Why The Ford F-150 Lightning is a Game Changer!

ford was kind enough to invite me to their michigan proving grounds for the f-150 lightning unveiling and let's just say i was pretty excited if you haven't heard the ford f-series has been in production since 1948 and has been the best-selling vehicle in america for over 40 years plus it's pretty cool to see the performance oriented lightning nameplate make a comeback but this time in the form of the company's new flagship electric pickup truck so after a few zero to 80 miles per hour launches on their high speed track ascending over 45 degree climbs and towing 6 000 pounds and doing some off-roading just how good is it has ford caught lightning in a bottle and aside from specs why might this be the most important automotive story of the year so that question we thought deserved a deeper dive here on two bit da vinci [Music] the year is 1981. robert de niro wins the oscar for best actor in raging bull songs like lady by kenny rogers and endless love by dana ross and lionel richie are topping the billboard charts i wouldn't even be born for another three years and this will be the last year a ford f-series wasn't the best-selling vehicle in the united states that sort of dominance by one product in any category is unprecedented ford's calling their much anticipated electric f-150 the f-150 lightning the lightning nameplate ran from 1993 to 1995 and then from 1999 to 2004 as a high-performance version of the f-150 produced by the ford special vehicle team svt this then had a fair bit of special to live up to so i'm on my way to the michigan proving grounds in romeo michigan where ford has a special event and they were kind enough to drop off this this is the ford f-150 2021 hybrid and uh pretty amazing truck i gotta say it's got me really excited about the f-150 lightning i knew i'd most likely have for my opinion about the truck within a few minutes does ford really believe in electric pickup truck what are their true motivations and intentions well then i saw it and i didn't know what to make it first i mean it looked pretty nearly identical to the 2021 f-150 i drove to the event not exactly of course gone was any need for a grill to provide cooling for an inefficient gas engine ford says f-150 lightning is the most aerodynamic f-150 ever with improvements like newly shaped running boards a sculpted hood to reduce drag and grills that replace air intake holes with a smoother textured surface the tail lights are also highly stylized and special distinctly part of the lightning package and of course the distinct lightning badges but otherwise this is an f-150 through and through so what does that mean for ford's intent with this truck before i answer that i'm going to address the stainless steel elephant in the room [Music] i'm sure many of you clicked this video to see how the f-150 compares to tesla's much anticipated cyber truck yeah i can understand that being a cyber truck reservation holder myself i personally didn't get the cyber truck for its looks i got it because for 70 thousand dollars i could have a tri-motor supercar with 500 miles of pure electric range and crazy capabilities so if you bought it for similar reasons you'll be interested in the f-150 lightning as well if you bought the cyber truck because you want radically different cutting edge and want to attract attention wherever you go well then the f-150 and the cyber truck straddle two ends of a spectrum understated reserved and conservative for the f-150 and brash over-the-top and attention-grabbing for the cyber truck this will be a personal decision for each of us but for me i'm all about understatement i've always loved the old bmw m cars because say for a few badges and trim pieces all that specialness was always well concealed ford has wildly intrigued me with their electrification strategy their first car was a mustang mock e sure it's a bit controversial since it has four doors no gas engines but it is a phenomenal ev and associated with one of ford's most successful name plates the mustang to my eye it has better proportions than a model y and more spirit and soul than volkswagen id4 then the second go is their legendary f-150 line of pickup trucks ford sells nearly 1 million f-series pickup trucks each year and for them nothing is more sacred they didn't design an offshoot brand for evs or some new quirky looking hatchback they went straight for the bread and butter drive an f-150 lightning and the current performance version of the f-150 the raptor will seem like a toy for children let's get into some of those characteristics we met at ford's michigan proving grounds for a reason because in my time with the ford engineering team a few themes stood out first is that above all else this is an f-150 and as such was put through the entire gamut of torture testing like any f-series truck built for a tough might just be a slogan to you and me but not to these guys i heard it over and over again for example one of the engineers who works on the off-road capabilities team gave me a drive on their off-road track on the early part of the stage we were flying like a rocket at what felt like very uncomfortably fast speeds on a rally track then we're crawling over some of the biggest rocks and divots i've ever seen he told me the entire underside of the truck had a skid plate that is designed to support the entire weight of the truck then proceeded to smack it and the truck hard up on every rock and hill we straddled you know electric cars have all those batteries and in this case two electric motors straddle behind the wheels in ford's own words rugged underbody protection keeps the battery safe with metal skid plates shielding both the battery and inboard motors from tough terrain the battery itself is secured inside waterproof casing surrounded by crass absorption protection and has been tested at temperatures as extreme as -40 degrees fahrenheit to ensure lightning can perform when needed most before i talk about more driving