See Ford F-150 Lightning's Rolling Chassis

Let's take a look at this massive battery within the vehicle frame.

By: Mark Kane

Aug 30, 2021 at 12:55pm ET

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At one of the demo events, Ford showed the rolling chassis of the upcoming Ford F-150 Lightning all-electric pickup, which is a great opportunity for us to take a look at the main EV components.

The F-150 is a body-on-frame type of vehicle. Ford took a rational decision to locate the battery pack within the frame, which makes the battery safe, lowers the center of gravity and improves handling.

The battery pack itself is quite long and its rear part appears to have two floors of battery modules (the cells are supplied by SK Innovation).

Munro Live's Sandy Munro called this pack "isolated," probably as it's attached solely to the frame. The pack should be easy to remove and replace (or replace faulty modules), although let's hope it will never be necessary.

By the way, Stellantis' RAM also aims for a similar battery approach, although its battery in the early images is flat (probably double floor through full length, just like in the Rivian R1T).

Ford doesn't reveal the battery capacity of the packs, but there will be two options:

Standard-Range Battery with expected EPA range of 230 miles (370 km)
Extended-Range Battery with expected EPA range of 300 miles (483 km)

Tell us what you think!

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We estimate it at 115 kWh net/125 kWh total in the Standard-Range Battery version and 155 kWh net/170 kWh in the Extended-Range Battery version (see specs here).

Before the battery in the front, and behind the battery in the rear, are electric drive units, each with an individual single-speed transmission and inverter. The vehicle is all-wheel-drive with a peak power output of up to 420 kW in the top version.

An interesting thing is an independent rear suspension - the first of its kind in the F-150, which combined with the low center of gravity, should significantly improve the driving dynamics of the pickup.

Electrification of the F-150 does not compromise the original vehicle (there is still a spare tire), but it actually improved it, especially through the addition of the front trunk, advanced power export features and of course the all-wheel-drive, smooth and quiet electric powertrain.