Technically, Ford previously confirmed an all-electric F-150. But in today’s automotive Wild West — where seemingly every company is making ridiculous EV claims (thanks, Elon Musk) — you can’t be sure who’s telling the truth. Ford, however, doesn’t like to tell. They like to show.
Today, America’s truck juggernaut not only released proof that an all-electric Ford F-150 is on the way, they confirmed it’s going to leave your gas-powered pickup in the dust. In a new video, a prototype of the truck hooks up to 10 double-decker freight cars filled with 42 2019-model year F-150s, adding up to 1.25 million pounds, and tows them over 1,000 feet.
Speaking of Elon, his little Dreamliner stunt seems pretty silly now, doesn’t it? According to The Verge, Tesla’s 287,000-pound haul holds the world record for heaviest weight towed by an electric car, but the electric F-150 looks poised to steal that title away.
We’re not saying this isn’t also a carefully crafted promotional stunt. (Besides Chief Engineer Linda Zhang, the video also features five normal F-150 owners who have “no idea” what’s going to happen.) Ford does add a warning: “The all-electric F-150 prototype is towing far beyond any production truck’s published capacity in a one-time short event demonstration. Never tow beyond a vehicle’s towing capacities.” But does that make it any less impressive? Of course not. And besides, what truck owner hasn’t, at one time or another, pushed their towing capabilities to the limits?
The only bad news tucked in with all of this undeniably great news? Ford still hasn’t set a release date for the all-electric model. But as this video and Ford’s other accelerated EV developments show — such as its expanded Volkswagen alliance and $500M Rivian investment — it will be announced faster than expected. Plus, a hybrid version of the truck is coming in 2020.
Until we can test it for ourselves, we’ll just be watching the video’s awkward fist bump-grab handshake at 49 seconds over and over.
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