If you told anyone from twenty years ago that the most popular trucks in America will be solely electric, they’d have told you that you were insane. Given the performance and battery efficiency of the time, this concern was most valid. Those who saw the potential in the earliest days of consumer-grade electric vehicles and hybrids knew that the medium would thrive. Others were rightfully skeptical if these electric vehicles were, in fact, the future of the automotive industry. In the modern era, electric vehicles have more than proved their worth, a result of decades worth of research and development. The proof is in the pudding for the 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning, which you can find at your local Ford dealer.
The 2022 F-150 Lightning is available in four trim levels, starting at an MSRP of $39,974 for the base trim level, the Pro. Every trim level will be appropriated for intense work, but the minutia is what separates the XLT from the Pro. The XLT is certainly work-focused with a standard 360-degree camera system and an interior workstation. Additionally, with the XLT, buyers can invest in an available integrated power generator located on the bed, outputting 9.6 kW of power for your tools.
The Lariat has a distinctive look, perhaps more than the preceding trims. The aforementioned onboard power comes standard, the tailgate can be opened with just the touch of a button, and the infotainment center is vastly upgraded to a 15.5-inch screen. Lastly, the Platinum trim brings comfort to a whole other level. A B&O audio setup is complemented by a large moonroof and leather seats that not only are capable of heating and ventilation but can massage your back while driving.
Power On
With the 2022 F-150 Lightning, it’s important to suspend your disbelief as the F-150 lightning has more horsepower and torque than the regular F-150. Two available batteries––the “Standard-Range” and “Extended-Range”––make up the two powertrains, both of which are AWD. The main differences between these two batteries come down to three things: horsepower, mileage, and towing capacity. Between the two, torque remains identical.
Let’s start with the Standard-Range battery, as this is the one that will come standard with the 2022 F-150 Lightning. The trucks that have this battery will create an estimated 426 hp and 775 lb-ft of torque and will harness a maximum towing capacity of 7,700 lbs. With a fully charged Standard-Range battery, the F-150 can travel an estimated 230 miles. Fortunately for buyers of the F-150 Lightning, a home-charging solution is included with your purchase. However, an 80-amp Ford Charge Station Pro is also available.
The Extended-Range battery is vastly more capable in both performance and battery efficiency. With this powertrain setup, the F-150 Lightning will produce 563 hp and the same 775 lb-ft of torque that we mentioned earlier. The maximum towing capacity with this battery is a notable improvement, this time raising the bar to 10,000 lbs. The number of miles that you can travel on a single charge is bumped up to an estimated 300 miles. Ultimately, this upgraded battery offers 32% more horsepower, nearly 30% more towing performance, and can travel 30% longer distances.
Does More Than Drive
Electric vehicles have brought more revolutionary concepts than their primary focus of operating solely on electricity. Ford offers its Intelligent Backup Power system to power your home when the lights go out. By working alongside the available 80-amp Ford Charge Station Pro, your F-150 Lightning will serve as a backup generator in times of emergency. With the charging station linked, your home will act as a personal power grid while your town or city is experiencing outages.
According to Ford, the backup power that will emit from your battery can give a household power for up to three days. A truck that can keep your house heated and your lights on while you are off the grid is nothing short of revolutionary. However, cautiously using this power output can result in up to ten days of backup power.
What’s a Frunk?
When you first saw the word Frunk, you may have thought it was a typo. As it turns out, it’s not just a clever name using a combination of the words ‘front’ and ‘trunk’. A rather silly name, but the execution is stellar. At first, the thought may not occur to everybody, but with the lack of an engine inside of the F-150 Lightning, the front of the vehicle can serve as an additional storage space. Of course, you’ll still have the bed of your truck for larger cargo, yet the frunk adds more space for everything else.
Unlike its gasoline-powered F-150 sibling, the F-150 Lightning doesn’t extend beyond its base bed size of 5.5-feet. Not to worry because this is where the frunk’s potential shines through. This 5.5-foot long bed gives you 52.8 cu.ft. of cargo space, which would frankly be all you would get on your average gasoline-powered truck with the same size bed. With the frunk, you’ll have an additional 14.1 cu.ft. of cargo space, which is about a 20% increase, bringing the total amount of cargo space to 66.9 cu.ft.
A Notable Mention
Ford has outdone itself with the 2022 F-150 Lightning’s infotainment center. Ultimately, the F-150 Lightning’s infotainment center replicates the most important functions of the regular F-150s’ system. However, the regular F-150 comes with a standard 8-inch screen, and opting for the upgraded system will increase this to 12-inches, 33% larger than the base screen. The F-150 Lightning ditches the 8-inch screen and includes the 12-inch as standard. Higher-tier models will swap it out for an even larger 15.5-inch screen. This 15.5-inch screen is thanks in part to the F-150 Lightning’s SYNC 4 implementation and matches a few other Ford vehicles such as the Mach-E with having the largest infotainment center ever in a Ford vehicle.
The Decade of the EV
Electric vehicles started humbly enough, but it wasn’t until now we could vastly increase their milage output while also powering something as large as a pickup truck. The F-150, on the other hand, is Ford’s best-selling truck for both itself and the entire North American market. The combining of the two was anything but surprising from a business point-of-view, but what was surprising, however, was the question of both if and when this could be feasible. The 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning was immediately met with interest and speculation from a variety of fans and critics alike, and the question then became how true the claims would be. Now that we have a general idea of the performance that we can expect, it’s clear that Ford has developed the proper EV technology to allow for such a possibility.
If you’ve never owned an EV before because you have historically enjoyed pickup trucks, then this one’s for you. Consumers no longer have to worry about losing a significant amount of power, and in many cases, the F-150 Lightning could outperform your current gasoline-powered pickup truck. Along with the state-of-the-art technology, the F-150 Lightning is what we suspect a future F-150 would look like, and there’s a strong chance that future models will take some liberties from its new electric sibling.
