If you need to tow a heavy load, chances are, you have a pickup truck, or perhaps a full-size body-on-frame SUV. These are the only passenger vehicles on the market today capable of towing the heaviest of loads. This means you only have a few options if you also want to go with an electric powertrain, and the Ford F-150 Lightning is one of the top choices. So, how much range should you expect to get while pulling over 10,000 pounds?
YouTube influencer JerryRigEverything – whose real name is Zack Nelson – got his hands on a Ford F-150 Lighting electric truck for towing tests. He thanks Ford for letting him borrow the truck, but makes it clear that the video isn’t sponsored. The US automaker was just brave (or confident) enough to give Zack the truck to put through the paces.
Zack recently put his personal Rivian R1T electric truck through a similar test, though he did it on a cold winter day. The R1T is rated to tow up to 11,000 pounds. Towing and cold weather worked together against the EV’s efficiency, so it was interesting to learn about the results. The dual-motor all-wheel-drive Adventure truck pulled 10,000 pounds about 100 miles before needing to be charged.
In the video at the top of the page, Zack pulls the same heavy load, which is actually 10,700 pounds, with the Ford electric truck. It’s sunny and he’s wearing a t-shirt, so it looks like the F-150 Lightning gets an advantage.
Zack also shares that the Ford is wearing street tires (the Rivian had off-road tires) and it has two electric motors compared to the Rivian’s four, which makes it more efficient. However, the F-150 is only rated to tow up to 10,000 pounds, so he’s overloaded it.
It’s probably a good time to ask you to head down to the comment section and place your bets. How many miles will the F-150 Lightning go?
In the end, the F-150 Lightning proves to be impressively efficient for what it is. It tows nearly 11,000 pounds 112 miles with about 18 miles left on the range predictor, so about 130 miles. However, factor in the tires and the warmer weather, and it’s probably close enough to the R1T’s towing range to call this a tie.
