The 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning Electric Truck Is a Towing Monster

Ford says its 2022 F-150 Lighting electric truck can tow up to 10,000 pounds. That’s a massive figure, and something no other electric vehicle produced by a major manufacturer has managed to accomplish to date. If true, it means the all-new F-150 Lightning could be the ideal weekend hauler, a machine that plugs in at night, uses zero gasoline, and can handle side-by-side towing duty once the week’s commuting is done. And with a price of $39,974 in the base Pro trim seen here, it isn’t a rich person’s plaything. Unlike vehicles from Tesla, Hummer, and elsewhere, the F-150 Lightning promises to be the first EV that can fit into a regular person’s life.

Outside, the truck looks like a standard F-150. That’s a good thing. So many EVs feel like they arrived from space, offering aerodynamics-at-all-costs styling that make them look like overgrown suppositories or a knockoff Toyota Prius. We aren’t sure which is worse. Aside from subtle details like a solid grille, some badging, and unique lights, the Lightning blends right in at the Lowe’s parking lot. It’s the first indication that this vehicle isn’t a gimmick. It’s a tool.

That theme carries over inside, where Pro trim offers a utilitarian cabin. There’s a high-resolution TFT display for the center console and a big, responsive screen in the dash, complete with wireless Apple CarPlay. Otherwise, you can expect vinyl seats and rubber floors. Do we mind? Absolutely not. After a day on the trail, nothing’s worse than slathering a leather-clad interior in red clay mud and dust. The F-150 Lightning Pro wipes clean with a damp cloth.

On the road, the F-150 Lightning is a trip. Aside from the eerie silence of two electric motors and the impossibly smooth operation of a single-speed transmission, the truck feels like an F-150. Same steering. Same suspension. But get frisky with the throttle and the truck reveals itself to be a world apart from the workaday pickups of the past. Ford says our test Lightning is good for 563 hp and 775 lb.-ft. of torque. That makes this the most horsepower per dollar from a production vehicle available in anything anywhere, and it’s enough to fire the F-150 Lightning to 60 mph in four seconds, unladen. For perspective, that’s 1.2 seconds faster than an F-150 Raptor and just half a second behind a Shelby GT500, a 760 hp, supercharged V-8 monster. It’s also a full second faster than the 2022 Polaris RZR Pro R.

Smashing the throttle in the truck is surreal. There’s a chirp from each axle, then you’re wedged into the seat with instant torque. What’s interesting is that all that power is good for more than embarrassing the driver in the Ram TRX in the lane next to you. It makes the Lightning an excellent tow vehicle. We put a 2022 Honda Pioneer 1000-5 and a 2022 Polaris RZR Pro R on our 22-foot steel-deck trailer. The combination weighs in at around 6,500 pounds, but the Lightning never felt it. So much of that has to do with the mountain of available torque, but it’s worth noting that few half-ton pickups could shrug off that kind of weight without feeling taxed no matter what their tow ratings say.

Which brings us to the million-dollar question: range. The standard F-150 Lightning comes with a 98 kWh battery that powers two electric motors good for 426 hp and 775 lb.-ft. of torque. That configuration gives you a range of about 230 miles, unladen. Opting for the larger, 131 kWh battery bumps output to 563 hp and boosts range to around 300 miles. This truck is a preproduction model, and is a bit of an outlier, as it’s a base Pro trim equipped with the extended-range battery. Right now, that’s a setup you can’t order from Ford, as the company is reserving the larger battery pack for higher trims. Going that route will set you back a pretty penny—$19,500 on an XLT.

So, do you need that big battery? Our daily commute is around 30 miles, a range that the Lightning easily recuperated while plugged into a standard 110-volt outlet during the workday. The Lightning automatically recalculates its available range when you plug in a trailer, and with 260 miles available, the trailer dropped our numbers to around 180 miles. That’s probably a bit pessimistic, as our 80-mile test loop saw us get home with well over 100 miles left on the clock.

All that is to say that if you’re planning to use the Lightning as a weekday commuter that occasionally tows one side-by-side on a small trailer, you likely don’t need that big battery pack so long as your local riding spot is fairly close. Start stacking more rigs on a heavier trailer, or going longer distances, and you’ll want to step up to the 131 kWh option.

The biggest problem with the Lightning has nothing to do with the truck itself, but rather with the existing charging network. Knoxville, where UTV Driver is based, is a city of around 187,500 people. Knox County has a population of more than double that figure, and yet there is only one Electrify America Level 2 charging station. We visited exactly once, and found that of the eight available chargers, two were working. None of the super-fast 350 kW were operational, which left us with the 150 kW option. The latter can bring a battery from around 70 percent to 90 percent state of charge in about 40 minutes, but that means spending most of an hour aimlessly walking around a Walmart or sitting in your truck.

Worse, the charging stations aren’t under an awning like every gas pump in America, which meant that when the sky opened up, we were stuck working the terminal in a deluge. Finally, the charging stations are pull-in only. If you happen to be towing and need a charge, your only option is to disconnect the trailer and leave it somewhere in the parking lot. Not ideal.

That makes the F-150 Lightning a tough sell for anyone who wants to cover serious distance while towing their side-by-side. The upshot is that the charging situation will only improve as more manufacturers embrace electric vehicles. Until then, the F-150 Lightning remains the EV for people who don’t want an EV: a machine that’s a pickup truck first, and an electric vehicle second.

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