There’s no Ford F-150 Lightning parked on my driveway, but I can pretend there is. Even were I one of the 160,000+ people who have now put down a reservation for Ford’s all-electric pickup, I’d still have to be patient: deliveries aren’t expected to begin until spring 2022. Until then, we have appetite-whetting workarounds, like Ford’s new augmented reality app.
In real life, my drive is playing host to a week’s worth of golden leaves. Fall in Michigan is well in its swing, just as is – 140 miles or so east of me – work to upgrade the new Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, where the Lightning will be produced.
In real life, my drive is playing host to a week’s worth of golden leaves. Fall in Michigan is well in its swing, just as is – 140 miles or so east of me – work to upgrade the new Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, where the Lightning will be produced.
Construction of preproduction vehicles began there in September but, even with excitement clearly high, Ford is seemingly unwilling to leave things to chance in the meantime. The release today of “F-150 Lightning: Strike Anywhere” is good example of that, an interactive AR experience developed with Google that puts a virtual pickup on your driveway, job site, or just about anywhere else.
As we’ve seen from other AR experiences, it’s fairly simple to use. Point your iPhone or Android phone’s camera at an empty space, move it around a little, and then suddenly a truck appears. You can pinch-zoom it to adjust the size, and twist two fingers to spin it on the spot. Or, you can simply walk around the virtual pickup, leaning in to check out the details like the charger port on the front fender.
With so much early interest – exceeding Ford’s predictions for the F-150 Lightning and, indeed, its initial production goals – you’d be forgiven for wondering why the AR app is needed. Turns out, Ford says, demand for the EV truck may be strong, but there’s a considerable variance among those reservation holders. A survey over the summer discovered that over half will be new to Ford ownership, for example.
More impressive still, 79-percent of F-150 Lightning reservation holders say the truck will be the first battery-electric vehicle in their household.
Ford has been through a similar hand-holding process before, of course. Back in 2015, at the launch of the thirteenth-generation F-150, the automaker went on a materials offensive as it made the then-controversial switch to aluminum for nearly every body panel. It was to be a high-stakes decision: the cut in steel used meant close to 750 pounds of weight cut from the previous-generation pickup, but it also set the new F-150 at odds with preconceptionos of “toughness” among potential truck buyers. The risk paid off, though, with near-universal approval for the truck and the afterglow of seeing initially-skeptical rivals eventually follow suit.
Fast forward six years or so, and Ford’s new challenge is proving that electrification and trucks go together just as well. It means, for example, demonstrating the F-150 Lightning’s uptick in practicality such as from the sizable front trunk; the new connected vehicle features through the SYNC infotainment touchscreen; and the ability to turn the EV into a battery-on-wheels, replacing worksite generators or even powering a home in the case of an outage.
The truck audience is hardly as homogenous as some might assume it to be, but it’s also fair to acknowledge that these are new talents among the pickup crowd (and, for that matter, only a short list of other EVs – available or incoming – share all the Lightning’s available technologies). Similarly, concerns about total range, charging, and practicality are ubiquitous across the EV space. Ford’s animations and videos of the F-150 Lightning’s abilities may not answer all the questions out there, but they may spark a little more awareness among an audience still often left bemused by electric drive to begin with.
For now, with the production pickup still some months out – and the order books yet to open – there are still some big unknowns. Just how many of Ford’s 160,000+ reservations will turn into actual sales remains to be seen; the automaker’s aggressive increase in production goals, promising 80,000 trucks per year, could still end up stymied by the global semiconductor crisis. Even final pricing, including the much-vaunted $40k starting sticker, might end up getting a shuffle, as the Biden Administration works on implementing new incentives for EVs.
Beyond all that, though, the biggest surprise with the F-150 Lightning AR experience was just how normal the truck looked parked outside my house. Considering the outlandish aesthetic many EV-makers have adopted, Ford’s design seems positively low-key in comparison. If the production truck fits anywhere near as easily into driver’s lifestyles, Ford would have a hit on its hands.
