When Ford unveiled the 2022 F-150 Lightning EV pickup, we still had a few unanswered questions that needed to be addressed. A prominent one was how the F-150 Lightning would fit into Ford’s booming commercial business. With many businesses and companies most likely not plunking down the near estimated $100,000 for a fully loaded Lightning Platnium, these firms needed an entry that could get the job done but without the sticker shock. The Dearborn auto giant has created a very potent answer with the 2022 F-150 Lightning Pro.
A Lightning That’s Sensibly Priced And Ready For The Work Site
As the name implies, the 2022 F-150 Lightning Pro was designed with corporations and other commercial businesses in mind and comes with several sensible features and advantages to help it stand out in the eyes of fleet directors. A big boost in the latter is the value-focused pricing of the model with a base Pro model starting at $39,974 before various green credits are factored into the mix. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic slashed budgets for many fleet operators. Having a price tag that allows the Lightning Pro to go as low as $25,000 in some areas allows the truck to have a unique advantage in a segment that the truck currently has largely to itself. That will change over the next few years when Bollinger and Rivian enter the marketplace, but it’s hard to deny how important a strong headstart like this is to Ford’s bottom line.
The F-150 Lightning Pro will be powered by a pair of electric motors that help the truck produce 426 horsepower with four-season-minded all-wheel drive standard equipment. The lone catch here is unlike other gasoline-powered commercial F-150 models; the Lightning Pro will only be available as a SuperCrew model with a 5.5-foot long bed. This amount of juice should be enough for most folks, and the 775 lb-ft of torque on hand will be a very welcome asset for heavy towing work.
But what if you’re a firm that needs just a bit more electrons under the Lightning’s futuristic clothes for really tough jobs and other extreme types of truck stuff? Ford offers a more powerful $49,974 version that features more potent electronics and hardware, pushing power up to an estimated 563 horsepower. Keep in mind that particular figure is only an estimate at the moment, and it can go higher or lower once Ford has an opportunity to dial in the final details on Lightning’s electric powertrain.
Hauling The Heavy Loads Is A Breeze In Lightning
A key requirement for any commercial truck is to haul cargo and tow the heaviest of loads when asked to do so. Ford is aware of this and has confirmed that it will be offering the Max Tow Package for both the base F-150 Lightning Pro and its more powerful cousin. Pricing for this particular package will be released later, but it increases the amount of weight that the Lightning Pro can tow, as the package promises. For the base model, that figure grows to 7,700 lbs, with the beefier version benefitting from the full 10,000 lb figure. Those are very impressive figures and also put the Lightning in a league.
Oh, and remember the cost side of the equation we mentioned earlier? Ford also confirmed that it would be releasing a digital fleet planning tool for companies that will help them have an easier time not only calculating trivial things like the MSRP and various lease costs but also any potential incentives and discounts that might help trim some fat from the Lightning Pro’s price tag. Ford reps are confident that the Lightning Pro can be a solid fit for any firm and revealed that its own internal calculations confirmed that buyers in an ideal purchasing situation could see up to an extra 40 percent in savings over a gasoline-powered F-150 during eight years of ownership and 100,000 miles of driving.
When Can I Buy A 2022 F-150 Lightning Pro?
If your a firm looking to add a 2022 F-150 Lightning Pro to your vehicle fleet, the reservation process is largely identical to the experience that traditional customers experience with the commercial reservation process using the same initial $100 deposit. The lone difference is that commercial buyers will have to go to Fleet.Ford.com to finish the order process, with the deposit morphing into a formal order closer to the Lightning’s Spring 2022 production start date. Ford recently revealed that demand far outpaced initial expectations, which is good news for Lightning fans.
The appearance of the F-150 Lightning Pro is also part of Ford’s broader plan to electrify their entire commercial lineup with the pickup joining the E-Transit full-size cargo van. There’s word that the smaller Transit Connect could also spawn an electrified version though it remains to be seen if that particular piece of the rumor pie bares any fruit or not
Carl Malek has been an automotive journalist for over 10 years. First starting out as a freelance photographer before making the transition to writing during college, his work has appeared on numerous automotive forums as well as websites such as Autoshopper.com.
Carl is also a big fan of British vehicles with the bulk of his devotion going to the Morgan Motor Company as well as offerings from Lotus, MG, and Caterham. When he is not writing about automobiles, Carl enjoys spending time with his family and friends in the Metro Detroit area, as well as spending time with his adorable pets.