Ford F-150 electric pick-up to chase Pikes Peak race record

Ford will take a special electric Ford F-150 Lightning pick-up prototype to the 2024 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC) – the world's highest motor race – after it finished second in 2023 with a high-powered electric van.

A short, cryptic press release and video teaser from the US carmaker announced its return to the world-famous event with electric power for the second consecutive year.

The statement said little beyond confirming it will bring a new ‘Ford F-150 Lightning electric vehicle demonstrator’ to the Colorado, US, event as entrant #150 in June 2024.

The F-150 pick-up went on sale in Australia in 2023, but the electric version is not offered in local showrooms.

Ford has not shared how significant the differences between the prototype and showroom F-150 Lightning will be, but the fully-sealed mountain road used for the event won’t require the off-road suspension underneath the F-150 Lightning Switchgear it unveiled in January 2024.

It appears the car maker’s intention is to simply go faster than it did in 2023 – and potentially set a new overall record – with Ford CEO Jim Farley posting the news on his social media channels.

The announcement follows the Ford ‘SuperVan 4.2’, a Transit van powered by four electric motors producing 2000hp (1491kW), which set a closed-wheel lap record at Mount Panorama, Bathurst earlier this year, during the opening weekend of Australia's V8 Supercars championship.

The SuperVan came second at Pikes Peak in 2023, where it used a three-motor arrangement with 1400hp (1041kW) to tackle the 156-turn, 19.99km climb which ends at 14,115 feet (4302m).

Four-times Pikes Peak winner Romain Dumas – who drove the SuperVan at Bathurst in 2024, and Pikes Peak in 2023 – set an Open Class Pikes Peak record of 8:47.682 in the Ford SuperVan last year.

Yet it wasn’t as fast as the current outright record of 7:57.158 up the Colorado mountain – set by Dumas himself in an electric Volkswagen race car in 2018.

Ford remained coy on plans for a record attempt ahead of the 2023 event and followed a similar approach before setting its Bathurst lap record in February 2024.

The move to an F-150 for the 102nd running of the Pikes Peak event in June 2024 adds another vehicle to Ford’s range of electric 'demonstrators'.

Each is a one-off project vehicle designed for promotional duties showcasing the company’s latest tech.

It unveiled the F-150 Lightning Switchgear in January 2024, following the SuperVan 4.2 – and an earlier SuperVan 4.0 – as well as the Mustang Mach-E 1400 electric SUV, the ‘1400’ indicating 1400hp (1091kW).

The car maker says such promotional projects help it develop electric-vehicle technology for its showroom models.

“It is the electrified powertrain technology, but it's also the total vehicle and other things that affect those road cars like aerodynamics … you can then apply that to road cars,” Ford Performance's global head of motorsports, Mark Rushbrook, told media at Bathurst following the SuperVan’s record-setting run.

Mr Rushbrook suggested improved aerodynamics can reduce the size of the battery needed for a road-going electric vehicle, and therefore reduce cost and weight.

The SuperVan will also star at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival on 16-17 March before a cameo at the 2024 Formula One Australian Grand Prix on 22-24 March.

Ford has pulled back on its electric-vehicle sales targets – as with General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Aston Martin and Renault – including halving production of the F-150 Lightning electric pick-up in December 2023.

Qualifying for the 2024 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (on a fully paved surface since 2011) takes place on 18-20 June, with the event itself on 23 June 2024.