Like a Tesla with a tailgate: Test-driving Ford’s electric F-150 pickup

Even so, it’s an remarkable trip, and an essential 1. Ford’s F-series vans are as mainstream as they appear. They are the most popular motor vehicles in the US for 4 a long time straight. If Ford loyalists place 1000’s of battery-driven F-150s on the street, millions of sedans and SUVs can’t be far at the rear of.

The early signs glimpse promising. With a starting off value of about $40,000 for the most basic variation, Ford’s prepared very first-yr manufacturing of 150,000 Lightnings has presently bought out. Linda Zhang, main engineer of the F-150 Lightning, informed Bloomberg in late May that 50 percent of the reservations to acquire one particular were positioned by people who’d never ever owned a truck ahead of.

Even now, Lightning sales are just a fraction of the 726,000 F-sequence vans that Ford sold final calendar year. And the Lightning will not supplant gasoline-fueled pickups for several years to come.

And yet, individuals who decide for a Lightning Platinum are in for a superb trip. It is not a lot quicker than a common F-150, but it feels that way, many thanks to the most famous trait of today’s electric powered vehicles: their crazy acceleration. Ford promises a zero-to-60 time of four seconds. I settled for zero-to-40 down Ash Road in Brockton in about two seconds, and virtually felt my eyeballs flatten.

The Lightning’s 563 horsepower comes from a pair of electric motors mounted beneath the truck, involving each individual established of wheels. So there’s nothing at all less than the electrically operated entrance hood except 14 cubic toes of more cargo house, adequate room for cases of beer or sacks of cement. I also found standard residence electrical shops for driving ability resources and USB ports for recharging smartphones. Ford calls this wonderful compartment a “frunk,” and I drew appreciative crowds every time I popped it open.

At the opposite conclude, the five-foot rear mattress also features an electrically powered gate and a lender of energy shops, which include a 240-volt connection that could run your electrical oven. In reality, Ford features that a completely charged Lightning can present electrical power for an complete household for up to 10 times — if you initially fork out $4,000 to put in the essential wiring in your house.

My borrowed Lightning promised 291 miles of carbon-free of charge driving. I established out on a series of longish excursions, to Braintree, to Boston, to Providence. Whatsoever it took to kill a several kilowatts. I have in no way had much more enjoyable draining a battery.

My companion on one particular experience, Ronnette Taylor, owns Boston-based mostly Fireplace Code Style, which installs and maintains sprinkler systems through the metropolis, like the Boston Law enforcement headquarters creating. Taylor drives an F-150 each and every day, and located a lot to like in the battery-powered edition.

There was the prompt acceleration of class, but also a suspension program that floated with uncanny smoothness more than the worst streets Higher Boston has to present.

“It’s like currently being on a cloud,” Taylor claimed. And there was the close to-silence of the Lightning at startup. No cranking, no revving, just the refined purr of electromagnetic electric power. “It’s sort of hard,” mentioned Taylor, “because you never recall the car’s on.”

Taylor was a lot less amazed with BlueCruise, the technique that lets the Lightning generate alone on Interstates and other main highways, identical to Tesla’s Autopilot program. When activated, BlueCruise keeps the truck in its lane, steers close to curves, and retains a risk-free length among you and the motor vehicle ahead. But BlueCruise sets off alarms if you consider your eyes off the highway or your arms off the wheel. So Taylor wondered, what is the place? You could possibly as very well just push.

Taylor griped about the Lightning’s bewildering array of pushbuttons. But I’d say there weren’t ample. Far too a lot of features are controlled through a substantial touchscreen show. It’s outstanding for exhibiting a navigation map, but a lousy way to adjust the air conditioning. I’d discover myself on the lookout at the screen as a substitute of the road. Not excellent. Much more actual physical buttons, please.

But the most important challenge lies in recharging the battery. A speedy Google look for turned up a good deal of charging stations. There are even a batch in the parking great deal beneath the Encore Casino in Everett in which you can plug in for free of charge, then go upstairs and gamble. But most car chargers are tiny and tricky to location, and as opposed to fuel stations, there is never a major “Charge Below!” sign posted alongside the highway.

Worse still, the great the greater part are “Level 2″ chargers, which can take without end to supply a good demand. One that I discovered in the parking lot of a Brockton Walgreens informed me it’d have my vehicle at 100 % energy in about nine hours.

But on a journey to Providence, I arrived across a higher-velocity Level 3 charger operate by Electrify The united states, a business owned by Volkswagen. It boosted the Lightning’s battery from 40 to 83 % in 50 percent an hour, which my 10-yr-aged son and I invested browsing a nearby Walmart. The invoice arrived to $25.37, but I didn’t have to pay back due to the fact Electrify The united states is furnishing totally free charge-ups for new electrical Fords.

When will electrical cars enter the mainstream? When there are chargers as speedy or a lot quicker than this on almost each street corner — and not prior to.

For three days, the Lightning and I experienced been touring gentle. At final I set it to perform. At a Brockton U-Haul I rented the most significant trailer they had, a six-by-12-foot box that weighed a ton when vacant. Then it was off for a spin down Route 24.

The Lightning was up to it. As an alternative of fierce acceleration, the electrical motors sent clean, decisive energy as I merged into traffic. The climb to 60 miles for every hour was effortless, and the trip remained secure and sedate.

And then I checked the battery amount. Ahead of hooking up the trailer, it confirmed ample ability for a different 219 miles of driving. But with 2,000 lbs hanging off the rear stop, predicted mileage dropped to 119 miles. And that was with an vacant trailer. If I’d been basically hauling one thing, it would have been worse.

This may possibly be tolerable for individuals who only haul major masses about shorter distances, and have quick accessibility to a fast charger. But for a lot more demanding end users, it looks like a potential deal-killer. Also, I tested the Lightning in summertime problems. How will it carry out in a nor’easter, with a foot of snow on the floor and the chilly draining the battery? (You just can’t even use the Lightning to decide on up some extra bucks clearing your neighbors’ driveways. There is no plow package deal obtainable.)

Which correctly sums up my Lightning practical experience: It’s extra clearly show horse than plow horse — high-class, refined, and deliciously pleasurable to generate, the fantastic vehicle for anyone in the market place for a greater, more durable Tesla.

Hiawatha Bray can be reached at [email protected]. Observe him on Twitter @GlobeTechLab.