That’s the question, isn’t it? Can an all-electric pickup truck be powerful enough to be a “real” pickup truck?
Yes there are powerful hybrids out there … gasoline/electric … diesel/electric … propane/electric … salad oil/electric … goat milk/electric … (ok, just kidding about the goat milk engine). But as far as I know, no major truck manufacturer has built a fully powerful, fully powered, electric ONLY, pickup truck. Until now.
Ford appears to have won the race. Kudos to Ford.
As a former truck mechanic, I’ve heard for years that all-electric trucks have been in the works … for more than 20 years. But it looks like Ford has finally broken the barrier and produced a powerful all-electric engine (not a hybrid). They are now offering an all electric Ford F150 pickup truck. Good for them!
Here she is. Isn’t she pretty? And, yes, the very front panel of the truck is a solid panel. There’s no need for a front grille between the two sets of headlights because there is no engine under the hood that needs air for cooling. In fact, that space under the hood is empty … it’s empty! There is no engine! Kinda messes with your mind doesn’t it?
I’ve heard a few people talk about this new technology and how fast it’s being developed. Well, it’s not new, and it has taken forever for a major manufacturer to produce such a vehicle for sale to the general public.
Let me share a comparison with you …
MANY years ago, when all gasoline engines in cars and trucks still had inefficient carburetors on them, we mechanics knew that the technology already existed to eliminate carburetors and run gasoline engines using efficient fuel injection instead of carburetors. It was similar technology to diesel fuel injection, but different. The hang-up and delay with putting the technology in place on gasoline engines was the petroleum industry. The hangup wasn’t safety (tho you’ll hear that too from some people) … the hangup was money. The petroleum industry wanted to sell oil! Reducing oil use by reducing gasoline consumption, to them, was a really bad idea. And they had the money to sway the decision-makers in the industry and in governments. So it took MANY years for technology that was already known and proven to finally show up and become common. Today, just about every gasoline vehicle built is fuel injected. It’s fairly old technology that was finally approved and put in place.
I suspect we’ve now finally broken a similar barrier with this all-electric pickup truck.
Hooray for Ford!
Here’s a video from NBC news about the new Ford truck: https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/exclusive-look-at-ford-s-first-fully-electric-pickup-truck-115542597721. You may have to click on the sound/volume controls that are right under the words “PICKUP TRUCK” in the video to make sound happen.
The video says these new trucks are being built at the same location where Ford Model T’s were built. Here’s a photo of a 1908 Ford Model T.
The vehicle above has a kit/box on the back for hauling stuff. Originally, these vehicles were not called “pickups”. It was just the kit or box on the back that was called a “pick up” because, after buying one of these vehicles, you could then buy a kit (the metal box) that you could go “pick up”, and then you would install that kit/box on the back of your vehicle so you could haul stuff. Eventually we simply called the whole vehicle a “pickup”.
The video shared above says this brand new 2021 all-electric Ford pickup truck has more power than the traditional Ford F150, but they don’t say which gasoline engine they are using as a comparison. The smallest gasoline engine available in a Ford F150 doesn’t have a great deal of tow capacity for a sizable RV/trailer. So RVers might want to wait and see what comes next down the pipeline. This new EV (electric vehicle) pickup truck purportedly enjoys “up to” 563 horsepower and “with options” a 10,000 lb. towing capacity, but I’d think we might want to get some proof of that in the real world after a few years of use. I want to see the numbers and the proof from real-world folks using these trucks in real life.
The video above also talks about using this Ford EV truck to power other electrical items. Absolutely you’ll be able to, it’s a great benefit to having an all-electric vehicle.
My gasoline powered RAM pickup has an onboard power inverter that converts standard vehicle 12V to household 120V (the RAM household 120V is sine wave compatible for use with computers). My truck has a 730 amp-hour battery, and a 160 amp alternator, and has numerous USB ports throughout the cab. I really could run a power cord from my truck to my house and power up a number of appliances/heaters/lights, even air conditioning, etc, if the power to the house went out. Sounds like Ford is working on producing the same efficient system. The only problem with using an all-electric truck to do that sort of thing is that there’s no way for that all-electric truck to re-charge its own onboard system once its batteries go dead. Whereas I can simply run my RAM’s engine and recharge everything.
Nevertheless, this Ford looks super! Here’s an independent video about it …
At the Ford plant, Linda Zhang is Chief Engineer and Liza Currie is Operations Manager. With this new truck, and all that’s riding on it for Ford, I’d bet Ford has its best people designing and building it.
I will soon be heading to my local Ford dealer to find out when they will be getting one of these trucks so that I can see it and test-drive it. I love Fords. During my nine years as a FedEx truck mechanic, I maintained a fleet of 50 trucks, bumper to bumper (including the bumpers). All of those trucks were Fords … I love Fords. Ok, I love my RAM pickup truck too, a lot! But this news from Ford is very impressive. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if a Ford EV pickup truck is in my future.