The Ford F-150 Lightning SuperTruck of All Extremes!

To tackle the 20 kilometers of the Pikes Peak hill climb, Pikes Peak, Ford unveiled a completely crazy electric pickup!

Some show off on open roads, and others aim for records in competition. That’s the key difference between Tesla and its rivals, as the Californian manufacturer feels uneasy about the competition.

After a previous experience last year with a 100% electric utility vehicle boasting 2000 horsepower (!), the Ford SuperVan EV, the blue oval company will repeat the feat on June 23, 2024, with a wildly crazy iteration of its electric F-150 Lightning pickup.

Named the F-150 Lightning SuperTruck EV, this demonstrator reveals its technical specifications gradually, but it is believed to be even lighter, more powerful, and more performant than its predecessor.

Over 2000 horsepower electric!

Driven by Romain Dumas, a Ford Performance driver for several seasons now, the Frenchman already holds the absolute record for the Pikes Peak hill climb. He set this record in 2018 with Volkswagen and the ID.R in a 7-minute 57.148 seconds run. In 2023, with the Ford SuperVan EV, he managed a time of 8 minutes 47 seconds 682, just 50 seconds shy of the record.

This marketing and sporting operation by Ford around its F-150 Lightning is a fantastic idea. The revealed images show a vehicle whose design indicates an extreme focus on aerodynamic support. It’s no coincidence, as at high altitude, air density decreases, affecting aerodynamic performance as well.

As a reminder, the Pikes Peak race starts at 2,860 meters above sea level and ends at the summit at 4,300 meters. The ascent is 20 km long and includes 156 turns. Ford claims it can reach up to 2.72 tons of aerodynamic load at 240 km/h. But that’s at sea level, not at 4,300 meters…

For Romain Dumas, it’s now about knowing how to leverage this electric pickup, which won’t suffer any power loss with altitude and decreasing oxygen levels. This phenomenon severely impacts thermal vehicles: the power of a petrol engine drops by about 1% every 100 meters of altitude. At the summit, a thermal engine has lost almost 45% of its nominal power.

Now, all eyes are on a possible response from the Tesla Cybertruck, which has been quiet for months.

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