2022 Ford F-150 Lightning

[ENGINE RUNNING] RYAN ZUMMALLEN: Where's the last place you would expect to see two brand new, zero emissions, fully electric pickup trucks? Right here. [MUSIC PLAYING] This is Truck Mania, the biggest celebration of all things trucks on the West Coast, and it is madness. There's dirt bikes running around. There's burnouts. There's an off-road course. And there's every diesel truck imaginable in various states of disrepair. And we brought these-- a Ford F-150 Lightning and a Rivian R1T. Frankly, they stick out like a sore thumb. We want to see if they can fit in too. We're going to hook them up to a monster tractor sled and see how far they can pull it down a dirt track. Are they going to fail? Are they going to triumph? Am I going to look like an idiot? I don't know, but I can't wait to find out. I'm pumped, baby. Let's go. Whoo! Since you're already here, go ahead and click Like and Subscribe so we can keep making more crazy videos like this. Also, if you want to sell your car, go to edmunds.com/sellmycar right now, and you'll get a cash offer on that baby. Both of these are part of the Edmunds' long-term test program. So yes, we actually bought and paid for both of these, and yes, we're actually going to put them on the line and risk them right here right now. Believe it or not, when you look at the numbers, these two really belong at a place like this. Both of these trucks have tons of horsepower. But the R1T has a lot more. The bigger deal though, is torque. And the Rivian's four motors best the Ford's two, pumping out 908 pound-feet. Plus, the Rivian has off-road tires, which should be better for churning up dirt than the Ford's street shoes. So these trucks definitely have the right specs on paper, but can they really handle this type of abuse? We're in completely uncharted territory here. The sled's weight is over these trucks max tow rating by over 300%. Will we pretzel their frames? Will we burn out their motors? Nobody knows. We called Ford, and understandably, all they'd say is that they haven't tried this before, and they couldn't give us pointers, let alone their blessing. In fact, the stakes here are so high, we had to go get special permission to risk the nearly $165,000 in company assets. That's right. My butt is on the line here. What up? SPEAKER 1: You're taking it down the track? RYAN ZUMMALLEN: We're going to do the tractor pull with it. SPEAKER 1: Yeah? SPEAKER 2: No way. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: Yeah, for real. SPEAKER 2: Hell yeah. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: In like, 45 minutes. Come watch it. SPEAKER 3: Yeah, we will. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: All right, made some fans already. [MUSIC PLAYING] This is wild, dude. Look at this truck. He's not moving an inch for me. He didn't move an inch. SPEAKER 4: He actually was coming over your way. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: I think he was getting closer. SPEAKER 4: He intentionally was coming over your way. SPEAKER 5: That's a good looking truck. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: Yeah? SPEAKER 5: I like it. It's real striking when you see them coming down the road with those lights. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: They don't look like anything else for sure. We're going to put it-- we're going to put it in the tractor pull. We're going to pull this thing. SPEAKER 5: No kidding? RYAN ZUMMALLEN: Yeah. SPEAKER 5: Awesome, we're in there too. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: So you know what you're talking about. How is this going to do? SPEAKER 5: Well, you guys-- you have an advantage of torque right off 0 RPM. So that's going to be like having a low gear ratio, I would think. So it's going to come down to traction, and you got pretty decent tires on it. So, yeah, maybe. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: Yeah, the Lightning's got just street tires, just all seasons. So we'll see. SPEAKER 5: And these things have what, 500 foot-pounds or something? RYAN ZUMMALLEN: No, like 800. SPEAKER 5: You're going to do good. [LAUGHTER] RYAN ZUMMALLEN: All right, good enough for me. SPEAKER 5: I'm rooting for ya. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: Good enough. Appreciate it, bud. I'm here now with Brian Massetti from MLM Motorsports, the owner and operator of the Terminator 2.0, this absolutely enormous sled that we're going to be pulling with both trucks. Brian, tell me a little bit about how the Terminator works. BRIAN MASSETTI: So the way it works is it's a weight transfer machine. As the front tires turn, they drive through a gearbox, move that box forward, transferring all the weight from the back up to the skid pan, which gets harder and harder to drag. And then, we eventually will stop. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: OK, so that giant box gets pushed forward the faster I go, and that's going to push it deep into the ground. BRIAN MASSETTI: Exactly what's going to happen. