Ford's new F-150 Lightning is a very impressive EV on paper. It seems like Ford thought of everything. It perhaps had to with the electric pick up onslaught arriving to take on what is America's most popular vehicle with well-capitalised companies like Tesla, GM, Rivian entering the space. Perhaps the only underwhelming figure was its range - the 370 kms (230 miles) and 483 km (300-mile) figure that Ford shared which seemed far less than what EV companies like Tesla have been touting. But this also with caveats. And probably in use, the F-150 Lightning has a much higher range, something was revealed by famed tech YouTuber MKBHD.
Ford's claim according to MKBHD in his video on the car isn't just up to 483 km, but that figure has been calculated with 1000 pounds of weight in the car. The range of EVs changes depending on various variables, weight being one of the biggest ones, along with temperature or the lack of it, traffic and the way the vehicle is driven.
1000 pounds is a lot of weight - which means regardless of what the conditions are most users should be achieving the range Ford has promised without any of the caveats that are usually related to EVs. Ford plans on overdelivering that underwhelming with its promise.
While testing the prototype F-150 Lightning, MKBHD revealed that he had 591 kms (367 miles) of range in an empty car that had around 80 per cent charge on it. As per his calculations that meant, his car could have done more than 644 kms (400 miles) potentially. But the more safe 483 km (300 mile) EPA rate figure is to just make sure, whatever happens, the car wouldn't do worse than what the manufacturer has claimed.
The standard F-150 is the best selling vehicle in the United States
Ford has also not released the battery capacity of the vehicle though many believe it is packing something between 170-180 kWh.
Ford's move is clever and admirable considering range anxiety being a huge issue and people always wanting to gravitate towards a car that has better range. Ford has already received around 70,000 pre-orders for the F-150 Lightning which was recently driven and endorsed by US President Joe Biden.
