The upcoming electric Ford F-150 could bear the Lightning name, according to a Car and Driver report. You’ll recall the “Lightning” name from the two generations of F-150 that bore that badge. In both circumstances, Ford used it to denote a special street sport truck. We have no doubt that an electric F-150 with powerful electric motors has the potential to be designed and engineered in the same vein.
Car and Driver’s source for this news is an internal Ford document that was provided to them by an unnamed someone. The document allegedly referenced the F-150 Lightning name next to the Mustang Mach-E and E-Transit cargo van. We reached out to Ford in hopes of learning more, but received this response from a spokesperson.
“We’re excited to introduce the all-electric F-150 very soon, but we don’t comment on speculation about future products.”
Ford is keeping its secrets for now, but we can’t hide our excitement for the possibility of an F-150 Lightning return. The first generation from 1993-95 is one hell of a cool truck, but the second generation built in 1994-2004 is the most recognizable and best-known Lightning today. It’s a proper sport truck with its supercharged V8, Bilstein shocks, giant tires and aggressive styling. Car and Driver even got it to sprint from 0-60 mph in a scant 5.2 seconds at the time.
Will the upcoming electric F-150 be quicker? Ford has already said it’ll have more power and torque than any F-150 available today. It’s also meant to have the fastest acceleration of any F-150 out now. Of course, the Lightning name comes with implications for handling, if Ford intends the truck to be a true successor to its namesake.
For the time being, Ford says the electric F-150 will hit the market in mid-2022. That means there’s still a wait in store to see if it ends up being named Lightning. We sure hope it does.
Related video: