How the Ford F-150 Lightning Electric Truck Is so Darn Cheap
Weeks after the electric Lightning was unveiled to the public, people are still talking about it, thanks to its relatively affordable pricing and solid performance. In fact, the Lightning is set to take the title as the quickest F-150 model thanks to its estimated 4.4-second 0-60-mph time. Credit the truck’s two electric motors, which provide 563 hp and 775 lb-ft of torque. The Lightning’s well as its extended-range battery pack, meanwhile, offers an estimated driving range of 300 miles on a single charge.
How, then, did Ford manage to make the Lightning so affordable?
The F-150 Lightning’s Been a Long Time Coming
We were surprised to learn that Ford has long wanted to do an electric truck but needed a higher density battery than those it had available. “We could do passenger vehicles, not trucks,” Darren Palmer, Ford’s general manager for electric vehicles, said at the Reuters Car of the Future 2021 conference.
The Lightning relies on a pouch-style lithium-ion battery pack and the high-density cells use a nickel-manganese-cobalt cathode chemistry with particularly low cobalt loading. Ford shopped around before going with SK Innovation, which is building a new battery cell plant in Georgia. Ford is also developing and testing its own battery cells, with plans to manufacture the key components itself in the future.
