In recent Ford fashion (when it comes to EVs at least), the American automaker has once again underpromised and overdelivered. Its latest cheeky announcement came in the form of a tweet from Ford CEO Jim Farley, who just admitted the F-150 Lightning with an extended-range battery can travel 0-60 mph in under four seconds. A huge improvement from previously shared acceleration times and a hint that Ford may have originally been conservative about its pickup’s performance.
Ford Motor Company continues to bolster its EV production infrastructure to try and meet the tremendous demand for the F-150 Lightning pickup, which remains sold out for the next couple of years.
Following its original announcement, Ford enlightened the public with performance specs and available features to be expected when the F-150 Lightning inevitably arrives. What’s unique about Ford’s announcements compared to other automakers is that, instead of backtracking on certain performance provisions, Ford has come out multiple times and exceeded what was originally promised.
For instance, before the F-150 Lightning reached customers this past May, Ford was promising an estimated 300 miles of range with the extended battery pack. However, when its official EPA range came in, it was 20 miles better – welcomed news for reservation holders.
Just before deliveries began, Ford emerged with more good news for its customers, revealing that the F-150 Lightning would arrive with more horsepower and higher payload capacity than originally promised. Furthermore, new cloud software could more accurately estimate the truck’s range while towing in real time. Unlike the news above, these higher specs applied to both battery options.
Now, as the F-150 Lightning continues to reach customers in all fifty states, Ford has shared an additional update that applies to the extended-range versions of the trucks, delivering better acceleration than originally promised.
Ford F-150 Lightning acceleration boosted to under 4 seconds
Ford CEO Jim Farley announced the revised acceleration time via the Tweet seen above, complete with a short clip of an F-150 Lightning zooming by. According to the CEO, the 0-60 acceleration time of the Lightning is now under four seconds – that is, for Ford pickups equipped with the extended-range battery pack.
Previously, Ford has touted the acceleration of its first all-electric pickup at around 4.5 seconds to go from 0-60 mph. A spokesperson for the automaker told Electrek that those previous specs were merely the targeted numbers.
Today’s announcement from Farley marks the official acceleration of the F-150 Lightning, over 0.5 seconds quicker. Again, more welcomed news for those thousands upon thousands of consumers awaiting their very own pickup.
One could argue that Ford was already aware of this better than previously shared acceleration and sandbagged it down before offering a boastful reveal like Farley’s Tweet today. Whether it was strategic or not, it’s good news.
While it once again shows that Ford’s F-150 Lightning pickup continues to exceed expectations in its infancy, positive updates like these help the automaker stay on the top of consumer’s minds while giving the vast list of reservation holders a little nibble of good news while they await their deliveries – a savvy move from a legacy automaker.
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Author: Scooter Doll
Source: Electrek