impressions let me switch gears and talk about a surprising feature about this truck the first 15 minutes of the event weren't even about driving but instead about how when the f-150 arrives it'll be 6 500 pounds of mobile energy generation yes it supports vehicle to grid we talked about the tragedy that happened when a super cold snap in texas left many without power with an absolutely massive battery like the f-150 will have you could power a house for three to ten days in the event of a power failure if you were willing to conserve energy i'm pretty sure you could hit that 10-day mark but what's even more amazing is that the lightning can support 9.6 kilowatt loads to put that into perspective let's compare that to my powerwall 2 system i have installed in my house that supports 5 kilowatt sustained loads tesla had to install a separate critical loads panel which includes all my lights and normal circuits but excludes my air conditioning my electric double oven and my car charger those loads just couldn't be handled by one powerwall i would have needed to have two you probably heard recently that tesla will be upping their powerwall output to between seven and nine kilowatts which are smart and will be way easier to install since they wouldn't need this separate critical loads panel the lightning ev pickup if the home inverter is installed can do the same thing as two power walls run your whole entire house but with between 100 and 200 kilowatt hours of capacity can do so far longer than even 10 power walls this has long been one of my gripes with tesla and i'm very happy to hear how consumer friendly the lightning will be supporting vehicle to grid for the record the battery pack size is yet unknown so i'm just speculating but it should be pretty close but the power output doesn't just end there by being the best-selling truck for over 40 years i think ford is pretty attuned to what truck buyers are looking for that 9.6 kilowatt output to power your house also extends to all the outlets in the cab bed and frunk there's even a 240 volt outlet for seriously heavy machinery in the demo they gave the engineering team showed that an air compressor a table saw various lighting and fans a cement mixer and much more could all be powered in the event that the job site doesn't exactly have power outlets that's pretty freaking cool and it means you're not loading up a big gas or diesel generator in the bed of your truck this is the future and this is the sort of capability all truck guys should be looking forward to with excitement it's the same reason i was so excited about the cyber trucks outlets and built-in air compressor i think this stuff is going to seriously matter for people who use their trucks for work and tailgating too play some music back there you know another cool evie benefit that gasoline truck customers can look forward to is the front trunk or frunk according to ford under the hood is a versatile high-tech mega power frunk offering dedicated storage space that's secure lockable and easily accessible by a powered open and closed system this spacious area targets 400 liters of volume and 400 pounds of payload enough to stow two carry-on bags and a checked bag or two sets of golf clubs odds are for future lightning bars the first time your friends and neighbors will even know your truck is electric is when you open the front trunk and load it up that's going to get some attention and questions like where's the engine speaking of truck people let me take a minute and address all the ford f-150 or any gas pickup truck fans the age of electrification started with a whimper with cars like the general motors ev1 that was tiny they tried a prius that was slow and the nissan leaf that was odd and uninspired i can understand that there are a lot of people out there who aren't exactly excited about a future with all electric vehicles but here's the thing i think you should get the early evs out of your mind and realize the electrification doesn't have to mean compromise the chief engineer of the lightning program linda zhang gave me a good idea of just how fast the truck was on their high speed track 0-60 happens in less than 4.5 seconds for a 6500 pound pickup truck that's pretty wild but the amazing drive goes far beyond just blistering straight line speed ford dropped off a gas hybrid 2021 f-150 for me to drive to and from the event this was amazing because it gave me a back-to-back comparison between the two the gas f-150 has a 10-speed gearbox which felt like it was constantly searching for the right gear going from cruising at a fixed speed to needing to speed up quickly felt like it took ages between the turbos that need to spool up opening throttle bodies and gear changes the gas truck was zippy but slow to react and felt very jerky with constant gear shifts jump into the electric f-150 lightning and things get very interesting the time from stepping further into the accelerated pedal and getting thrown back into your seat happens in what feels like nanoseconds accelerating uphill or from a dead stop all just feels effortless all this with a single speed gearbox and zero shifting that isn't enough consider this the f-150 lightning has the lowest center of gravity of any ford pickup truck in history this means changing lanes or turning into turns feels like a sports car that feeling of riding on rails this is the complete opposite feeling i had in the gas f-150 which more closely resemble sailing a boat the level of body roll gave me the sense that i could flip this thing over at any minute in comparison the lightning felt like a stretched out mustang with a bed on the back wow that would be a cool idea for a new model the mustang el camino the lightning even has for the first time on an f-series truck an independent rear suspension if you haven't driven any electric vehicles you really need to head out and drive one to fully understand this feeling all versions of the lightning will come with dual motors 563 horsepower and 775 foot-pounds