Back in may last year, Australian airline Qantas lent one of their Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners to help Tesla demonstrate just how powerful their Model X P100D was. Now it’s America’s turn.
Ford have PR video showcasing their F-150 Prototype that’s all-electric. Instead of a plane, they use a million pound (453,592kg) to prove the same point.
The video shows the prototype all-electric to a bunch of tradies who just love their F-150s. The point being that these blokes represent millions of americans that think big V8s are the only way you get power and torque from a vehicle.
As we know, that’s all changing with EVs and now company’s like Ford are on a re-education project to prepare the market for when they have EV products to offer.
With the F-Series being the best-selling truck in America for 42 straight years, Ford are understandably nervous about how this transition goes. Get it wrong and they’ll see someone like Tesla or Rivian steal their market.
The Rivian threat was disolved when Ford recently announced a $500 million ‘strategic partnership’ with Rivian. To me this feels like Ford are late to electrification and are now paying for it. Ford are now spending a massive $11.5 billion to produce more than 12 electrified models (combination of hybrids and EVs) by 2022. Despite having had the Focus Electric on the market in America for years, they have failed to build momentum and despite being one of the largest auto makers in the world, have not brought an EV product to Australia.
The video features Linda Zhang, Ford’s Chief Engineer on the electric truck project. Sadly we don’t get any information on the battery technology Ford are using, potential performance, torque numbers or details of the electric motors that Ford are using. The most critical numbers for these guys will be the payload and towing capacities.
