After months of legal drama, teasers, leaks, and a few prototype sightings, we finally received confirmation of the 2023 Ford F-150 electric pickup’s – or 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning as it’s officially called – existence, as well as a reveal date set for next Wednesday, May 19th. Ford also released a short teaser video and one image of the first-ever all-electric pickup, but that’s all we get for now.
It goes without saying, however, that the success of the 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning hinges on a number of factors, or numbers, really. As we discussed earlier this week, that includes how much it will cost. Electric vehicles are known to be more expensive than their ICE-powered counterparts, which has been a big obstacle in EV adoption. Regardless, our poll shows that most of our readers would be willing to pay $50,000-$60,000 for the electrified Lightning – which is not an insignificant amount.
Now, we want to discuss the second most important factor related to the potential success of the all-electric Ford F-150 – range. Many pickup truck drivers embark on long road trips or simply drive further on a daily basis than the average vehicle owner, oftentimes while towing trailers or hauling heavy loads. Thus, range could arguably be the most important factor in the electric F-150’s acceptance among truck buyers.
First, we must take a look at the competitive landscape to decide what is reasonable. The Rivian R1T will launch with a 300-mile battery pack, with a 400-mile battery pack option coming next year. The GMC Hummer EV pickup will launch with a 350+ mile range, with lower-range variants coming later on. A future Chevrolet Silverado EV will reportedly offer 400 miles of range. The Lordstown Endurance will launch with an estimated 250-mile range, while the Tesla Cybertruck promises to top all comers with a 500+ mile range for the tri-motor version.
Looking at these figures, it seems as if the 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning will need to offer buyers 300 miles of range, at a bare minimum, though we’d argue that it should at least match the Silverado – its long-time cross-town rival – with upwards of 400 miles of range. This should be possible given the large surface area the F-150 presents underneath, with plenty of space for a large battery pack.
Regardless, we want to know what our loyal Ford Authority readers think is an acceptable range for the electrified F-150, so we’ve included a poll below to gauge everyone’s opinion. So be sure and cast a vote in the poll, then elaborate on your choice in the comments section below. We look forward to reading your responses!
We’ll have much more on the 2023 F-150 Lightning soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford F-Series news, Ford F-150 news, F-150 Lightning news, and continuous Ford news coverage.
Which could be useful for those that live in certain areas.
Reducing auto tariffs from 25 percent to 15 percent.
A pretty amazing feat, given the abuse it suffered.
Taking over for Kevin Legel, who is retiring after 32 years.
And some pretty unique styling cues.
It's losing some badging as part of the mid-year update.
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If it's under 400 miles I would view that as a huge fail. Especially considering when towing that would likely drop to 200 miles depending on load. I expect 400+ in standard form and with an additional battery pack option in the bed to push it over 500.
At least 1,000 miles that can drop to about 500 while towing and charges in less than an hour would be ideal: )
It would need at least 400 miles cause or else towing with a boat on a trip would suck especially since range drops significantly with towing with EVs. However it’s really only Tesla who allows towing and Ford probably has something to make towing easier compared to the Model X but I would prefer about roughly 650 for safe measures and also I would like charging speeds like around what Rivian’s promising with the R1T since I don’t want to spend a hour+ at the charging station while I’m on a almost 5 hour trip with tired crying kids.
Range? I can't even consider range with that rake! It looks like it's gonna fall on it's face!
My 3.5l Eco boost routinely gets 600+ miles per tank and I routinely drive 300+ miles in a day. So those are my expectations. However, range limits might be mitigated by the availability and speed of charging.
I'd say 300-400 miles with a 5000 lb trailer. I'm not sure how much that translates to unloaded, but I'd guess it's around 600 miles unloaded. I always take half hour rest for every 6 hours of driving, so 300-400 miles would usually be my effective range.
Someone explain to me why an alternator, or multiple alternators, can't be attached to a rotating assembly, axle, driveshaft, something, to just charge while driving like a traditional i.c.e. vehicle does now. Then you would have virtually unlimited range.
Second law of thermodynamics?
Makes sense to me Raymond.
I pull a RV, which is why I ordered a 2021 F-150 full Hybrid. An electric vehicle without at least a 400 mile range is almost useless to me
If an alternator works fine to charge a battery, why don’t we use one in an Electric Car?
The two main reasons are:
1) An E.V. doesn’t have an engine
2) There’s a BETTER device to use than an alternator.
Remember, the ENERGY that powers the alternator is actually the mechanical energy created by the engine through combustion of fossil fuel. An electric car doesn’t have an engine or gas/diesel fuel. Instead, it has an electric motor and rechargeable battery. We COULD use the battery to spin the motor to spin the alternator to generate electricity. BUT at best, we would simply be using electricity to make electricity. Even worse, there are still losses on the way. Conversion losses often show up as heat, but noise and vibration as well. Essentially, using an alternator powered by an electric motor, we could only ever make a smaller amount of electricity than we started with. (If we could create an equal amount or more, we would have a Perpetual Motion Machine.) However, we COULD make a different voltage. An electric car battery pack is typically over 300VDC, whereas we only need a 12V system for headlights, radio, and other accessories.
It still has a rotating assembly, be it the spinning electric motor itself, driveshaft, or axle. There is something rotating that a belt, pulley, and alternator could be attached to in order to create a charging system. An alternator/generator doesn't need gas or diesel or combustion of fossil fuel, it simply creates energy by spinning. So I still don't understand, with today's technology, why we can't make an alternator (or multiple) attached to a rotating assembly that any and every vehicle has, to make a virtually perpetual motion machine.
50000 to 60000 is just to much for a work truck I want a ev but comeon most of my vehicles dident cost over 20000 honestly it's getting ridiculous. Justsayin