Ford has the all-electric F-150 Lightning and is building a factory in Tennessee to handle its next-gen EV trucks. While CEO Jim Farley hasn't divulged the specifics on the new truck, he did describe it as being like Han Solo's spaceship the "Millennium Falcon." It’s unclear what that means, but it probably doesn't translate into an F-250 Duper Duty EV, which is a shame because there's nothing like that out there. What's more, there is a definite market for heavy-duty electric pickups. Ford prides itself on 100 years of truck manufacturing, but as we move into the electric motor age, its legacy of innovation will suffer if they don't build an F-250 EV ASAP!

Related: Brace Yourselves: A High-Performance Ford F-150 Lightning Is Rumored To Be In The Works

Ford Can Fill The Heavy-Duty Pickup Gap

Ford F-150 Lightning
 jluke / Shutterstock
Front three-quarters shot of a black Ford F-150 Lightning

Heavy-duty pickups are meant for working hard and playing harder. They are more rugged than a regular truck, designed to haul, tow, plow, and for serious off-road driving. All the current electric pickups are basically luxury vehicles with a truck bed that lose most of their range with any kind of hauling or towing. There needs to be an EV truck that can be loaded with drywall and haul a backhoe up an unpaved mountain road. Ford, above any other truck maker, can and should be the one to make this happen.

The Ford F-150 Lightning is currently the only battery-electric pickup available from any of the Big Three American automakers. Chevrolet's Silverado EV plus GMC's Sierra EV will hit showrooms later this year and the Dodge Ram 1500 Revolution won't be ready until 2024 at the earliest. The only other EV truck that can be purchased right now is the Rivian R1T, and while it is freakishly fast, doesn't qualify as a heavy-duty truck. An argument could be made that the GMC Hummer EV is a truck, but it's way more of an SUV.

Toyota and Volkswagen are getting in the EV pickup game, but with mid-sized offerings. Then there's the long-awaited Tesla Cybertruck as well as possible entries from Fisker, EdisonFurure, and Canoo that promise radical designs no one will ever mistake for a heavy-duty pickup. The next class up are commercial 18-wheeler EVs like the Tesla Semi and the Volvo FM Electric, which means there is a huge gap.

Though Chevy and Dodge fans may disagree, Ford is the most innovative and accomplished truckmaker in automotive history. It's not only their birthright to bring the first heavy-duty pickup to market, they have the experience and means to do it. Whether they have the will is another story.

Related: The Fastest Electric Pickup Trucks, Ranked

What It Would Take To Make A Battery Electric F-250

Gray 2023 Ford Super Duty F-250 Tremor Off-Road Package
Ford
A shot of a 2023 Ford Super Duty F-250 Tremor Off-Road Package towing on a dirt road

The ICE Ford F-250 Super Duty is a beast, and a good comparison point to see what a heavy-duty EV pickup should be. The F-250 is bigger, heavier, and stronger than the light-duty F-150. Equipped with the 6.7-liter Power Stroke V-8 Turbo Deisel, the F-250 makes 475 horsepower with a massive 1050 pound-feet of torque. It has a max payload of 7,850 pounds and can tow 20,000 pounds worth of equipment or toys.

The top-trim Ford F-150 Lightning is an all-wheel drive with two electric motors that make 580 horsepower and 770 pound-feet of torque. It can only haul 2,000 pounds and tow a mere 10,000 pounds. An EV F-250 would need four electric motors, one at each wheel, to get the hauling and towing up to snuff with the ICE version. A larger battery pack would probably be in order too, as more power output requires more power input. That in turn means more weight, which unfortunately equates to less range.

The biggest issue with all-electric vehicles is that the heavier they are the shorter their range gets. This is a problem that is compounded with hauling and towing. Car and Driver test drove a 2023 F-150 Lightning and found that towing a 6,100-pound double-axle camping trailer cut the truck's range from 320 miles to just 100 miles. This is something that Ford would have to address with an electric heavy-duty truck. Switching to 48V architecture, as the Cybertruck plans on doing, would help consume electricity more efficiently, but some kind of new battery tech may be needed to make a truck that can tow 20,000 pounds, while maintaining 300-plus miles of range.

Related: 10 Electric Pickup Trucks That We Deserve To Have​​​​​​​

Ford Should Lead The Heavy Duty Truck Revolution

Black 2023 Ford Super Duty F-250 XL STX
Ford
A front 3/4 action shot of a 2023 Ford Super Duty F-250 XL STX

According to Motor1, Ford president of the Americas and International Markets Group, Kumar Galhotra, said, "At the moment, we do not have any plans to go into heavy-duty with battery-electric vehicles." That moment was in 2021 and hopefully has passed because there is a huge market for an all-electric heavy-duty pickup. Every year, Ford moves around 104,000 Super Duty vehicles (trucks and vans), with GM and Ram heavy-duties selling another 100,000 units annually. As we shift into the EV age, those customers are going to need big powerful electric trucks, and there's the very distinct possibility that people will flock to a battery-electric F-250 that can tow a 747.

A Tesla Semi has 1,020 horsepower, 1,050 pound-feet of torque, can tow up to 82,000 pounds, and has a range between 300–500 miles. It is entirely doable to put that kind of raw muscle into a heavy-duty pickup truck, and Ford is just the company to do it. Blue Oval made the first pickup truck ever manufactured in 1925 with the Model T Runabout, it was the first to mass produce an EV pickup with the F-150 Lightning, and it could retain its crown as King of Trucks, by being the first with a heavy-duty pickup with a much-desired F-250 EV.