Ford F-150 Raptor will not get hybrid or electrical energy

Ford doesn’t plan on constructing an F-150 Raptor Lightning electrical super-truck to battle the GMC Hummer EV.

Ford Efficiency boss Carl Widmann advised Motor Authority that neither hybrid nor all-electric powertrains are on the playing cards for the Ford F-150 Raptor household.

He notes an internal-combustion engine is “the perfect tech to function at full energy in deep sand, bar none”.

“The [Raptor] brings that engine to life. You are able to do issues so quickly,” stated Mr Widmann.

He additionally threw shade on the GMC Hummer EV, noting it weighs greater than 4000kg – virtually 1500kg greater than a V8 Raptor R – including, “They’re good for a shot, however not one thing you’d run at Baja”.

The additional weight of the batteries means Ford gained’t do an electrical Raptor, whereas a hybrid has been dominated out for not solely the extra weight but in addition the shortage of a profit to clients.

Mr Widmann additionally dominated out the usage of the F-250 Tremendous Responsibility’s 7.3-litre Godzilla V8, saying the supercharged 5.2-litre V8 of the brand new Raptor R is “essentially the most energy you possibly can pack into the truck’s entrance finish” and the Godzilla is just too heavy.

Whereas an F-150 Lightning isn’t Baja-ready, it could actually finest even the Raptor R in a dash.

The EV pickup has as much as 433kW of energy and 1050Nm of torque, whereas the Raptor R has 522kW and 868Nm.

Although there’s no official 0-60mph (0-96km/h) time for both, Ford has stated the Lightning can do the sprint in underneath 4 seconds whereas Ford Authority experiences the Raptor R is slower than the Ram 1500 TRX, which does it in 4.5 seconds.

For context, the usual twin-turbocharged 3.5-litre V6 F-150 Raptor has a claimed time of 5.2 seconds, whereas a GMC Hummer EV has all of them beat – in Version 1 guise, the heavy electrical pickup takes simply three seconds to hit 60mph.

Ford hasn’t confirmed any of this trio of speedy F-150s for Australia.

It’ll launch a domestically remanufactured, right-hand drive model of the F-150 subsequent yr, initially solely in XLT and Lariat guise powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine.

Sellers are already taking orders, despite the fact that pricing has but to be launched.

“We’ve had numerous curiosity on our web site, and definitely sellers are taking orders,” Ford Australia president Andrew Birkic advised CarExpert earlier this yr.

“We haven’t launched pricing but. We’re working by way of that now, so I believe that would be the subsequent set off level to drive additional orders and we will shore up some clients with the specs.”

The F-150 will probably be imported to Australia, the place it’ll be remanufactured in right-hand drive by RMA Automotive at a facility in Mickleham, Victoria.

“We’ve made actually good progress, so we’ve constructed some preliminary autos,” stated Mr Birkic, confirming the corporate remains to be “in a very good place” for a launch in mid-2023.

Ford has left the door open for extra F-150 variants to come back Down Underneath as soon as native remanufacturing has been established and any kinks have been ironed out.

“RMA and Ford Particular Automobiles have numerous work to do by way of the engineering, organising the manufacturing facility,” stated Mr Birkic.

“Let’s get it right here, let’s get it down the road, let’s spend the time on the remanufacture, let’s get it out to our clients. Then we’ll transfer on to the subsequent step… what we wish to do is guarantee the method is strong,” he stated, including the corporate has “an open thoughts” about increasing the vary.

Whether or not the Lightning might be amongst them is much from sure. Ford can presently solely construct 60,000 of them per yr, however a plant enlargement underway will see manufacturing capability develop to 150,000 models by mid-next yr.

Nevertheless, Ford had recorded round 200,000 reservations for the Lightning, so there’s more likely to be loads of unmet demand for fairly a while.

As for the Raptor, Ford Australia can no less than provide the Ranger Raptor. Like its bigger sibling, it additionally affords a twin-turbo petrol V6, although it’s a 3.0-litre mill with 292kW of energy and 583Nm of torque. The F-150’s 3.5-litre pumps out 335kW and 691Nm.

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