Automotive Engineering - June 2022 - 11

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2022 Ford F-150 Lightning redefines the pickup paradigm
Just before the media test drives of the
2022 F-150 Lightning, the battery-electric
variant of Ford's market-dominating
light-duty pickup truck, the Lightning's
specs were updated to reflect modest
last-minute enhancements in horsepower
and payload capacity. The freshly-extracted
extra horsepower and payload are
useful, but hardly necessary: the F-150
Lightning would've been plenty spectacular
regardless. If the F-150 Lightning is the
standard we can expect from " electrifying "
what we're already familiar with, nobody
will need to be dragged, kicking
and screaming, into the EV future.
Ford planners and engineers took the
bull by the horns when it was decided
the EV variant of a pickup that's sold
some 40 million copies had to fulfill the
same product brief - that is, offer essentially
the same work-ready capabilities
as every F-Series that's come before.
Not only does the F-150 Lightning
accomplish that, adding either the 98kWh
(standard range), SK Innovationmade
lithium-ion battery or the 131kWh
extended-range battery offers all
manner of new capabilities linked to
having so much electricity onboard.
Battery-defined capabilities
The choice of battery packs is important
in two chief ways and effectively
defines the F-150 Lightning for users.
The standard range battery powers a
maximum driving range of 230 miles
The 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning offers a choice of two battery-pack sizes for differing driving range
and horsepower ratings.
(370 km) and means the twin traction
motors - one at each axle for full-time
all-wheel-drive (AWD) - deliver a combined
452 hp and 775 lb-ft (1051 Nm).
The extended-range battery's 131 kWh
hikes maximum range to 320 miles (515
km) and allows 580 hp to be extracted
from the twin drive motors; torque output
for either battery pack is the same.
The battery pack is situated between
the rails of the Lightning-specific highstrength
steel frame and is protected by
a steel skid plate in the event the
Lightning's 8.4 inches (213 mm) of
ground clearance isn't sufficient (conventional
F-150 4X4: 9.4 inches). Ford
engineers said just eight easily accessible
mounting points allow the entire
battery pack to be removed.
The standard-range battery, then, apAll
F-150 Lightnings have a traction motor at each axle, AWD and independent rear suspension.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
pears adequate for those users who, like
many light-truck owners, don't have rigorous
hauling or towing demands - or,
in the case of the fleet operations targeted
by the base-model Pro trim, might
have specifically defined duty cycles and
routes that reliably return to a central
charging location. Not to say the standard-range
battery precludes genuine
work duty: its maximum tow rating is a
chunky 7700 lb (3493 kg)
and the extended-range
battery enables towing up
to 10,000 lb (4536 kg).
Either battery pack facilitates
a max payload rating
of 2235 lb (1014 kg)
- the late-arriving increase
mentioned earlier
over the 2000-lb (907kg)
payload capacity Ford
originally listed. Engineers
at the media drive program
in May said 75% of
current F-150 customers
tow, but fully 80% of that
number do not tow more
than 10,000 lb.
June 2022 11
BOTH IMAGES: FORD
Automotive Engineering - June 2022

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