The Ford F-150 Lightning was one of the first electric trucks out there, and to this day, it’s still one of only a few. The truck offers that much-loved F-150 design and hefty size, but swaps out the gas-powered engine for a super-quick electric powertrain that gives it the kind of zip you normally wouldn’t expect from a truck at all.
It’s able to tow heavy loads too. The F-150 Lightning is capable of towing up to 10,000 pounds, depending on the model you get. You’ll need the XLT or Lariat trim to tow that much, but even lower-end models can still tow up to 5,000 pounds, which isn’t bad at all. That’s enough power to tow a relatively large trailer.
Even after a few years of electric trucks being available, towing large loads still has a significant impact on the range of an electric truck. And considering the range of the F-150 Lightning isn’t all that great in the first place, using the truck to tow things like a trailer may just not be feasible at all for your needs. The current Ford F-150 Lightning has a range of up to around 320 miles.
To be clear, this isn’t an issue that’s isolated to electric trucks. Most estimates indicate that for every 100 extra pounds that a truck tows, gas mileage will be reduced by around 2%. So, towing a 7,218-pound trailer would decrease the gas mileage by around 72%. Considering that a gas-powered F-150 can get a little over 500 miles on a full tank of gas, towing that same load would bring the range down to 150 miles or so.
Let’s be real. Plenty of truck drivers buy trucks simply because they like them — not because they’re constantly hauling big loads and towing trailers. I get it. Trucks are cool! Not only do they give you enough size to potentially remain safer on the roads, but they have that added layer of versatility. You may not be a construction worker, but being able to move between houses without renting a U-Haul can be helpful.
The future of trucks So what can solve this? Put simply, better batteries with more range, as well as faster charging tech. We’ll never get trucks that offer the same range when towing a trailer as they do when not towing a trailer. Physics doesn’t work like that. But as battery tech improves and electric vehicles offer a better range, the impact of towing will steadily decrease.