There is no denying that pickup trucks run the United States of America, and the Ford F-150 has been the undisputed king of the hill for a long while. After all, it has been the best-selling pickup truck in America for over four decades now. As the age of the internal combustion engine slowly fades away, every major manufacturer has been electrifying their lineups. Car brands have been introducing new electric vehicles while also launching all-electric versions of their established models. Thus, one of the most iconic pickup trucks across the world, the Ford F-150, got the same treatment, as Ford launched the F-150 Lightning electric pickup.
One of the most anticipated vehicles in recent years, the Ford F-150 Lightning has plenty to like. HotCars contributor Bradley Hasemeyer got a chance to get behind the wheel of an F-150 Lightning in Miami. Bradley found plenty to like about the new electric truck, as have many others because the truck is fairly impressive. However, there is no such thing as a faultless vehicle, and the F-150 Lightning does have its drawbacks. Naturally, using the Lightning nameplate harkens gearheads' minds back to the time of the original SVT Lightning, which became one of the most iconic pickup trucks in American automotive history.
There are plenty of things that the old F-150 Lightning did amazingly well, too, and perhaps better than the new F-150 Lightning EV. Thus, here are 5 things we absolutely love about the new Ford F-150 Lightning EV and 5 aspects where we would prefer the old Lightning instead.
10 F-150 Lightning EV: It Offers Great Electric Power
The new Ford F-150 Lightning EV truck, in all its trims, comes fitted with one motor on each axle. AWD is permanent on all current F-150 Lightning models. While EV naysayers might like to believe electric pickup trucks would be low on power, the Ford F-150 Lightning EV proves them wrong.
The base Lightning EV churns out 452 horsepower along with a whopping 775 lb-ft of torque. The higher-spec F-150 Lightning takes it up a notch by cranking out 580 horsepower along with that amazing torque. Both spec models come with a 2,000-lb and 2,235-lb payload respectively.
9 Old F-150 Lightning: It Is Still One Of The Fastest F-150 Trucks
Even though the new Lightning EV has proven itself to be the fastest F-150 truck off the assembly line, we cannot forget that the SVT Lightning used to be the fastest production truck in its time. The SVT Lightning changed the game with its blistering acceleration, and to this day, it remains extremely impressive.
Even while the most powerful Raptor F-150 posts a 0-60 mph time of 4.2 seconds, the SVT Lightning from almost two decades ago isn't too far behind. With a 5.2-second 0 to 60 time, the supercharged V8 in the SVT Lightning remains glorious.
8 F-150 Lightning EV: It Has Great Competitive Electric Range
The new F-150 Lightning EV pickup comes in Standard, Extended, and Platinum specifications. While the base Standard spec houses a 98 kWh battery pack and less powerful motors, its range comes out to be around 230 miles. The Extended specification shines the most in the range department thanks to its 131 kWh battery and 320 miles of electric range.
The highest spec of the Lightning EV, which is the Platinum trim, comes with the larger battery and the most powerful motors of all. It sacrifices some of the range from the Extended variant for power, going from 320 miles to 300 miles of electric range. All said and done, Ford has the largest public charging network in North America, which means running out of battery won't be a problem, and nor would range anxiety. The Lightning can even power your own home in case the power goes out.
7 Old F-150 Lightning: Its V8 Engine Appeals To Gearheads
The first generation of the SVT Lightning trucks was extremely powerful for their time, producing 240 horsepower. The real winner, of course, was the 340 lb-ft of torque that these trucks came with, which made them capable of hauling heavy loads while at the same taking the fight to the best hot hatches of the time.
By 2001, the SVT Lightning came with a supercharged Triton V8, which churned out 380 horsepower, propelling the truck to the 60 mph mark in just 5.1 seconds. Of course, the classic that it is today, the SVT Lightning's V8, along with its supercharger whine, remains music to the ears of gearheads in an era where the gas engine is slowly going out of style.
