In the video, Ford invites some current F-150 owning-men to a train yard. They are apparently unaware of the company’s plans until the electric F-150’s chief engineer, Linda Zhang, reveals the new model and its burden of the day. It’s an ad, so of course the F-150 owners were impressed when the electric vehicle managed to tow the million-pound freight train across 1,000 feet, seemingly without breaking a sweat. After that, Ford went a step further, loading the train with 42 gas F-150s, bringing the total weight to over 1.25 million pounds. Watch for yourself below: Of course, it’s not as if Ford would show the truck failing at the task. Physics tells us that overcoming the initial static friction is the tricky part, but it’s certainly an impressive-looking demo. For reference, the current gas F-150 maxes out at a rated towing capacity of 13,200 lb, though to be fair, Ford does caution in its video that this is a “one-time short event demonstration.” A more revealing demo would’ve been to see how the classic F-150 compares. So yes, this is Ford flexing its marketing department, but it’s the kind of marketing that’s actually directly relevant. There is many a truck owner who distrusts electric vehicles, seeing them as a hippie novelty; this ad is meant to dispell any notion that an electric F-150 would be underpowered. Until I see a gas F-150 pull a similar feat, I’m going to assume the electric model has got a fair bit more torque to it. With electric trucks from Ford, Tesla, and newcomer Rivian on the way, maybe America’s gas holdouts will finally see that electric is the future.
