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. However, what’s totally different from Ford’s steady of different off-road vans is that the Switchgear runs in silence. Ford calls the high-performance off-roader a “demonstrator.” Think of it as a particular mission within the petri dish for Ford Performance, 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 based mostly on America’s best-selling electrical truck: the Ford F-150 Lightning.
More from the Chicago Auto Show
Ford F-150 Lightning Switchgear
Switchgear is the most recent in Ford’s Performance 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 probabilities of what an electrical car might 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 experience alongside for some sizzling laps with the famed skilled drifter and off-road racer Vaugh Gittin Jr. (JR). The Switchgear was then trailered to the Chicago Auto Show nonetheless caked in mud from one of many prime off-road playgrounds on this planet.
For these unfamiliar, the King of the Hammers occasion attracts racers, producers, aftermarket firms, and followers for an ever-growing pilgrimage to compete, check autos, and have enjoyable for greater than two weeks in late January and early February annually.
Switchgear is a joint mission with Ford and RTR Vehicles that has been used as a testbed for pushing the boundaries of electrical vans. “We designed and built it in collaboration with RTR Vehicles,” defined Ford engineer Brian Novak, “It was inspired by the F-150 RTR Ultimate Fun-Haver project vehicle from 2016. Ford designed Switchgear’s custom exterior carbon bodywork with a Ford Performance 2024 livery and underpinned it with off-road upgrades to take the F-150 Lightning where it’s never been.”
Switchgear upgrades embrace a major improve in monitor over the F-150 Lightning, this to offer improved off-road stability.
2023 Ford Bronco Raptor: Test Drive
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. Unique entrance and rear bumpers enhance strategy and departure.
Additional design components embrace 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 have upgraded the frame of the Lightning in order to accommodate a heavy battery, and yet provide the same towing and payload experience that a regular F-150 would provide while carrying heavier loads, so therefore the frame is very strong. The truck also has the new shocks and new control arms that have to accommodate the bigger tires and the bigger shocks and the bodywork was expanded to accommodate bigger tires as we needed a wider track in order to give stability to the frame. The powertrain–or primary drive/secondary drive unit–had no change.”
“It’s quiet fun! Switchback can give a silent-but-violent ride,” enthused Novak, earlier than I climbed aboard the tall truck, with JR on the wheel. “We like it here instead of being at Ford’s proving grounds in Michigan or Arizona–being out in the desert like this is exactly what these things are built for and this is where they’re going to be tested. This is the real environment!”
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 various and elevated and the world moved by sooner. With the electrical motors offering prompt torque, Novak, JR, and I agreed it’s extra like a experience at an amusement park, the place you’re transferring rapidly by area in an enclosed cabin however, should you open a window, you’ll get the push of the wind in your smiling face!
More off-road enjoyable
F-150 Lightning Switchgear Gallery
(Click beneath for enlarged pictures)
Test Drive: 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
Consumer Guide Car Stuff Podcast Episode 206: Ionna Saves Public Charging, Best of the Chicago Auto Show, The Future of Jeep
Source: weblog.consumerguide.com