An F-450 Super Duty like this fellow here isn’t worth too much money these days. You can get a four-wheel-drive chassis cab with the Power Stroke turbo diesel for less than $10,000 in the classifieds, making it a bargain over the modern-day model that retails at around $50,000.
The F-450 in the photo gallery and following videos, however, is anything but a used truck. EV aficionado Greg Goes Electric took out the oil burner in favor of Tesla power, and the e-motor is connected to the original transfer case. In other words, the electric workhorse is much obliged to run in two- or four-wheel drive without the need of a torque-converter automatic tranny.
No fewer than 16 battery modules are located where the Power Stroke used to be, protected by a custom-fabricated box made from 1/8-inch steel plates. The batteries in the box are also cooled as you’d expect from an electric vehicle, but more importantly, the electric truck is 100 pounds lighter than the diesel setup. To the point, it tips the scales at 5,240 pounds (2,377 kilograms).
Heavier than the 2020 Tesla Model X with the 100-kWh battery and dual-motor AWD, the e-workhorse further features a T-1C controller from EV Controls that appears to be working rather impeccably in this application. Towing and payload capacities are not known at the present moment, and Greg can’t give an estimate about the driving range either. For the time being, the truck needs undercarriage skid plates to protect the motor and wiring.
Right next to a sticker that reads diesel fuel only, the fuel filler door and cap have been swapped with a three-pin connector that looks very similar to that of the early Model S. Both the S and X feature dual connectors since 2017.
On a related note, Ford themselves intend to electrify the F-Series by rolling out hybrid and EV powertrains for the F-150. The hybridized truck is pretty much confirmed to feature the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 while the electric option could be treated to as many as four motors based on a patent from 2019.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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