One year ago, Ford unveiled the F-150 Lightning Pro SSV (Special Service Vehicle) featuring some key modifications and equipment for law enforcement use.
At the time, the automaker called it "America's first electric pickup truck purpose-built for police," thanks to unique features borrowed from the F-150 Police Responder.
Now, it looks like Ford's first electric police trucks are beginning to report to duty across the United States. One such vehicle has been put into service last week by the Claremont, New Hampshire police department.
The Ford F-150 Lightning Pro SSV was donated to the department by Ford of Claremont, along with the emergency lights and charging station equipment, according to an announcement made by the department on its Facebook page.
According to Government Fleet (via Electrek), the donation was from Christian Gomes, a former NYPD police officer who is now dealer principal at Ford of Claremont. This was his fourth vehicle donation.
Ford told the publication the F-150 Lightning Pro SSV delivered to Claremont PD is one of the first Ford all-electric police trucks to arrive in New Hampshire and among the first in the Northeast. According to the Ford representative, orders placed by law enforcement agencies and municipalities are delivered as early as three months if placed now.
As a reminder, the 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning Pro SSV features several modifications that allow it to be used as a police vehicle. On the outside, those include the obvious police livery and emergency lights – not yet installed on Claremont PD's F-150 – with Ford also offering a ram bar.
Inside, Ford's police truck gets a reinforced instrument panel top tray that equipment can be secured to, special seats covered in a heavy-duty cloth material and featuring smaller side bolsters in order to allow for easier entry and exit for police officers, and steel intrusion plates on the seat backs in order to protect them from the rear compartment. Speaking of the latter, it features easy-to-clean vinyl rear seats and flooring.
The Ford F-150 Lightning Pro SSV can be had with either the standard 98-kilowatt-hour battery pack offering 240 miles of range or the 320-mile extended range 131-kWh pack.
With the larger battery, power is bumped from the standard 462 horsepower to 580 horsepower, lowering the claimed 0-60 mph time to under 4 seconds.