of torque of total output which is definitely impressive but again the numbers can't convey just how instant and linear that power delivery really is so to the gas f-150 owners you will not believe how amazing the lightning is to drive but clearly you're not buying it to race it on a track let's talk towing i also got a ride in a car driven by an engineer who works on the towing experience team ford has some pretty cool tech here to help you with connecting trailers and tow hitches with cameras and self-alignment tools we drove a lightning hooked up to a 6 000 pound trailer and completed a course with climbs of up to 45 degrees and also downhills both of which are very taxing on a truck with electric motors instant torque and a fixed speed gearbox concerns of engine or transmission overheating are a thing of the past plus on the way down the car doesn't even have to use the brakes opting instead to recharge the battery pack and regain range again if i had to sum up my experience the word i'd use is effortless the truck felt bored and i found myself looking back to make sure the trailer was still attached the f-150 lightning will have two thousand pounds of hauling and ten thousand pounds of towing capability and features a class 4 tow hitch being built for tough here means that this truck has been exhaustively endurance tested in some of the biggest hill climbs around while the electric motor is so efficient that it's easy to cool the batteries are another story ford will be using a lithium-ion pouch cell with a nickel manganese cobalt cathode through engineering they've gotten their cobalt content down significantly and have also invested heavily into a very capable thermal management system for the battery cells while towing large amounts of very steep inclines the power required from the battery can be extremely high and these high heat scenarios have to be designed for it the f-150 lightning has a battery cooling system large enough to handle any loads you can throw at the truck this isn't some special ev this is the f-150 and electric or not it has to stand up to every single test a traditional f-150 would be subjected to this peace of mind and thorough testing is something i think truck buyers will really appreciate especially the people who tow boats or fifth wheels and rvs and really understand how taxing hauling can be so the f-150 lightning is an off-road capable monster that doesn't need high gears or low and it has vastly superior electric motors that provide instant torque all the time they drive all four wheels and even comes equipped with hardcore off-road tech like limited slip differentials it will do zero sixty in about four and a half seconds and handles more like a mustang than a pickup truck internal combustion engines in contrast are very fickle things needing the mechanical advantage of first gear to help get the truck moving since horsepower and torque are very low at the start then gas engines have this tiny little sweet spot of max torque and so you see these trucks like the gas f-150 with 10-speed transmissions to try to mitigate this problem switch to electric and you have motors capable of a million miles with almost no maintenance that have the massive torque band starting at 0 rpm the only competition it will have will be from the cyber truck and the rivian r1t because if you're bringing a gas engine to an ev fight you've already lost before you began there is no possible engineer transmission ever offered on any f-series pickup truck that can provide the performance and capability that the f-150 lightning can provide plus if you live in areas with wildfires hurricanes tornadoes earthquakes or anything else you can always rest easy knowing that you have a massive portable power station in your garage ford claims that using the electrify america 150 kilowatt chargers the standard range truck can go from 15 to 80 percent charge in about 44 minutes and gain up to 41 miles in 10 minutes the extended range models are even faster 15 to 80 in 41 minutes and up to 54 miles in 10 minutes of charging these are pretty impressive charging speeds and we'll know more about the specifics when the full battery details are available but it appears ford is serious about battery research and tech as they've established a new global battery center of excellence named ford ion park in southeast michigan this is where ford hopes investments in r d can pay dividends for their future electrification projects speaking of centers of excellence i should also point out where the f-150 lightning is going to be manufactured unlike the ford mustang mach e which has caught some flack for being manufactured overseas the lightning will be manufactured in the heart of ford country at the legendary rouge complex in dearborn michigan which will also be a zero waste to landfill site ford is investing 700 million dollars into the historic rose complex adding 500 new jobs and employing advanced sustainable manufacturing technology to build the truck as part of its commitment to becoming carbon neutral by 2050. all right so let's cover what we know so far and what is yet to be revealed one the long range truck will have around 300 miles of real world range two there will be two range options the standard range and the extended range three we do not know the exact battery size but we do know the battery partner will be sk innovations four this one really shocked me but the starting price point will be 39 974 which would be for the standard range variant and possibly a base trim but still pretty attractive starting price point five it will support vehicle to grid and ford can walk you through setup to enable the feature at the time of purchase six it will charge using the ccs standard just like the mach e and they are partnering with electrify america and others to form a charging network for the truck seven the lightning will be arriving in mid-2022 eight their software architecture has been built to be upgradeable via over-the-air software updates