Ford's All-Electric F-150 Pickup Prototype Pulls 1 Million Pound Train In This Crazy Stunt
How many times have you been in a situation where you are towing 1 million pounds of cargo and thought to yourself, 'I could never do this in an electric vehicle!' Probably never, but if you did find yourself in that situation, you would be wrong for making such a statement. Ford just proved it by towing a train filled with dozens of trucks, using a prototype all-electric F-150 pickup truck. Cue the Tim Allen grunt.
Electric vehicles are making headway in the automobile industry, spurred in large part by Tesla's efforts. It's not just Tesla, though. Other automakers are pushing electric cars and trucks. Hell, even Harley Davidson is getting in on the action by developing electric motorcycles these days. Gas guzzlers are not going anywhere, but the message is clear—electric vehicles can be fast and powerful, too.
In an attempt to deliver the latter half of that message, Ford stuffed 10 double-decker rail cars with 42 of its 2019 model F-150 trucks, for a combined weight capacity of more than 1 million pounds. Then with a tow strap in place, Ford demonstrated its prototype F-150 pickup lugging the entire thing in near silence (save for the sound to of the rail cars) for 1,000 feet. Check it out in the video embedded above.
"The all-electric F-150 will be a new and exciting kind of Built Ford Tough. We’re aiming to blow away truck customers with new capabilities that they never saw coming," Ted Cannis, global director of electrification at Ford, stated in a Medium post.
It is a nifty demonstration, and according to Ford, it is not a marketing ploy. Cannis said Ford is "dead serious" about bringing an electric pickup truck to market that will deliver "what tough trucks need to do," which is haul things.
In this case, Ford confirmed it plans to bring an all-electric F-150 to market, though it did not say exactly when that will be. When it does arrive, however, it will coexist alongside Ford's new F-150 Hybrid that will be for sale next year. So, expect the all-electric model to arrive sometime in 2020.
