We Gave Our Ford F-150 Lightning a Fastback Roof—Does It Help Aero?
We attempt to eke more miles per charge out of our electric pickup truck by improving its aerodynamics.
If you're unhappy with something, don't just whine—do something about it.
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Well, we've been unhappy with the Detroit office's yearlong Ford F-150 Lightning XLT's real-world highway range since our first day with it. That's because Michigan traffic naturally flows at 80 mph, and our 0.44 Cd truck's MotorTrend Road-Trip Range drops to just 194 miles when you're hauling along at that pace (likely less if it's hot, cold, windy, rainy, dark, etc. ). So we did what any of you might—we poked around some owners' forums to see if the hive mind had found any potential solutions.
Lowering Drag Coefficient by 14.8%?
A thread onf150lightningforum.com originally posted on June 2, 2022 by Lightning_Bob caught our attention immediately. Bob had run across a video posted by Wouter Remmerie, CEO of a Belgian software firm called AirShaper. Its product greatly simplifies the task of performing computational fluid dynamics studies using a cloud-based supercomputer. (We've covered AirShaper's take on the new Tesla Cybertruck.) In his Lightning forum video, Remmerie was discussing a series of potential aero improvements on the Ford F-150 that had been suggested by the global competitive benchmarking firm A2MAC1. That company had generated a 3D model of the hybrid-powered F-150 PowerBoost. That model starts out with a drag coefficient of 0.463 (the lower, sleeker Lightning is undoubtedly slicker—we've estimated 0.44 in our earlier calculations), and A2MAC1 was positing that by lowering the truck 2 inches, removing the mirrors, applying flat wheel covers, smoothing the underbody, and applying a slant-back cap to the bed, the drag coefficient would be dramatically reduced.
AirShaper analyzed these ideas using A2MAC1's surface model data for the F-150 hybrid and determined the combined effect would be a drag reduction of 25.05 percent, with that last idea accounting for a staggering 14.82 percent improvement by itself. Bob pointed out in his post that such an improvement could rightly be expected to improve the range of our electric versions of the truck by 6 or 7 percent. I drooled at the notion that a simple bed cap might allow our F-150 Lightning to travel just as far at 75 mph as it currently does at 70.
Michigan Vehicle Solutions AeroX
Lightning_Bob's original post closed with a link to a company he'd found that offers just such a cap: Michigan Vehicle Solutions. OMG. A potential range-boosting (or perhaps speed-enabling) solution, located just 28 miles fromMotorTrend's Detroit office? I was on the horn with MVS CEO Rich Oliver quicker than you could say "Lightning_Bob's your uncle." Oliver had not seen AirShaper's video and hence was unaware of his product's potential value to Lightning owners. His AeroX fastback truck cap, developed to fit the 2015-2020-model Ford F-150, was primarily designed as a styling statement, and it really looks cool on a Raptor when kitted out with rear louvers and a spoiler.
The AeroX had undergone no wind-tunnel development or CFD analysis during its design phase, but performingMotorTrend's Road Trip Range testing at different speeds sounded like the next-best (and most affordable) alternative. Oliver agreed to prototype us an AeroX cap (minus the louvers) with a removable spoiler and with the side glass brought out closer to flush with the surface. Between measuring for the mold revisions and time spent custom-fitting the new cap (the entire mating surface of the 14th-generation F-Series changed just enough that the whole mold needed revision to fit our Lightning) plus time spent fitting the finished product meant our truck was off the road for a few weeks.
MVS ended up making two prototype next-gen AeroX caps (while the company has been building and marketing the AeroX for some time, it's primarily a prototyping and vehicle-development services company in search of a manufacturing partner for AeroX). The second prototype went to Ford, perhaps because someone there also noticed Lightning_Bob's post and reckoned the Blue Oval should run some official wind-tunnel testing on the AeroX. We've wheedled and cajoled Ford to share its results, but so far, our requests have been denied.
AeroX Hatch-Cap Features
The cap features a hatch supported by two hydraulic struts that hold the hatch parallel to the ground up to about 40 mph (limiting total height of bed cargo to 38 inches). We know this because the very day we took delivery of our newly fastbacked Lightning, digital director Erik Johnson used it to donate some cabinets to Habitat for Humanity. The cabinets fit, but the hatch makes it impossible to walk them into the bed (a hatch hinge and prop system with a vertical position for service like some Mercedes-Benz hoods employ would be a neat design addition). The hatch opening is inset from the tailgate opening 8 inches on each side, which further limits the maximum width of anything taller than the pickup box to 45 inches (43.5 at the latches). Of course, the AeroX attaches to the Lightning like any cap, via four clamps at the corners, and total weight of our prototype unit (with lighter Lexan glazing) is just about 135 pounds, so removing it is relatively easy with someone at each corner. The hatch is secured by a latch on each side and released by a central lever that includes a lock to secure cargo.
MVS taps into to the F-150 wiring loom to power a high-mount stop light and a dome light. Another cool feature: The glass at the front of the cap includes a sliding window accessible from the truck-cab side, and the whole panel is hinged to fold down into the cap to allow cleaning of the truck window and the front side of the cap glass. (MVS offers optional pop-out venting side windows for those who want to preserve flow-through ventilation via the rear cab window.)
That steeply sloped prototype rear Lexan pane limits and distorts the rear view a bit (OEM tempered glass will be fitted to salable units). For now, there's no option of tapping in and providing a digital rear-view mirror camera for trucks so equipped, but this too might be developed for production. Other than that, we've been enjoying the looks and comments from passersby, with the first question often being "You going for the Cybertruck look?" Not really, but we're hoping to approach its 0.34 Cd!
Test Results to Come
Our test team recently grabbed one of the last few warm days of fall to repeat the variable-speed range testing we reported here, thereby largely eliminating air density as a potential factor muddying our results. We'll provide the full results of this testing along with an AirShaper analysis of the AeroX cap in our next update.
For More on Our Long-Term 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning XLT:
- Off to a Bumpy Start
- Navigating Midwest Charging
- Forestry Service
- Range Strategies
- Offroad Adventure
- Understanding Range Prediction White Lies
I started critiquing cars at age 5 by bumming rides home from church in other parishioners’ new cars. At 16 I started running parts for an Oldsmobile dealership and got hooked on the car biz. Engineering seemed the best way to make a living in it, so with two mechanical engineering degrees I joined Chrysler to work on the Neon, LH cars, and 2nd-gen minivans. Then a friend mentioned an opening for a technical editor at another car magazine, and I did the car-biz equivalent of running off to join the circus. I loved that job too until the phone rang again with what turned out to be an even better opportunity with Motor Trend. It’s nearly impossible to imagine an even better job, but I still answer the phone…
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