nine they will have their own in-house developed self-driving technology they call blue cruise it is purely camera based and the truck will not have lidar before we wrap this up let's talk about what i think will be ford's largest challenges while they claim their route navigation computers will assess everything from weather to elevation changes and total vehicle weight and properly route you to the best possible chargers along any route i still need to see this take it on a thousand mile road trip and see it for myself i recently drove a volkswagen id4 on a thousand mile road trip and it actually stranded me at an electrify america charger that wasn't even in operation tesla has a first party charge network they can closely integrate with while ford is partnering with others now for the ford system the charging should be seamless the truck and charger will perform a handshake and billing will be automatically handled just like the tesla superchargers but there's still lots of details here that i want to learn more about second i have so many questions about their blue crew self-driving platform while little has been revealed about it and while it's purely based on camera and computer vision this is one of the great engineering problems of our time and i really need to see more from ford about this tech to form a better opinion third their user interface will resemble the mustang machi with a very large portrait screen for all controls except for a single rotary dial in the bottom of the display my feelings about the maki which i have spent time with is that it's a pretty impressive start for ford but i'd really like to use it for a longer period of time before forming an opinion about it from a day-to-day perspective lastly another challenge i can't help but think about is their legacy dealer network most dealers make good money on maintenance and repairs and well some of that revenue won't exist with an electric truck will they be eager to push the lightning models over gas ones also i hope they don't mark up the prices like some dealers did for the mach e knowing there's high demand before supply can keep up all this being said in my humble opinion this is the best f-150 of all time and i think ford has a clear winner on their hands so let's wrap this up and talk about what ford's intentions truly are are they serious about this car or is it some marketing stunt or a compliance car i will say choosing the mustang and the f-150 models as their first two forays into evs is quite telling compare this to what gm did with the bolt a wholly new model and seemingly distance from their core offering ford has one of the most difficult challenges in all of business on their horizon they have the very unenviable task of replacing their best selling pickup truck legend with something new and something electric ford will have to market the merits of the electric pickup while not entirely turning customers away from their gasoline ones this is because they will not have the battery supply to build a million electric f-150 pickup trucks a year for several years they will probably have to invest in their own battery manufacturing before that's even possible that's the very real challenge they face but based on all the information i've seen ford is ready and serious about the future of electric mobility the f-150 isn't radical weird or quirky it's representative of every truck they've ever built they aren't appealing to early adopters and people who love cutting edge technology they're appealing to the millions of people who are looking to buy a pickup truck each year people who either depend on their trucks for their jobs and livelihoods or love all the fun and entertainment that they provide after work the real question is what do you think of the f-150 lightning the good news is that whatever you might ask of a truck the lightning will probably do it better than any gas truck before it but it is still a radical departure from the over 100 years of internal combustion engines will buyers be worried about range anxiety because 40 minutes to fill up from 15 to 80 percent fast enough for truck buyers sound off in the comments section and let me know what you think i will be reaching out to ford for further access and information as it becomes available this was a tough video to get out on time based on their schedule but i have to say i'm pretty excited about this truck and when the best selling vehicle in america for four decades goes electric we all have cause for excitement so what do you guys think i'd love to hear your feedback and especially any questions you have i tried to cover everything i possibly could but please leave me all your comments and i will reach back out to ford and i can make follow-up videos as more information is revealed huge thanks to all of our channel members and patrons on patreon your support helps us pay for the cost to attend events like this and continue to bring you independent videos here for free on youtube if you want to be a rockstar supporter of this show please consider joining the 2-bit tribe and join us as a channel member or as a patron links will be in the description take a look around the channel we have quite a few reviews on a lot of evs already and we plan on covering quite a bit more in the near term this is an exciting time to be alive i'm ricky with tuba davinci and remember the future is going to be awesome

Channel: Two Bit da Vinci

Views: 541,570

Keywords: f-150 lightning, ford f150 lightning, ford f-150 lightning, new ford lightning, electric f150, electric f-150, ford f150, ford f 150 lightning review, f-150 lightning specs, ford truck commercial, ford f 150 lightning, ford electric truck 2021, 2022 ford lightning, ford truck, electric truck, ford electric truck, new f-150, electric f-150 truck, all electric f-150, Ford lightning, Ford F150 lightning, joe biden, tech news, ford lightning reveal, ford lightning 2022, f150

Id: WKIRfPjR-To

Length: 22min 30sec (1350 seconds)

Published: Thu May 20 2021