Electric Ford F-150 prototype pulls 1 million pounds of train and trucks

Thanks to a new video from Ford, we have two bits of information about the upcoming electric F-150: It is indeed a pickup truck, and it can indeed tow quite a bit of stuff. The clip, which reads like a Chevy “real people” commercial, shows a fully electric F-150 prototype pulling more than 1 million pounds of freight trains and F-150 trucks. 

Towing stunts are nothing new to the world of automotive internet flexing. We’ve seen the electric Mini tow a Boeing 777, a Land Rover Discovery tow a semi-truck “road train,” a Toyota Tundra tow a space shuttle, a Porsche Cayenne Turbo S pull an Airbus A380, a Tesla Model X P100D tow a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, and a Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI pull a 747. Car people love aviation, if you couldn’t tell. And then there’s the somewhat creepy sight and sounds of Boston Dynamics’ robo-dogs pulling a truck.

The key word here is stunt, as this video is a show of what Ford could tune the truck to do. Not what the production version will do. At the bottom of the press release, Ford reminds watchers, “The all-electric F-150 prototype is towing far beyond any production truck’s published capacity in a one-time short event demonstration. Never tow beyond a vehicle’s towing capacities. Always consult the Owner’s Manual.”

The clip shows F-150 Chief Engineer Linda Zhang meeting with current F-150 owners out at a rail yard. The gentlemen act like they have no idea why they’re there, until Zhang unveils the electric prototype hooked up to a massive line of 10 double-decker cargo train cars. First, the electric prototype pulls the train, which Ford says weighs more than 1 million pounds. It travels approximately 1,000 yards. Then, 42 2019 F-150s are loaded into the rail cars, and the electric F-150 pulls the train again. 

The demonstration is a way for Ford to promote two electrified trucks that are on the way. The hybrid F-150 will go on sale in 2020, and the fully electric F-150 will arrive after that.