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By Sue Mead
Ford has added an all-new electrical truck to its lineup—kind of. It likes to play within the filth and eat boulders for lunch, and it rides on 37-inch tires and sits on a specialised suspension. All of this—and extra—enable it to race throughout the desert with alacrity. Nevertheless, what’s completely different from Ford’s secure of different off-road vans is that the Switchgear runs in silence. Ford calls the high-performance off-roader a “demonstrator.” Consider it as a particular venture within the petri dish for Ford Efficiency, simply because the Ford F-150 Raptor as soon as was! The F-150 Lightning Switchgear is a excessive efficiency on- and off-road pickup primarily based on America’s best-selling electrical truck: the Ford F-150 Lightning.
Extra from the Chicago Auto Present
Ford F-150 Lightning Switchgear
Switchgear is the newest in Ford’s Efficiency Demonstrator program, becoming a member of SuperVan 4.0 and 4.2, Mustang Mach-E 1400, Mustang CobraJet 1400 and the F-100 Eluminator—all designed to showcase the chances of what an electrical automobile may be.
The F-150 Lightning Switchgear was seen by the general public for the primary time on the grueling King of the Hammers off-road racing occasion in Johnson Valley, California, the place I used to be in a position to journey alongside for some scorching laps with the famed skilled drifter and off-road racer Vaugh Gittin Jr. (JR). The Switchgear was then trailered to the Chicago Auto Present nonetheless caked in mud from one of many high off-road playgrounds on the earth.
For these unfamiliar, the King of the Hammers occasion attracts racers, producers, aftermarket firms, and followers for an ever-growing pilgrimage to compete, take a look at autos, and have enjoyable for greater than two weeks in late January and early February annually.
Switchgear is a joint venture with Ford and RTR Automobiles that has been used as a testbed for pushing the boundaries of electrical vans. “We designed and constructed it in collaboration with RTR Automobiles,” defined Ford engineer Brian Novak, “It was impressed by the F-150 RTR Final Enjoyable-Haver venture automobile from 2016. Ford designed Switchgear’s customized exterior carbon bodywork with a Ford Efficiency 2024 livery and underpinned it with off-road upgrades to take the F-150 Lightning the place it’s by no means been.”
Switchgear upgrades embody a big enhance in monitor over the F-150 Lightning, this to supply improved off-road stability.
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The suspension upfit consists of Fox-brand 3-inch diameter inside bypass shock absorbers, together with a customized impartial double-wishbone suspension in entrance, and a multilink impartial suspension on the rear, with coil-over shocks, a stabilizer bar and customized management arms. Distinctive entrance and rear bumpers enhance method and departure.
Further design components embody carbon-composite entrance fenders, mattress sides, and rear bumper cowl, in addition to metal fabricated rock rails, and a entrance skid plate. The Switchgear rides on NITTO Ridge Grappler 37×12.5R18 tires.
“We now have upgraded the body of the Lightning in an effort to accommodate a heavy battery, and but present the identical towing and payload expertise {that a} common F-150 would offer whereas carrying heavier hundreds, so due to this fact the body may be very robust. The truck additionally has the brand new shocks and new management arms that need to accommodate the larger tires and the larger shocks and the bodywork was expanded to accommodate larger tires as we wanted a wider monitor in an effort to give stability to the body. The powertrain–or main drive/secondary drive unit–had no change.”
“It’s quiet enjoyable! Switchback may give a silent-but-violent journey,” enthused Novak, earlier than I climbed aboard the tall truck, with JR on the wheel. “We prefer it right here as a substitute of being at Ford’s proving grounds in Michigan or Arizona–being out within the desert like that is precisely what this stuff are constructed for and that is the place they’re going to be examined. That is the true atmosphere!”
The expertise of touring in a truck at excessive speeds just isn’t new; I’ve motored greater than 30,000 miles on off-road tracks and filth programs across the globe for my work—and for enjoyable! What was new was touring at excessive speeds in silence—with no engine sound, as speeds diversified and elevated and the world moved by quicker. With the electrical motors offering immediate torque, Novak, JR, and I agreed it’s extra like a journey at an amusement park, the place you’re shifting rapidly by area in an enclosed cabin however, in case you open a window, you’ll get the push of the wind in your smiling face!
F-150 Lightning Switchgear Gallery
(Click on beneath for enlarged photographs)
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