Ford Set to Reveal Electric Lightning Next Week
The Ford Lightning is back. And it’s electric.
We’re sure that last bit will piss a few of you off.
Yeah, one can argue it’s weird for the name that one was bestowed upon Ford’s high-performance pickup to now be put upon a truck with an electric motor instead of a bad-ass V8, but on the other hand, well lightning and electricity just go together. Not to mention that an electric truck can be a performance rig.
That latter part is actually more important — arguments about the name are one thing, but the question is, will the truck be any good? Will it be performance-oriented or simply an F-150 with an electric powertrain?
We won’t know until next Wednesday, May 19, at 9:30 EST.
That is when Ford will stream the unveiling live from Dearborn out across the world using social channels like Facebook and YouTube. Ford also says the unveiling will be beamed to New York’s Times Square and the Las Vegas Strip, presumably via electronic billboards. The company claims there will be more than 30 ways to watch the cover come off.
“Every so often, a new vehicle comes along that disrupts the status quo and changes the game
More from Farley: “The truck of the future will be built with quality and a commitment to
That’s a lot of PR speak that tells us little that we don’t already know. The only real news nugget in the release is that production begins next spring at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center.
For all the rest, we wait.
[Image: Ford]
Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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I hope it turns out to be a great truck. Honestly, like many, I would be driving a new truck if my budget allowed. The seats in my 2000 F250 are in great shape but offer no shoulder and neck support like the thrones on the modern trucks. Beyond that I keep it off the road during salt season because I want to make it last my lifetime. The new diesels are hugely expensive. They are also extremely powerful. But the hoops they have to jump through to meet emissions makes them very expensive to maintain. My old 7.3 at 150000 miles runs with no visible exhaust unless I absolutely floor it. This past weekend I drove to Michigan. We fueled up upon arrival. I had 498 miles on the trip meter with a quarter tank still showing. Average was 18.6 mpg. Going home towing a 28 foot enclosed trailer that is 8.5 feet wide and 9 feet tall I averaged 12.6 mpg. The trailer was empty and weighs 4000lbs. This is full crew cab with an 8 foot bed and 4WD. So go ahead Ford, make an electric truck that can do what I just did in a 21 year old Ford. Make it as reliable as my 7.3L diesel, give me similar or better towing and hauling capacities and price it in line with your current diesel or gas trucks. Do this and it wont matter that you bailed on making cars.
I guess if you're going to attach any name from the past to an electric vehicle, Lightning would be a top choice. But "it's even quicker than the original F-150 Lightning performance truck?" I should certainly hope so! The original took 7.2 seconds to hit 60 and 15.6 seconds to do the quarter mile per Motor Trend. That was good for '93, but it would be mediocre in a performance vehicle today.