Ready for the Ford Ranger Lightning? The right-sized electric car might make you forget about the F-150 Lightning

Is there a Ford Ranger Lightning electric vehicle (EV) coming?

Hot on the heels that Australia will at last be receiving the Ford F-150 truck from mid next year, the disappointing news is that the latter won’t include the vaunted F-150 Lightning EV truck any time soon.

However, a senior global Ford executive has revealed that an electrified Ford Ranger based on the soon-to-be-launched T6.2 version could be a distinct possibility for various reasons, since the brand has already gone there with the conceptually similar (if significantly larger) F-150 Lightning.

According to Ford Motor Company vehicle program director for Icons and Ford Performance, Ali Jammoul, all avenues of electrification are being explored for the Ranger and its offshoots, as the Blue Oval brand comes to grips with a rapidly changing world as well as evolving consumer tastes.

“The T6 platform is a really good platform in itself,” he told CarsGuide while in Australia to assess Ford's T6.2 vehicles (among other things).

“And you can electrify the platform, and we have proven on the F-150 Lightning that you can take an internal combustion engine platform and electrify it.

“Whether that’s in the plan or not, I can’t tell you. But (T6.2) certainly is capable of electrifying – whether it’s a hybrid electric vehicle, plug-in hybrid EV or complete battery EV.”

Mr Jammoul added that while speed to market is a very appealing positive when it comes to electrifying an existing platform as Ford did with the F-150 Lightning’s T3 architecture, there are some hurdles that need to be overcome first if the Ranger is to undergo a similar transformation.

“You have constraints, because you are not starting from a clean sheet of paper,” he said. “But we did it on F-150. And sometimes, the quickest way to get to market is to build on your current architecture, but with an EV version.

“Still, you don’t get the maximum benefit of electrification until you have dedicated platforms that are created with the batteries and the motors packages. And it’s only then that you can start taking advantage of additional cargo space and additional interior space… there are a lot of additional advantages for the customer.

“That’s why, eventually, what you want to do is go to that dedicated platform, that will serve many of our body-on-frame EVs essentially.

“But where is that point? It’s really a moving target, to be honest, and I don’t see T6 going away any time soon, between here and the end of the decade, frankly. And the reason is because of that capability to electrify, and that will probably be what we will do.

“The plan is to continue to optimise and electrify – and by electrify, I mean the big word electrify: multi-energy and all types of potential electrification sources.”

What a potential Ford Ranger Lightning would look like is anybody’s guess, but the F-150 Lightning probably provides a very strong indication.

In America, the latter is available with a dual motor drivetrain capable of delivering up to 420kW of power and 1051Nm of torque. There are two battery size options in 98kWh or 131kWh configurations, offering either 370km or 510km of range while towing capacity exceeds 4500kg.

While the F-150 Lightning is aimed at the Rivian R1T, Tesla Cybertruck, GMC Hummer EV and Chevrolet Silverado EV, a Ranger Lightning would be one of the first to market in the midsized pick-up market.

What better way to show rivals like the Toyota HiLux and Isuzu D-Max who's boss than by pioneering electrification in Australia.

Will the Ford Ranger Lightning happen? Watch this space…