Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) revealed its all-electric F-150 Lightning on Wednesday. The pickup features a “frunk” and standard all-wheel drive and starts at less than $40,000, undercutting many smaller electric cars on the market.
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Ford reveals F-150 Lightning
The F-150 Lightning starts at $39,974, and that price falls to $32,474 after the $7,500 federal tax credit. The truck has the same body as the rest of the F-150 lineup, except that its grill is closed off, and it features light bars that run the entire width of the truck on the front and back. Additionally, the truck is far different from the other trucks in the lineup when it comes to what's underneath.
The frame of the F-150 Lightning has stronger steel and reinforcements around its battery pack, which is situated between the rails. Ford is offering two battery sizes: one with a 230-mile range and the other with a 300-mile range. The truck can even act as a home generator during a power outage when it's plugged into an optional charging station setup. A fully charged battery can power the average house in the U.S. for three days.
Fox News reports that the engineering team said the batteries weigh about 1,500 to 1,800 pounds. The weights haven't been officially announced, and the weight doesn't appear to be a problem for the truck. Since there's no motor under the hood, the F-150 Lightning features a watertight 400-liter front trunk with a 400-pound capacity. The "frunk" has an underfloor storage bin with a drain that can hold wet items or ice.
Other details about the F-150 Lightning
The F-150 Lightning has dual inboard electric motors and can accelerate to 60 miles per hour in about four seconds. Fox News Autos confirmed that claim in a test ride. The battery will reach from 15% to 80% in only 41 minutes at a public fast-charging system and about 30 miles of electricity per hour with the available 80-amp home charger.
The truck also features the first fully independent suspension in the F-150 lineup, a maximum payload of 2,000 pounds and a tow rating of 10,000 pounds. During a demonstration, the F-150 Lightning towed a 5,000-pound trailer up a 25% grade without the level of noise put out by a conventional truck as it revs its engine and shifts gears. However, the truck does give off a hum when traveling at low speeds so pedestrians can hear it coming up behind them.
The inside of the truck is similar to that of the rest of the F-150 lineup, although it also has the 15.5-inch touchscreen found in the Ford Mustang Mach-E. Ford will roll out over-the-air updates to add new features to the touchscreen. Some of the options include Ford's BlueCruise hands-free driver assistance system and Phone as Key, which allows a smartphone to act as a key fob.
Ford is part of the Entrepreneur Index, which tracks 60 of the largest publicly traded companies managed by their founders or their founders' families.
