Ride the Lightning: We Ride in Ford's New Electric F-150 Lightning

The 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup made its debut on Wednesday night in Dearborn, Michigan, but even before President Biden's spin in it on Tuesday, Car and Driver got the opportunity to take a ride and check out the new truck. Here are some early impressions.

The first thing we noticed, while cruising at 75 or 80 mph, was that there is just a whiff of wind noise penetrating the aluminum cabin. Impressive, considering this EV has the aerodynamics of a thick two-by-eight Lego brick. Tire noise, too, is absurdly low for rolling stock in size XL. I guess it makes sense that the Lightning isn’t loud. After all, it isn’t named "Thunder."

When the F-150 Lightning goes on sale, however, it has the potential to make a ton of noise. Even if the headline-grabbing $40K-plus price is just for a “commercial base” truck, there are still going to be a metric crap ton of takers for a $55K EP—that’s for "electric pickup"—that can get to 60 in about five seconds, or even quicker if you spend more and get the big battery. We felt it, and while the big pickup masks its speed with relative silence and pickup height, there is no denying what two electric motors with a combined 775 pound-feet of torque feels like off the line. The truck will go 105 mph, a governor set due to tire limitations, not driveline hardware.

Those tires, size 275/50R-22, wrap around dorky looking but aero-friendly wheels, which in addition to a blocked-off grille are the only exterior hints that this isn’t a normal F-150. Behind those wheels is a fully independent suspension, something no F-150 has ever had, no matter how sporty Ford's SVT division could make the Lightnings that came before.