Ford showed off its all-electric F-150 pickup truck prototype by towing 1.25 million pounds of train cars and trucks. With it, the brand confirmed that a capable, mass-market electric Ford pickup is coming!
Ford may have just redefined the term “muscle car.” And it has nothing to do with the Mustang. The Detroit automaker today released video of an all-electric F-150 prototype effectively acting as a train engine. In the video below, the prototype truck pulls 10 double-decker train cars loaded with 42 trucks. According to the video, that’s about 1.25 million pounds!
“Full disclosure: I’m all in on EVs. Climate change … you had me at hello,” Ted Cannis, Ford’s global director of electrification, said. “But what we’re doing here is not just about air quality or rising sea level. We are all about building better trucks for our customers who have real work to do every day. Trucks that can do more for our owners. Trucks that meet new sets of needs.”
Electric Ford F-150 Tows Train
Ford is working hard to grease the wheels for an easy entry of its Hybrid F-150 pickup, hitting the market next year, and an all-electric F-150, which should hit the market around 2022. The brand is working hard to prove that these new trucks will have the toughness, capability, and innovation F-150 customers have come to expect.
The latest PR stunt on this front is a single all-electric prototype F-150 towing 10 double-decker train cars filled with 42 gas-powered 2019 F-150 trucks — representing 42 years of the truck’s storied history leading American truck sales. The prototype F-150 hauled the 1.25-plus-million pounds, from a standstill, for a total of 1,000 feet.
What’s more, the electric F-150 truck prototype managed this feat without chirping a tire and with little noise at all. The massive amount of torque available through the electric powertrain, and the crazy-smart traction control, allowed the comparatively tiny truck to get the massive train moving at a good clip from a standstill. To be sure, hauling that kind of load from a resting position is a truly impressive feat!
Ford Electric F-150 Pickup Marketing Strategy
The audience Ford is trying to court with this PR stunt is obvious. In the video, a group of Ford F-150 owners witnesses the herculean test — and they’re all blue collar men. One even proudly exclaims, “Let’s get ’er done!”
And that’s the audience Ford needs to win over with the EV F-150: hardworking farm/construction truck owners. That demographic currently proves far less likely to own an electric vehicle.
Oddly enough, what many may not know is that Ford’s chief engineer for the world’s best-selling pickup is a woman, Linda Zhang. And she’s the one behind the wheel — and the only woman — in this PR video.
Ford’s Electric Vehicle Future
Sure, the all-electric F-150 will help keep the iconic truck atop the market. But Ford has more than that single class-leading vehicle in its EV future.
“And, as a reminder, we are also working feverishly on our plans to reveal our fully electric, Mustang-inspired SUV,” Cannis said.
Not going to lie, that’s something I want to see! Could we finally be getting a reasonably priced, usable-range, fun, good-looking SUV — one to become the perfect outdoor adventuremobile? The EV future looks bright across all types of vehicles.
Don’t get too excited just yet, though. Neither of these new Ford EVs is expected to hit the market until the 2022 model year. We’ve still got plenty of time to speculate on what capabilities these vehicles will really come to market with.
