• Pros

• A better F-150. The electric F-150 is more powerful, quieter, faster, more comfortable, better riding, and has more storage than the gasoline F-150. Oh, and it produces zero tailpipe emissions.
• Quick. We drove the highest trim Platinum version of the F-150 Lightning. That comes with a 580hp, dual motor all wheel drive propulsion system, and the largest available battery, promising 320 miles of range. With that kind of power, the Lightning is, yeah, quick. But it’s a different kind of quick than a gasoline engine — even a V8 -- provides. There’s simply no lag. Rather than have the engine spool up and the transmission kick down, and then feel a surge, the surge comes as your foot moves on the accelerator pedal. Acceleration comes in a quiet, smooth whoosh, and the power is available at all speeds.
• Quiet. The F-150 already did a good job of keeping the noise out of the passenger compartment. There’s simply less noise to keep out now, with no engine rasping in front of you. All you hear is some wind noise, and, at highway speed, a bit of tire noise. It’s a pleasant, quiet atmosphere inside the electric F-150. Also inside, you’ll enjoy the benefits of a full suite of up to date safety features, including, in higher end models, Fords Blue Cruise, partial hands free highway driving assistant.
• Ride. Because they didn’t have to make room for a transmission tunnel and exhaust system, there was room in the electric F-150 for a fully independent rear suspension. That makes this the best handling F-150 we’ve driven. Most of the time, it’s smooth and comfortable. Cornering is a bit flatter than older F-150s, due to both the independent rear suspension and due to the placement of the battery, low in the frame, to create a nice, low center of gravity.
• Storage. You’ve got the pickup bed, sure. But in the Lightning F-150, you’ve also got what Ford, with naming help from Hasbro, calls the Mega Power Frunk. That’s a fairly enormous front trunk, laden with power ports. So if you wanted to put a mini fridge in there to keep your orange juice cold for tailgating, you could do it. Or just fill it with oranges and a Vitamix blender. It’s another example of how the relative size and packaging of an EV powertrain frees up lots of room for other stuff.
• Truck stuff. In many ways, the Lightning F-150 resembles a regular F-150. That may be intentional — Ford wants to help truck people make the transition to EVs without being forced to embrace Prius like geekiness. Or it may be necessity. To get their electric pickup to market ahead of General Motors, Ford adopted the current F-150 to electricity, rather than designing an EV truck from scratch, like GM chose to do. In any case, you’ll recognize the interior, save for the bigger, vertically oriented central screen. And you’ll find the Lightning has all the goodies you can get on the regular F-150, including the fold flat center console, the fully reclining front seats, and the generous rear seat room. It’ll also tow between 5,000 and 8,500 pounds, depending on drivetrain, although that’ll take a bit out of your range.

• Cons

• Price. While you can, theoretically, get a Lightning starting a little under $50 grand, our test version, the fully loaded Platinum, rang the bell at $93,500. Even the Lariat, a step down from the Platinum, goes for a cool $75,000. If you want the dual motor, higher horsepower drivetrain, and the extended range battery, expect to be closer in price to the Lariat than the entry level Pro trim. I guess you pickup truck drivers are used to paying $60,000 and up for fancy pickups these, and Ford is ready for you.
• Range. We weren’t able to really suss out the real world range of the long range model. Our rough calculations showed us getting in the high 200s. Keep in mind, if you do use the Lightning to tow, that will significantly cut into your battery range.
• Some rear end jittering. While the handling was quite good overall, some surfaces set the back end of the truck a chattering. That may have more to do with driving an empty bedded pickup truck than with the suspension, but it doesn’t handle 100% like a luxury vehicle. And despite the low center of gravity and good turning behavior, you could feel a little bit of weight transfer on quick turns. Turns out, no matter how hard you try, you can’t disguise 6,000 pounds.
• A few nits. The large center screen took some getting used to. We missed some of the hard buttons for seat heat and temperature — things we use frequently. Fortunately, there’s still a large volume knob. And we were surprised to see that there was no head up display, which is pretty standard in high end vehicles these days — of which this $93,500 truck qualifies.

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