All-Electric Ford F-150 Should Be Taken Seriously

What a week it was for Ford again, and even covering the Ford F-150 for Torque News, my coverage ran the spectrum, from my story about the V8 engines remaining a part of the truck’s future to the opening of the new Electric Vehicle Plant at Rouge Center, there was something for all fans of the F-150.

As I mentioned, opening of the Electric Rouge Plant, next door to the current Rouge Plant is a historic moment for Ford. My colleague John Goreham did a fantastic piece of how a tariff law from 1963 got this all started. And during the press conference to talk about that plant, we learned just a few more tidbits about the 2023 All-Electric Ford F-150.

New CEO Jim Farley gave truck purists and F-150 diehards a glimmer of hope and a peep into the future when he talked about the electric F-150.

“While other all electric pickup trucks are competing for lifestyle customers, the all-electric F-150 is designed and engineered for hard-working customers that need a truck to do a job.” Farley said. “This isn’t a truck for never nevers, who never tow, never haul and never go off road. This truck has been tested and tortured to be built Ford tough like you wouldn’t believe.”

Farley mentioned and reiterated that the future of the F-150 includes a hard-working pickup truck that is in the same vein as the best-selling over the last four decades.

“Simply put this is no gimmick,” Farley concluded. “It is a work horse. It’s not a show horse destined to a shiny garage filled with four luxury cars. It’s for serious truck owners.”
So, let’s take a look at what we learned and what we know about the 2023 all-electric Ford-F150.

When Will All-Electric Ford F-150 Go On Sale?
It was announced that it will go on sale midway through 2022 as a 2023 model year. Of course, the new Electric Vehicle Rouge Plant needs to be completed first.

As for price, no price was given but Farley did hint that it wouldn’t be super expensive. He used the phrase “total cost ownership” and said that the cost to own the all-electric F-150 will be significantly less than the standard gas-power F-150, when you take into account the life of the truck.

Now, is this fuzzy math? Sure. And we still don’t know the price at all, so consider this PR spin more than anything real.

The Fastest F-150 Ever
During the press conference, Ford played a video showcasing the prototype model traversing steep inclines while towing, running through and generally doing truck-like things. And they played up the initial Ford video of the EV F-150 pulling one million pounds worth of trains.

Check out the video below.

Is this a gimmick? Of course it is. But the intent of the video is, as Farley indicated, to showcase that the all-electric F-150 will be able to do everything the current F-150 can do, and perhaps more.

Ford is proclaiming that the 2023 all-electric F-150 will be have the fastest acceleration of any F-150 currently on the market.

It will do so with dual-electric motors. Although no horsepower or torque numbers are released, electric vehicles are known for crazy amounts of torque, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see jaw-dropping torque numbers and impressive towing figures too.

Battery-powered F-150
At the new Electric Vehicle Plant at Rouge Center Ford will not only produce the 2023 EV F-150, but also the batteries that will power it.

The new manufacturing center at the Dearborn-based Rouge Center, once complete, will add 300 jobs and is part of a $700 million investment in building the all-new F-150 lineup, including the first-ever F-150 PowerBoost hybrid. The new jobs will support battery assembly and production of the F-150 PowerBoost hybrid and fully electric F-150.

PowerBoost is Ford’s new hybrid-based technology that will make its debut in the 2021 Ford F-150. I wrote about the hybrid F-150 recently, and reiterated that concerns about it being a puny, under-power Prius-like hybrid are unfounded and flat out wrong.

Production of the new hybrid F-150, part of the 14th-generation F-150 are now underway as production for the 2021 F-150 started this week. Between the PowerBoost technology and the electric technology, Ford feels confident that they are guiding the company and the F-150 brand in the right direction.

The 2021 Ford F-150 with PowerBoost will have a towing capacity that surpasses 12,000 pounds and according to Ford the PowerBoost F-150 will be the quickest and most capable F-150 in the lineup. So skeptics of hybrids and batteries equaling less power will likely eat crow.

Now none of this means that the PowerBoost F-150 that’s coming out at the end of this year or the EV F-150 due out in 2023 will win over the old-school truck buyers. Those are the ones adamant about trucks being V8s and diesels. Thankfully, as we’ve learned from Ford, those folks will continue to have their preferred F-150 engine as well.

What the EV F-150 represents is the future and a new type of buyer for Ford. The younger generation seems to favor electric vehicles. So why not grow the next generation of F-150 buyers and start them off with something they really like, such as the 2023 all-electric F-150.

So let’s hear it from you. What do you think about the battery-powered technology coming to the F-150? Is it exciting? Are you considering it? Leave me your comments below.

Jimmy Dinsmore has been an automotive journalist for more than a decade and been a writer since the high school. His Driver’s Side column features new car reviews and runs in several newspapers throughout the country. He is also co-author of the book “Mustang by Design” and “Ford Trucks: A Unique Look at the Technical History of America’s Most Popular Truck”. Also, Jimmy works in the social media marketing world for a Canadian automotive training aid manufacturing company. Follow Jimmy on Facebook, Twitter, at his special Ford F-150 coverage on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can read the most of Jimmy's stories by searching Torque News Ford for daily Ford vehicle report.