Tech

Big-battery F-150 Lighting exceeds range estimates in official EPA testing

A Ford F-150 Lightning drives off road with a dirt bike in the back.

Enlarge / The F-150 Lightning will be offered as a SuperCrew cab with a 5. 5-foot bed. (credit: Ford)

When Ford announced the F-150 Lightning , the company’s first electric pickup truck, the automaker pledged that the Lightning’s $40, 000 base model would travel 230 miles on a full charge—and that the extended-range model would reach 300 miles. Not too shabby for a 6, 500 lb truck with a not-insignificant drag area .

It turns out that at least one of those numbers was conservative. Ford said today that the particular base Lightning model did reach its predicted 230 miles under EPA testing and that typically the extended-range model sailed past estimations to reach 320 miles.

“We are laser focused on continually improving our energy consumption efficiency for Lightning, and the team is really happy to deliver these results for our customers, ” said Linda Zhang, the trucks’s chief program engineer.

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