Watch Ford’s F-150 Lightning cut through snow and ice at a military base in Alaska [Video]

Ahead of deliveries this spring, Ford Motor Company has shared footage of its highly anticipated F-150 Lightning enduring winter testing through snow and ice. The trove of footage was gathered over two weeks in Alaska, where Ford engineers fine tuned the all-electric pickup in -30℉ temperatures.

Is everyone sick of winter yet? As the spring equinox approaches, so do the first deliveries of Ford’s F-150 Lightning pickup, which should be able to blast through that dirty, slushy snow with ease.

The journey of this electrified F-Series began last May, when Ford publicly unveiled the F-150 Lightning. Ford had received over 200,000 Lightning reservations before closing its books to make way for actual orders in January. This tremendous response has led the automaker to double its Lightning production capacity not once, but twice.

With Ford’s latest update, it is has begun fine tuning the powertrain of the F-150 Lightning in snow, ice, and extremely low temperatures. To tackle this winter testing, Ford asked, “what better place to test than a restricted military base in Alaska?” We can’t disagree, especially after seeing some of the footage.

Ford evaluates F-150 Lightning powertrain on snow and ice

The American automaker has shared a press release explaining the “low-mu testing,” which includes a media package of images, gifs, and a video of the F-150 Lightning driving on a bunch of low-traction surfaces.

As part of the two-week testing process, Ford engineers drove six F-150 Lightning pre-production EVs through freezing temperatures on various types of wintery surfaces like loose snow, packed-groomed snow, complete ice, and half ice-half concrete.

Contrary to combustion versions of the world’s best selling pickup, the F-150 Lightning can sense wheel slip and adjust power to the wheels within milliseconds, thanks to the instant torque of its all-electric powertrain. Lightning powertrain engineer Nick Harris elaborated on the benefits electric pickup drivers can soon expect:

F-150 Lightning in the snow is a very different ballgame compared to gas vehicles. The responses are extremely quick and the dual motors make it as if you have two engines pumping out power in one vehicle. A lot of our work is to coordinate the two motors to work together to best deliver torque to the ground, so that customers who drive in the snow and ice ultimately feel very confident.

Throughout the 12-hour test days in Alaska, Ford engineers like Nick were able to adjust the calibration of the F-150 Lightning powertrains in real-time, helping ensure safety and stability for upcoming drivers through snow, ice, and anything else you throw at it.

Customer deliveries are still expected to begin this spring. You can check out the full b-roll video of the Alaska testing below:

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