MotorTrend crowned the Ford F-150 Lightning as the 2023 Truck of the Year, calling it “the best-riding, best-handling, and best-driving F-150 yet.”
It’s the second year in a row that an electric truck gets MotorTrend’s award, after last year’s Rivian R1T win. Only this time around, the F-150 Lightning managed to become the first EV to get all the votes from the judges.
It’s a big win for electric cars (again) and it shows just how far EV technology has gone, becoming more and more user-friendly. Previously, Ford's electric pickup won two categories at the Motor1.com Star awards: 2022 Best EV and 2022 Best Truck.
In describing the reasoning behind the F-150 Lightning’s win, MotorTrend said:
“[It] is the first EV pickup to appeal directly to the existing truck market. It does so with a trove of new engineering accomplishments wrapped in a practical, recognizable package truck owners have come to trust. While some vehicles change the world by being radically different, others, like the Ford F-150 Lightning, change it by being different where it counts and familiar where it helps. The Lightning so successfully bridges the gulf between the powertrain of the future and the pickup truck of today that we’ve named it our 2023 MotorTrend Truck of the Year.”
To get the coveted award, a vehicle has to excel in each of the following categories: safety, efficiency, value, advancement in design, engineering excellence, and performance of intended function. And it seems the electric F-150 scored top points in every one of these categories.
Gallery: 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning Lariat: Review
Price is a big factor as well, with MotorTrend saying that there’s no beating the Lightning in this respect – with a MSRP of around $52,000, it’s the least-expensive EV truck on the market by almost $20,000, even with recent price hikes.
Ford’s electric pickup truck impressed the judges with its amazing value, the standard dual-motor all-wheel drive powertrain, spacious interior, big front trunk, and good packaging.
“The F-150 Lightning offers a host of features few to no gas- or diesel-powered trucks can match, such as the ability to power homes for multiple days and multiple power ports for charging devices or running high-draw electrical tools and appliances. Be it for the campsite, the jobsite, or the homestead, the Lightning offers a world of new possibilities for truck owners, all while saving them money at the pump and likely at the repair shop, too. It’s a bargain many are going to find exceedingly easy to live with,” the publication added.
With pickup trucks being the best-selling vehicles in the United States, this award goes to show that the future of EVs is plenty bright.
With its dual electric motors, the Ford F-150 Lightning offers a power output between 462 hp and 580 hp, depending on the chosen battery. The Standard Range pack has an estimated capacity of 98 kWh, while the bigger Extended Range pack offers an estimated 131 kWh.
The Lightning was the only electric pickup in MotorTrend’s 2023 Truck of the Year contender list, its rivals being the 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500, the 2022 GMC Sierra 1500, the 2023 Ram 2500, and the 2022 Toyota Tundra.
