We explore the off-road capabilities of the Detroit Lightning at Holly Oaks ORV Park.
Frank MarkusWriter, PhotographerOct 2, 2023
Ford’s all electric F-150 Lightning was not conceived as an off-roader, and any attempt to kit it out as such, by adding a suspension lift (which you might have to engineer from scratch) or bolting on 35s would destroy its already marginal driving range. That said, it does power all four wheels with strong electric motors—a recipe for off-road satisfaction the Rivian R1T introduced us to. So we decided to find out exactly what sort of obstacles our 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning XLT yearlong test truck is prepared to handle.
Fortunately, just outside Detroit is one of the most extensive off-road parks near any major metropolitan area. Each fall, Holly Oaks ORV Park plays host to Detroit 4Fest Events, and a media day on the eve of the event afforded a golden opportunity to assess our Lightning’s off-pavement proclivities.
In addition to offering ample opportunity for drivers of all skill levels to exercise their vehicles, 4Fest Events provides a full schedule of off-road skills seminars and workshops to sharpen winching and recovery techniques and explain the nuances of vehicle setup. This year’s event attracted 8,800 participants; 50-plus vendors; OEM brand representation from Jeep, Ford, Chevrolet, GMC, and Toyota; and sponsorship from Dana, Bilstein, General Tire, and others.
As it happens, I’ve known Detroit 4Fest CEO Tom Zielinski since I was servicing my new 1986 Dodge Lancer at the dealership where he served as sales manager, so Tom offered a personal tour around the Holly Oaks Off-Road Vehicle Park. When I arrive, he sized up my truck’s General Grabber HTS60 all-season tires, noted the 24.4-degree approach, 17.6-degree breakover, and 23.6-degree departure angles, and estimated my rig could tackle roughly half of the 42 miles of trails—all of which are mapped in the Trails Offroad app, with some classified as Jeep Badge of Honor trails. Basically, we could tackle all the transit legs and a few of the trickier obstacles.
We started off scaling several steepish packed-dirt hills that fell easily within the Lightning’s tires’ traction limits. Next, we headed to Mount Magna (sponsored, maintained, and frequently used for testing by the Tier 1 supplier). Here again, with Tom leading me up one of the less extreme approaches and spotting to keep from dragging the chin or tail, this dry, rough cement surface presented no great challenge to the torquey electric Ford. Here we also treasured the hard button that instantly summons the camera screens for checking what’s immediately in front of or arround the truck.
Perhaps the toughest obstacle was the concrete stair steps. I was impressed by the truck’s ability to gently walk up each step. Without epic crawl-ratio gearing, some combustion engines don’t produce quite enough torque until the revs rise to a level where it’s no longer at a walking pace, but obviously, the “peak torque at 0 rpm” nature of the Lightning’s dual permanent-magnet electric motors do wonders for low-speed precision—especially with the off-road mode’s gentler throttle mapping engaged. We scraped the undercarriage slightly when breaking over the top of the steps, but ample armoring keeps the battery perfectly safe during gentle scrapes at low speeds.
We then attacked the offset-mogul frame-twist feature and were impressed to see that with the rear differential locked and diagonal front and rear tires well off the ground, the single rear tire with traction easily got the truck moving.
We spied a steep but smooth sandy hill with a gentle approach and an easy exit that looked potentially doable, but the truck’s abundant power and torque quickly exceeded the tractive grip our quiet, low-rolling-resistance tires were able to muster, leading to a rooster-tailing “failure to proceed” about a third of the way up.
Finally, we headed for the “rock garden.” Here we exceeded the dry-grip limit of adhesion of the tires. When trying to get a rear tire up onto a smooth rock at the entrance to the garden, it slid off the side, ending our forward progress. But here again, I was impressed that with this ground clearance and these all-season tires, the Lightning managed to climb as far into that rock garden as it did.
At the end of our adventure, we parked next to a Raptor R in matching Avalanche livery to illustrate the dramatic difference between a desert stormer or Rubicon runner like the Raptor R and our humble Lightning. But at least our exercise served to suggest that if you decide to take a Lightning camping up a Forest Service road, even if that road gets degraded by torrential rains while you’re camping, a stock Ford F-150 Lightning might just have what it takes to get you back out safely.