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: All right, fascinating. How much does this whole thing weigh? BRIAN MASSETTI: Right about 34,000 pounds today. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: So 17 tons? BRIAN MASSETTI: Yeah, if you do the math right, that's 17 tons. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: My God. All right, all right, I guess we're doing this. Any predictions on how the Rivian and the Lightning are going to do? BRIAN MASSETTI: I don't know. I've never had an electric vehicle pull the sled. I know the Rivian has a weight advantage. I'm excited to see what happens. I think they'll both do well. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: So a heavier truck is an advantage? BRIAN MASSETTI: Yes, because you have more leverage against the sled. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: All right, we'll see. You think I'm going to look like an idiot out there? BRIAN MASSETTI: No, not at all because no one's done this before. So the first time someone does it, it's always great, right? RYAN ZUMMALLEN: I'll take it. Let's do it. So as Brian just mentioned, weight is super important in this competition. And one thing to know about the Lightning and the Rivian is they're way heavier than most trucks this size. In fact, there's currently not a class for this kind of weight. So if more electric trucks are going to enter this type of stuff, they're going to have to create a brand new class with new rules and regulations. And I'm the guinea pig in the driver's seat. Brian, the organizer, said he didn't think I was going to look like an idiot. But everyone still thought it'd be good to get a couple of dry runs in before the big throwdown. That way we could see if these trucks would even play ball. OK, we're in tow, haul mode. All right, here we go. First run, Ford Lightning, waiting for the green flag. OK, here we go. Lightning-- Lightning on the way. A lot of wheel spin. All right, foot's on the floor. We're pulling. We're pulling. We're pulling. Drifting a little bit. Still going, foot on the floor. Going pretty good. It feels-- it feels nice. Slowing down a little, bouncing around. Coming to a crawl. Stop. That was wild. So I felt a lot of spin. Curious if that's going to happen in the Rivian too. Because we've got two motors here, one on the front, one in the back. And that was a lot of spin. Could be the tires, could be the fact that we got two motors instead of four, could be the truck's just not designed to do this. All right, we're to 237 miles of range right now, 88% battery. We're going to see if any of that changes this time. OK, last time, I rolled on it. Let's floor it this time. Here we go, flooring it, a lot of wheel spin but we're getting going. Here we go. That was smoother actually. It feels good, pretty bumpy, but feels good. Here we go, going past 200 now. Way better this time. Way better this time. And we're slowing and done. First run was really good, but I was babying the throttle way too much. So the second one, I just floored it, and we did way, way better. We made almost 50 feet improvement, I'm guessing. But definitely, flooring it is the move. That's what I learned. 235 miles of range, so we lost a little range. But we're still at 87% charge, so it's not killing the battery as much as I thought it might. That was a way better run. So flooring it is definitely the move. Now, we'll see how the Rivian does. OK, we are in towing mode right now. We have 121 miles of range, 88%. Let's see what we got. Good? All right, 3, 2, 1, go. Oh, the front lifted up way hard. Good start though. Good start. Oh, we're moving. We are moving. Oh my God, we're going to blow past this. We are blowing past this. Way past 250. And done. Whoo! SPEAKER 6: Hey, beat the [BLEEP] Ford. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: That's nuts, man. We're at 87%, 121 miles of range. I think that's about what we started with, pretty sure that's what we started with. Wild, man. All right, one more. Once I could feel the tractor push a little bit, it felt like it wasn't going to stop. SPEAKER 5: The front wheels almost lifted off the ground. So I don't know what that-- maybe that's why the traction control is really working hard up front and not spinning the tires. But the back ones were spinning, and they were really digging in. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: Oh, wow. SPEAKER 5: So it was-- it powered on the ground, but it was definitely opposite of the Lightning. Because the Lightning, the front spun. It was really weird. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: That's funny. SPEAKER 5: Funny how the computer deals with stuff. