US forest service is testing a fleet of ford f-150 lightnings
The United States Forest Service (USFS) has started a new pilot test, incorporating three Ford F-150 Lightning s in their fleet.
The three test vehicles will be distributed in three different parks throughout the US, featuring different weather and road conditions, this will help the agency have a clearer idea of the performance of the electric truck in various conditions.
The USFS will eventually replace all of its 17,000 ICE vehicles with electric ones, in compliance with a presidential executive order urging all federal agencies to start the transition to electrified vehicles.
Details of the executive order stipulate that all new vehicle purchases falling under the light vehicle category should be exclusively electric starting in 2027. That explains why the Forest Service chose the lighting as a first experiment. The same category also includes sedans and vans, which should follow the same rules as trucks. Medium and heavy equipment like buses and fire trucks have a further deadline, ICEs of this category should remain operational until 2035.
Apparently, the agency won’t proceed with the electrification process as a large-scale operation, it will instead change its fleet of 8,775 light trucks gradually, according to each vehicle lifecycle.
US forest service is testing a fleet of ford f-150 lightnings
The chosen locations for the new F-150 Lightnings are Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania, Huron-Manistee National Forest in Michigan, and the White Mountain National Forest on the border of New Hampshire and Maine.
The White Mountain’s location for example is famously known for its extreme weather and difficult road conditions. The F-150 lightning was previously advertised as the ultimate off-road electric truck, this claim will soon be put to the test and the results will surely make or break the lightning.
The results of this pilot study will help the USFS develop the best rules and measures to optimize the use of electric vehicles. The agency will monitor the public and employee feedback, and the impact of the natural environment, as well as determine the ideal distribution of the charging infrastructure.
“The Forest Service is embarking on an exciting study of the first-ever use of electric vehicles in a natural resources field setting,” said an agency spokesperson. “The research will determine the feasibility of electric vehicles in field-work settings, helping the agency determine the right tool for the job when it comes to electric fleet vehicles.”
You may ask, why did the USFS choose the Ford F-150 lightning specifically?
To answer that, a Forest Service spokesman simply stated that the vehicle is currently the only electric utility vehicle available through the Government Services Administration, which is the entity in charge of procuring vehicles for all federal agencies.
The USFS won’t spend too much on charging infrastructure, well, not yet anyway. The charging will always take place at night at one fixed location in each park. The F-150 used in this study is the base model, with a 230-mile range, four-wheel drive, and 2,000-pound payload capacity.
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