Cody U. 
Ford Motor Company recently signed a pledge at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, with intentions to become an all-electric carmaker by 2040, however, there are no plans at the moment to build a fully electric F-Series Super Duty any time in the near future.
“At the moment, we do not have any plans to go into heavy duty with battery-electric vehicles,” president of Americas and International Markets Group for Ford, Kumar Galhotra said in a forum earlier this month, per a Detroit Free Press report.
Per Department of Transportation classifications, Ford Motor Company has defined heavy duty as anything over 8,500 GVW (Gross Vehicle Weight) – which is a Class 2B truck such as the F-250 Super Duty, or higher, such as the F-350 Super Duty (a Class 3 truck).
Newly appointed CFO John Lawler mentioned in the same forum that Ford aspires to make money on their electric catalog, thus the reasoning for not having any plans for an all-electric Super Duty. In a previous MC&T report there seems to be an allusion to the fact the market for fully electric Ford Super Duty trucks have not seen a demand high enough to devote resources to building them.
Why Large Electric Trucks Are Hard To Come By
While the Ford executives didn’t go into detail on why, it’s nevertheless clear that all large truck makers are brushed up against the physical limitations, costs, and power density of automotive battery technology. Just look at the newly announced payload and towing capacities of the GMC Hummer EV Edition 1. Classified as a Class 2B truck, the Hummer comes in at a 7,500 pounds towing capacity and a 1,300 pound payload. That’s comparable to a Chevrolet Colorado, or Ford Ranger. Not for exactly meeting the requirements of the specs we see with the current Ford F-250 or F-350 Super Duty trucks. Why is the Hummer classified in such a heavy GVWR class, then? Batteries are heavy. Yet batteries do not currently provide the same power density of an engine.
To compare with an engine-powered Class 2B truck, today’s most capable F-250 Super Duty configuration is rated at over 4,300 lbs of payload, and can tow up to 15,000 pounds. The time it takes to replenish a fuel tank is a few minutes. Being that time is money, commercial fleet companies and drivers know that the most cost effective way to transport anything is by having a truck that can carry as much as possible, while operating with minimal downtime.
Should the math eventually make sense for Ford Motor Company and its Super Duty truck customers, we may likely see an electric big truck. Until that time, there’s the Ford F-150 Lightning Pro.
