Andy Nurman
January 18, 2024
Ford has taken the wraps off its latest high-performance demonstrator vehicle, the F-150 Lightning Switchgear. Based on America’s best-selling electric truck, the Switchgear is an extreme off-road-ready vehicle designed to push the F-150 Lightning to its limits.
The Switchgear features significant upgrades over the standard Lightning, including a custom exterior design with carbon fiber bodywork, a widened track, increased ground clearance and suspension travel, and massive 37-inch Nitto Ridge Grappler tires. It rides on an independent front and rear suspension equipped with high-performance FOX shocks designed to devour challenging desert terrain.
Created in collaboration with off-road vehicle builder RTR Vehicles, the Switchgear continues Ford’s Demonstrator program which aims to explore an electric vehicle’s capabilities. As a testbed, it will provide key learnings to advance future electric truck development.
The radically upgraded electric F-150 will be shown publicly for the first time at King of the Hammers in California starting January 25. This grueling off-road race will put the Switchgear’s improved approach, departure and suspension articulation angles to the test.
While named for its off-road prowess, Ford hints the Switchgear also boasts improved on-road performance. Could this be the electric Raptor fans have been waiting for? More details will be revealed soon.
The Switchgear joins previous Ford demonstrator vehicles like the F-100 Eluminator hot rod and Mustang Mach-E 1400 track star in pushing EVs to the extremes. As Ford transitions to electric vehicles ahead of the ICE vehicle phase-out in Europe and North America, projects like this provide important data – and excitement – for the future.
Can you buy it? So the Switchgear is a concept demonstrator vehicle, designed to test the capabilities of the electric F-150 Lightning platform in extreme conditions. It showcases potential future performance upgrades, but is not being produced or sold to the public at this time.