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: Well, I'm glad-- I'm glad it's giving you something to watch. Let's see if we can beat the first run. Here we go. Power on, front wheels up. We're pulling, we're pulling, we're pulling. Now it's starting to push me from the back. Oh, we're moving. Can we beat the first run? Just got to keep it straight. Let's see. It feels better. I think it's better than the first one. We're done. 120 miles, 87% battery. So that's really not doing too much to the battery. So definitely beat the first run. I don't know what was different that time. I mashed it both times. I mean, I'm impressed. The people who do this regularly seem pretty impressed. So I guess we got a pretty good showing from our two EVs today. SPEAKER 7: Oh, I love the smell of nitro-methane on a Saturday night. Here comes The Hood Rat! Oh, my! She's going! She's going! She's going! She's gone! RYAN ZUMMALLEN: Bright lights time. SPEAKER 7: 310-- RYAN ZUMMALLEN: There's a big crowd in the stands, getting a little nervous. Here we go, baby. SPEAKER 7: So how about some electric trucks brought to you by our friends at edmunds.com? Definitely want to shout out edmunds.com. This is going to be the brand new Ford Lightning. Rumor has it, this thing can charge your house. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: Here we go. Green, let's go. SPEAKER 7: That's what I like to hear. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: The flip round. SPEAKER 7: Here we go! Sacramento, get on your feet! [CHEERING] Brand-new Ford F-150 Lightning. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: This is a good run. This is a good run. SPEAKER 7: So quiet. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: That's funny, man, we're done. SPEAKER 7: Impressive for all that electric torque. 231 in 42. 231 in 42. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: So, 230 and change. Our battery power really didn't change very much. We still got a lot of life left. We still got a lot of range left. Pretty wild, man. 230 something feet in front of a full crowd. Actually seemed to be rooting for us a little bit. That's cool. Rivian time. SPEAKER 7: So, we've got another electric truck coming at you. The [INAUDIBLE]. I heard a rumor this thing out-pulled the [INAUDIBLE] in testing. Anybody heard of a Rivian? RYAN ZUMMALLEN: Rivian time. Looking for the green. All right, we're green. Let's go. Let's go. Come on, buddy. SPEAKER 7: [INAUDIBLE]. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: We're feeling good. SPEAKER 7: How about a Rivian, folks. This is the future. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: Feeling good. AUDIENCE: Boo! RYAN ZUMMALLEN: Got some boos. SPEAKER 7: I hear the boos. [INAUDIBLE] agree with you. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: What do we do? SPEAKER 7: It's [INAUDIBLE] dragging 246 feet, 85. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: 246. SPEAKER 7: 246 in 85 for the Rivian. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: All right, so the Rivian won out. SPEAKER 7: Here comes the [INAUDIBLE] truck. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: Four electric motors versus two electric motors, I think we've got a clear verdict here. If you're planning on getting one of these trucks for a tractor pull-- SPEAKER 8: Good job, the front tire was spinning this time. RYAN ZUMMALLEN: Nice. If you're thinking about getting one of these two trucks for a tractor pull, now you know which one to get. How did these two do overall? Pretty damn well. Like we said, EVs are so new they don't fit into any weight class. So comparing them is an apples to oranges deal. The sled's weight box transfer speed varies by class to make comparisons even harder. Plus, so-called stock class rigs tend to have mods, whether it's tires or engine tweaks or extra ballast. Our trucks are right off the showroom floor. Starting with the big boy work stock diesel class, these rigs pulled the sled the furthest by far. But they can weigh 8,000 pounds and have engine tweaks, exhaust, tires, all of that. Closer to our trucks are the 6,500 and 5,500 stock classes, which respectively, can weigh up to 6,500 or 5,500 pounds. These trucks pulled between 220 and 261 feet. Yes, they're lighter than ours. But that still suggests our EVs could be right in the thick of things without mods. The future of electric trucks is bright, even for sled pulling. SPEAKER 7: Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. [ENGINE RUNNING] RYAN ZUMMALLEN: We had a blast at Truck Mania today with the Ford F-150 Lightning and Rivian R1T. We got to learn about a brand new motorsport. We got to meet a ton of passionate people. And we got to see that the Rivian is probably a little bit better suited for this particular competition than the Lightning. But I have a feeling most EV owners aren't going to be doing anything like this. Still, I think we learned quite a bit about the capability of electric trucks. Now, this is far from the last comparison that will do between the Lightning and the Rivian. So make sure you check back to the Edmunds' long-term test page to see our thoughts as we put 20,000 miles on these bad boys. Thanks for watching. Don't forget to leave a comment below about which truck impressed you the most. And who knows, maybe we sparked a new trend today. Special thanks go out to Michael Lewis from L and L Productions. Thank you for having us here today. And if you'll have us, we'll be back. Whoo! All right, America.