It is clearly not enough that Ford already builds America’s best-selling electric truck. Along with virtually every manufacturer on the planet, the manufacturer is also keen to prove that EVs are not only (sort of) virtuous but also inspirational and fun. Accordingly, and in collaboration with Vaughn Gittin Jr. and RTR Vehicles, it has built something called the F-150 Lightning Switchgear - a pickup very much in the same electric avenue as the SuperVan 4.2 and Mustang Super Cobra Jet revealed last year.
The premise, of course, was to let the engineers run wild with a stock F-150 SuperCab and ‘push electric vehicle performance into unexplored territory’. Interestingly, the dual-motor, 580hp all-wheel-drive electric powertrain has been left alone; instead, Ford Performance and its partners focused on a) removing some weight and b) overhauling the standard chassis so the Switchgear doesn’t lose its mind with some air under the tyres.
Make that ‘a lot of air’. And a lot of tyre, too - those are 37-inch Nitto Ridge Grapplers with two spares carried in the back. To cushion their return to earth, the one-off F-150 features a custom-made chassis (double wishbone at the front; multi-link at the rear) complete with coilovers and silly-grade Fox 3.0 internal-bypass dampers. As you might expect, the Switchgear gets a huge supply of ground clearance, not to mention unique front and rear bumpers to improve approach and departure angles.
That accounts for b). When it comes to a) Ford went to the trouble of replacing as much of the body as possible with carbon composite parts. It had to limit this application in some areas where steel was required (not least the front bumper and skid plate) but it kept an ace up its sleeve in the shape of a ’Street’ variant, which uses basically the same suspension components - albeit with different springs for a lower ride height and 20-inch wheels - to emphasise the F-150’s configurability. Or its Switchgear-ness, if you will. This gets more carbon. But less air. So Ford hasn't shown it yet, but likely will do when the new pickup makes its public debut in California later this month.
1 / 10