Following its debut in the U.S. for the 2022 model year, the Ford F-150 Lightning has since launched in other, select parts of the world, including EV-friendly Norway. However, that list doesn’t include Australia, though a company called AusEV began bringing Ford F-150 Lightning pickups to that country and converting them to right-hand drive with the help of Advanced Manufacturing Queensland earlier this year. Now, those that have purchased one of these gray market Ford F-150 Lightning models in that country have a new bull bar they can purchase and install on the EV pickup.
According to Drive, a Brisbane-based company called TJM has created what it calls the “Venturer” bull bar for the Ford F-150 Lightning, which is similar to the existing unit its makes for models like the Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux, and Ram 1500. However, this is the very first bull bar that TJM has developed for an all-electric vehicle of any kind, and according to the company, it adds only 14 kilograms (31 pounds) of weight to that model, and is designed to work with the truck’s factory safety technology and ensure that sufficient airflow is maintained to the battery pack. The Ford F-150 Lightning Venturer bull bar is available now for $4,750.
“Our business is geared towards commercial fleet operations, and in particular into the resource sector, and as a part of that there is a requirement obviously for a bull bar,”’ said Alan Brady, AUSEV Chief Commercial Officer. “There wasn’t one for the F-150 Lightning in the market, so we reached out and collaborated with TJM and they’ve delivered something incredible” “It was an exciting project as we hadn’t had an EV here before,” added TJM’s project lead, Cameron Burns. “Obviously moving forward electric vehicles are going to become more and more common, so when we had the chance to work on one, we jumped at it. A lot of the mines and other buyers have isolators and terminals that they like to fit to the front of the cars for different equipment they need.”
Thus far, the Ford F-150 Lightning has proven to be quite popular in Australia, in spite of its elevated price tag when compared to its American counterpart and existing competition. Still, AusEV expects demand for the EV pickup to continue to grow, given the lack of suitable all-electric pickups in that country at the moment coupled with high demand for them.
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