U.S. Forest Services Considers Electrifying Fleet With Ford F-150 Lightning

If an F-150 Lightning ventures into the woods, will you hear it?

For years, fleets in need of trucks, like the police, fire department, or even a park ranger, has had to depend on dirty, smelly, polluting, and thirsty pickup trucks and SUVs. But, the advent of EVs has introduced a new option: a fully electric truck.

The U.S. Forest Service may just be one fleet that could benefit from full electrification. In an effort to see how viable the electric F-150 is, the U.S. Forest Service has come into possession of three Ford F-150 Lightning. This new pilot program sees a truck in service in one of three locations; Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania, the White Mountains National Forest in New Hampshire, and the Huron-Manistee National Forest in Michigan. The Forest Service wants to see how the EV truck copes with cold weather.

All three of the trucks are the base model Ford F-150 Lightning Pro, meaning, they are equipped with a battery that gives a range of up to 230 miles, and a dual-motor AWD setup.

Right now, the Forest Service’s fleet is not very electrified at all. Out of more than 18,000 vehicles, only 24 are hybrids. The Forest Service hopes that studying the F-150 Lightning, and using other fleet telematics will help figure out how to best support charging infrastructure for the Forest Service’s needs. Currently, only 32 charging stations exist for the Forest Service’s more than 700 sites.

The Forest Service plans on transitioning its entire fleet to zero-emission vehicles by 2035.

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