To reassure drivers worried about how the all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning will handle real-world weather and roads, Ford engineers put a fleet of pre-production trucks through torture testing along an 8-mile strip of Interstate 70 in Colorado.

Called the Ike Gauntlet, the roadway has a 7% grade and ascends to more than 11,000 feet above sea level. 

This is the kind of grade for which you see signs warning of runaway trucks when brakes fail. Auto companies often refer to it as the world's toughest towing test.

Ford engineers aggressively tested the Lightning's towing and off-road capability in extreme temperatures to confirm that longtime customers, as well as new buyers attracted by the battery vehicle, can count on the truck in every circumstance. 

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Torture testing, as it's called in the industry, makes all trucks tough, which means they're put through extreme conditions to withstand extreme abuse. Ford released details of the Lightning's tests Wednesday.

"We always knew the product was going to be tough and capable," Dapo Adewusi, vehicle engineering manager for Lightning, told the Free Press.

How tough?

The testing in Colorado included an 80-mile trip that started in Boulder and ended in Frisco, Ford said. Temperatures dropped to -2 Fahrenheit with two inches of snow while engineers tested the Lightning's 10,000-pound towing capacity.

Similarly, to test in hot weather, Ford engineers during summer 2021 took the Lightning to Arizona to tow across the Davis Dam, located on State Route 68 between Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam. The Lightning ascended from 550 feet elevation to 3,500 feet in 11.4 miles in desert temperatures reaching 118 degrees. 

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Other examples of truck torture testing conducted with Ford, Toyota and Ram trucks have included: 

• Using driving robots to withstand more aggressive, repetitive punishment human bodies cannot.
• Driving the mountains of Japan to the brutal four-by-four trails near Moab, Utah, through the blistering roads of Death Valley to the frigid roads of Alaska during the winter.
• Soaking the trucks in salt and brine in humidity chambers to simulate 10 years of corrosion in six months

Engineers at Ford say five days of the testing equals 10 years or 150,000 miles of use. This is standard in the truck business and key to the sales of these profitable pickups.

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Engineers used to truck testing said even they were impressed:

"If you've ever driven a (gasoline) truck, towing, coming down a grade or up a grade, the engine is screaming at you," said Adewusi. "We have a tow/haul drive mode similar to (internal combustion) trucks. You hit the drive mode and the truck holds its speed coming down the grade. There's nothing screaming at you. It gets to the point where you think the unit is slowing down coming down a steep grade. It’s so effective in maintaining your speed to ensure you are in control of the vehicle."

The experience, in some ways, feels "surreal" because it's so quiet and easy, he said.

All-electric technology changes the feel of everything, engineers told the Free Press.

"This vehicle has an independent rear suspension optimized for this truck," Adewusi said.

"If you compare to gas, you notice the difference in the ride quality and how it absorbs road surfaces while you're pulling the trailer," he said, having worked on Ford truck programs for the past two decades.

Anthony Magagnoli, a human factors and lifestyle attributes engineer at Ford, told the Free Press that towing a 10,000 pound box trailer in a Lightning felt "effortless" going up a mountain.

"It's not just the effortless torque that comes from the electric motors, but the low centralized weight and independent rear suspension, combined with the power," he said. "Torque is simply the power that you feel when you hit the accelerator pedal." 

What makes it effortless is having two electric motors working and the fact that the torque is available from 0 mph as opposed to a typical gas engine that needs to build up speed. All-electric vehicles have immediate acceleration.

Braking also allows for power regeneration, Magagnoli noted.

"You always have that power available from a low speed. It's all there immediately," Magagnoli said, pointing out that an internal combustion engine (also called ICE) needs to work up to a speed because the energy transfer is just different.

Worst-case wind resistance

Ford engineers also used a box trailer with a flat front that created a ton of wind resistance. The double-axle trailers measured 24 feet in length, with frontal areas of 60 square feet. By comparison, a boat or snowmobile will allow air to flow around them more easily. Ford wanted to test the worst-case towing.

Ford learned more during off-road testing in Arizona and Colorado, Magagnoli said.

"The Lightning really shines on a loose surface, where you can make use of the power and kick up a lot of dirt. It feels like a rally car," said Magagnoli, who has raced sports cars professionally. 

"It has independent rear suspension, a low center of gravity and immediate power," he said. "This is an F-Series pickup at the end of the day. We're not making any excuses for it being a battery electric vehicle. It's going to exceed expectations."

Remind buyers it's all OK

Oh, and the Ford engineer that made the cover of Time magazine? That was Linda Zhang, chief engineer of Lightning. She has been out in the sizzling and frigid temperatures right along with her team, they said.

"She's right there in the trenches with the rest of us, really hands-on with every aspect of the product," Magagnoli said. "When we've needed to react to things we've learned, the team has been, from my particular perspective, mind-bogglingly nimble for a company of our size. This team doesn't feel like a big company. I've seen things implemented and changed faster than you can fathom" for any major automaker.

Karl Brauer, executive analyst for the iseecars.com shopping site, said Ford has earned a reputation over the years for truck strength. It's to be expected, he said.

"You expect it but you also need to hear it to kind of prove your hopes and your suspicions correct," Brauer told the Free Press. "At the end of the day, the reason there are so many F-150s sold every year is because of their reputation of being productive work vehicles that get a whole lot done."

He added, "If you can’t feel that same level of confidence and functionality in the electric version, that’s going to have a big hit on its appeal to all those traditional F-150 buyers."

Contact Phoebe Wall Howard at313-618-1034 orphoward@freepress.com.Follow her on Twitter@phoebesaid. Read more on Ford and sign up for our autos newsletter.