappy 0-60km time of 4.4 seconds. It’s no Porsche Taycan, but for a truck, it’ll likely turn some heads.
The highest-end Hummer EV hits 0-60km in three seconds, and Elon Musk says the fastest Cybertruck trim hits 100km in 2.9 seconds. That said, Musk also stated the vehicle’s windows were strong enough to stand up to a huge metal ball being thrown at them, and we all know how that went.
Overall, Ford might not have the quickest truck off the line, but when it comes to EVs, that instant torque feels pretty nice no matter what car you’re driving. For instance, the Volvo XC40 Recharge I spent time driving featured a 1-100km time of 4.9 seconds, and it still felt like a pretty fast SUV in every practical sense.
EVs also have a lower centre of gravity and Ford says the Lighting is perfectly balanced, which also makes it the best handling F-150 ever.
The Ford Lightning has a 2,000lbs payload capacity and a 10,000lbs towing capacity. To help this, the truck has 563hp and 775 foot-pounds of torque. To keep track range when carrying a heavy load, drivers can add optional scales to know exactly how much a full load will impact battery life.
One of the cooler features Ford announced during the truck’s reveal is that the Lightning F-150 can power a house during an outrage via reverse charging. With DC fast-charging, Ford says that the truck gets roughly 87km per 10-minutes and can go from 15-80 percent in 41 minutes. The included home charger that comes with the truck can bring the vehicle from a 15 to 100 percent charge in eight hours, making it perfect for overnight charging.
Design
Ford hasn’t changed that much about the exterior of the electric F-150 Lightning, which I’m sure will please current F-150 owners who looked at the Cybertruck and just shook their head.
To make it stand out, there’s a new front lightbar framing the grill to give the truck a subtly modern look. I’m actually a pretty big fan of the design, and I think it should help current truck owners seriously think about switching to an electric version. I think the Rivian R1T — which Ford is actually invested in — still holds my heart with its design, but overall, the F-150 Lightning is a very truck-looking truck.
There’s also a rear tail light bar that stretches from one side to the other and surround lighting that can be used at night as a decent area light.
Ford also says there are three different grill designs for the new F-150 and that it’s the most aerodynamic truck it’s ever released.
The real standout is the massive front frunk that Ford says can fit up to 400 litres of gear. Plus, there are even plugs in the waterproof front trunk and the bed, allowing people to power tools and other electrical gadgets. Ford says there are 11 outlets stationed around the truck.
Inside, the Lightning Ford rocks a 15.5-inch display with a portrait orientation like the Mach-E and a 12-inch screen for the instrument cluster. Notably, the truck also retains the giant volume knob from that electric Mustang.
All versions of the F-150 Lightning will come with a large crew cab design, allowing it to fit five people.
Smarts and tech features
Not only is the truck outfitted with electrical outlets, it also features Ford’s new BlueCruise driver assistance technology that works on 160,000km of approved highways in Canada and the U.S.
For people who need to haul a lot of trailers, Ford’s ‘Pro Trailer Hitch Assist’ can back up and control the truck automatically to make hitching a trailer easy enough for a single person to do.
The company is also adding a new feature that allows users to use their phone as a key. Finally, like most modern EVs, the F-150 Lightning will get over-the-air updates that Ford calls Power-ups.
Ford expects to start getting electric F-150s into the hands of the Canadians by mid-2022.