6 F-150 Lightning EV: It Is Absolutely Feature-Packed
Being an all-electric 2023 vehicle that comes with one of the most iconic nameplates in automotive history, it was only natural for the new F-150 Lightning EV to be absolutely feature-packed. A storage space in the front trunk is one of the USPs of the new Lightning, and it has a host of technology and features to keep you and the family busy on longer drives.
Ford has offered several power outlets all around the vehicle, which makes camping appliances or power tools easy to plug in. The truck also houses the largest touchscreen unit ever in a Ford, along with a fully-digital driver's display. These two screens look great in the cabin, and the infotainment and other systems are capable of receiving updates over the air via cloud-based technology from time to time.
5 Old F-150 Lightning: It Has An Excellent Reliability Record
History has shown us that any performance version for any vehicle will never truly be faultless or have perfect reliability. This is due to the fact that the internal parts need service over shorter periods and are quite highly strung. However, that is not the case for the SVT Lightning, which was a comparatively rudimentary setup with a simple push-rod V8 unit.
The service intervals for the SVT Lightning remained quite normal, and the jury is still out about how many initial kinks will need to be ironed out once the F-150 Lightning EV hits the road in big numbers. The SVT Lightning, on the other hand, has spare parts widely available even today, which remain a lot more affordable as well.
4 F-150 Lightning EV: It Is The Quickest F-150 Truck
The Ford F-150 Raptor is the strongest, meanest F-150 on the block, and it has been for a very long while. By all means, it is also a very quick truck, capable of getting to the 60 mph mark in just 5.2 seconds. The base F-150 Lightning EV can do so in just about the same time (5.5 seconds) despite being almost a 1,000lbs heavier than the Raptor.
Nevertheless, it is the Lightning Platinum, the most powerful Lightning, which has come out to be the fastest F-150 truck. With lightning-quick acceleration, the Platinum Lightning can reach go from 0 to 60 in just about 4.0 seconds, thanks to its added power. That is one glorious feather in the Lightning's cap.
3 Old F-150 Lightning: The Classic Truck Is Still Sought-After
The first-generation models of the F-150 SVT Lightning completely changed the pickup truck segment, which is why it remains so iconic even today. Ford only produced around 12,000 units of the first-gen models, which made it quite the niche offering.
This is what makes the truck such a classic, and collectors seek the SVT Lightning even today. While the 20,000 units of the second generation made it more of a common truck rather than a niche one, it will still definitely become a future classic compared to the millions of standard F-150 units sold over the years.
2 F-150 Lightning EV: It Is Remarkably Future-Proof
The era of gasoline-burning engines is now nearing its end, and the sun is surely setting on fossil fuels. Not only are they bad for the environment, but they have also become exponentially higher. Thus, there is no denying that the future is surely electric, and the Ford F-150 Lightning EV is a symbol of Ford embracing the change as well.
Driving a massive pickup truck will no longer bring you grimaces from the environment-friendly crowd. Once an ambitious idea, the EV pickup truck is now a fully-realized reality now. Powerful as ever with phenomenal towing prowess, the F-150 Lightning EV is definitely future-proof. Thanks to the bevy of updates that the electric powertrain allows, the Lightning EV will continue to feel fresh for years.
1 Old F-150 Lightning: It Remains More Fun To Throw Around
One thing that can undeniably be said about the old F-150 SVT Lightning truck is that they are simply more fun to drive around. Compared to the latest generation of the F-150 trucks, especially the Lightning EV, the old SVT Lightning shines as a muscle truck.
It was the quintessential muscle-truck and remains that way to this day. Gearheads who enjoy the power of an old-school, no-nonsense engine coursing through a powerful truck that is an indelible part of history will surely come to appreciate how much more fun the old SVT Lightning is to throw around. At the end of the day, the old SVT Lightning truck and the new F-150 Lightning EV are poles apart, and truly have no comparison between them. However, it is still tons of fun to compare the two, looking back at a truck that changed the segment as we know it, and a new EV iteration that is sure to do the same.