Ford Confirms the Final Version of the F-150 Lightning Will Have More Power, More Range and a Better Payload

• The production version’s specs are not exactly those that were announced previously

• The two trim levels will have 452 horsepower and 580 horsepower

• The maximum range will reach 320 miles (515 kilometers)

Customers waiting on their new Ford F-150 Lightning will have a pleasant surprise when their truck reaches them, since Ford has confirmed that the final production version will have more power, more range and a higher payload than what was announced at the unveiling.

Indeed, the automaker has made last-minute improvements which will make the Lightning even more desirable, especially to those who want an electric work truck.

This is because the truck’s payload, the weight it can carry in its bed, has been increased from 2,000 pounds up to 2,235 pounds, an increase of 11,7% for the Standard Range (SR) version.

In addition, both the Standard Range and Extended Range (ER) versions saw a boost in power, with the entry-level model now delivering 452 horsepower instead of the 426 that were previously announced, an increase of 6,1%.

The more expensive model saw its output bumped up by 2,9% to reach 580 horsepower instead of the advertised 563 horsepower figure. The maximum torque remains the same, however, at 775 lb-ft.

Despite these two improvements, the range is also higher than previously thought, with a maximum distance of 320 miles (515 kilometers) on a single charge for some trim levels. This was not entirely unexpected since leaked documents had hinted at those numbers a while ago.

Here again, the improvement is considerable, with 20 miles (32 kilometers) more than what Ford was targeting while developing the F-150 Lightning.

This will make Ford more competitive with the other electric pickups that will arrive in the next two years, especially the Chevrolet Silverado EV and possibly the Tesla Cybertruck.