Electric Utes Suck at Towing, Ford CEO Admits

The Ford F-150 Lightning has proven to be one the most successful electric pick-ups in the industry, with the Blue Oval promising the vehicle was just as capable as the rest of its F-Truck line-up.

Now, some three years after Ford released the F-150 Lightning, CEO Jim Farley has admitted to the limitations of using electric vehicles for towing and haulage.

“It’s not perfect,” Farley told media during a financial conference call, Motor1 reports.

“If you tow, it’s not a good technology. The batteries have to be too big.”

In 2019, Ford hosted an event for media showing an electric F-150 prototype towing 10 double-decker train carriages loaded with 42 F-150s – equating to 453 tonnes.

However, the vehicle only travelled 300 metres.

After the F-150 Lightning was released in 2022, US magazine Motor Trend found the pick-up’s electric driving range was slashed by 62 per cent when towing a modest 1400kg trailer.

With a 3275kg trailer hooked up, the advertised range of 482km plummeted to a shocking 145km – a drop of 70 per cent.

Farley’s comments come just as the cost of batteries is reducing and technology is continually improving – with several car companies pushing ahead with plans for their own electric utes, including Ram and Volkswagen’s newly-revived brand, Scout.

“For larger retail electric [vehicles], the economics are unresolvable," Farley admitted.

“These customers have very demanding use cases for an electric vehicle. They tow, they go off-road, they take long road trips. These vehicles have worse aerodynamics and they’re very heavy, which means very large and expensive batteries. Retail customers have shown that they will not pay any premium for these large EVs.”

The statements follow a string of recent announcements from carmakers backpedalling on their plans for a transition to all-electric models.

Ford had begun development of a large three-row electric SUV, with that project being cancelled, along with a second electric pick-up – suspected to have been a larger, heavy-duty F-Truck – which hasn’t been seen since it was teased at the F-150 Lightning’s launch in 2022.

Instead, it seems Ford will pursue plug-in hybrid utes and electric pick-ups with petrol range extenders.

“Ford will be developing flexible, body-on-frame and unibody platforms that will be designed for these multi-energy powertrains that are needed, given the realities of customer affordability and range requirements,” Farley revealed.

“We’ve learned, actually, when it wasn’t popular to invest in hybrids, it turns out it was a good move. And therefore, we want to lean into [extended-range electric vehicles] and other powertrains to make sure that we go with the flow of the customers.”

While Chinese companies such as LDV, BYD, and Geely are pushing ahead with electric utes, the Ford Ranger Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV) is due to begin deliveries within months – offering more than 45 kilometres of electric driving, backed by a 2.3-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine.