Here's How Much The F-150 Lightning Can Actually Tow
After the Ford F-150 Lightning was released, it quickly became North America's best-selling electric pickup truck. It's not surprising that thousands of Americans want to own the Ford F-150 Lightning considering its impressive specifications. For starters, the latest model Lightning can go 0-60 mph in under four seconds, and cover up to 320 miles on a full battery charge.
But even if the battery range and acceleration performance don't impress you, the Ford F-150 Lightning is one of the few electric vehicles that support bidirectional charging. This means that if you experience a power outage, your Ford F-150 Lightning could discharge electricity from its battery pack back to your home.
In addition to that, the Ford F-150 Lightning is cheaper than its closest competitor, the Rivian R1T. More succinctly, the latest Ford Lightning starts at $55,974, but the entry-level Rivian R1T trim will cost you at least $73,000. The Ford F-150 Lightning also qualifies for the federal tax incentive, which makes it more attractive for most EV customers.
However, one of the allures of buying a pickup truck is how much weight it can pull. In this instance, how much can the Ford F-150 Lightning actually tow?
Ford F-150 Lightning can tow up to 10,000 pounds
On paper, the Ford F150 Lightning extended range battery trim can tow up to 10,000 pounds. In comparison, the gasoline Ford F-150 is tow rated at a maximum of 14,000 pounds (via Ford). However, YouTuber Paducah Ford demonstrated that it's possible for a Ford F-150 Lightning to exceed its limit by towing 17,000 pounds of weight. In fact, the Ford F-150 Lightning comes with 775 foot-pounds of torque — this is more pulling power than any gasoline F-150. This means that the electric F-150 is just as good as the gasoline F-150 at pulling weight, if not better.
How does the tow weight affect its range? According to Engineering Explained, an electric vehicle will lose a lot of battery range when towing a heavy weight. This is consistent with Paducah Ford's experiment — the electric pickup consumed "almost triple" the usual estimated battery range when towing 17,000 pounds of weight.
Be that as it may, we don't recommend you exceed the rated towing limit in the owner's manual. This is because your pickup's warranty could be canceled if you exceed the limit and it breaks down. Also, not all Ford F-150 Lightning trucks have a towing capability of 10,000 pounds. The Lariat, Pro, and XLT trims can pull a load of up to 7,700 pounds, while the Platinum trim is rated at 10,000 pounds.