Ford’s new electric pickup truck ‘Lightning’ coming soon

KUALA LUMPUR: For the last few months, Ford has been teasing the electric version of its highly-popular F-150 pickup truck, without disclosing its name. However, a last week’s report suggested that the upcoming model will go by the name ‘Lightning’. Well, that was correct. The American automaker now confirmed that the all-electric pickup truck will be called the F-150 Lightning, it will resurrect a moniker that once donned the performance-based F-150 in 1993.

Besides revealing the pickup’s name, Ford also released its new teaser and announced the official debut date i.e. May 19, 2021. It will happen at Ford's World Headquarters in Dearborn with a live stream happening at the same time for the world.

Although teasers are not much revealing, they suggest that the electric F-150 would have a fully enclosed grille edged by vertical headlamps with integrated U-shaped daytime running lights. On the side of the pickup’s bed, we can also notice a Lightning badge just ahead of the tail lights.

Ford did not specify any figures about the F-150 Lightning performance but it does mention that the pickup will be able to “power your home during an outage; it’s even quicker than the original F-150 Lightning performance truck, and it will constantly improve through over-the-air updates.” It is to be noted that the original F-150 Lightning performance truck had a V8 mill under the bonnet. Further, it is also said to be more powerful than the earlier F-150 Raptor that carried a 3.5-litre EcoBoost V6 mill churning out a maximum power of 450 hp and a peak torque of 691 Nm.

Ford President and CEO Jim Farley stated, "Every so often, a new vehicle comes along that disrupts the status quo and changes the game (Model T, Mustang, Prius, Model 3). Now comes the F 150 Lightning.” He further added, "America's favorite vehicle for nearly half a century is going digital, and it will constantly improve through over-the-air updates."

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