Ford Mocks Tesla Pickup Truck, Shows Electric F-150 Pulling 1.25M Lbs. [WATCH]

Ford Motor Company on Tuesday decided to mock Tesla CEO Elon Musk by releasing video of a single all-electric F-150 prototype pickup truck easily towing 1.25 million pounds of double-decker rail cars carrying 42 Ford F-150 pickups.

This almost six minute-long clip was Ford’s reply to Musk’s claim in a podcast last June 7 that Tesla’s upcoming electric pickup will be “a better truck than Ford F-150 in terms of truck-like functionality, and be a better sports car than a standard (Porsche) 911. That’s the aspiration.”

The video also ridicules Musk’s claim his electric pickup can tow more than the 300,000 pounds. The electric F-150 prototype in the video towed more than four times this load -- but on a railroad line and not on a road.

We don’t know if production F-150s can really pull more than one million pounds, however. Or if the F-150 in the video is a one-off, specially modified model built only to impress.

Ford said the video shows the F-150 battery-electric prototype “towing far beyond any production truck’s published capacity in a one-time short event demonstration.”

“This demonstration showcases our commitment to remain the clear leader in trucks as well as to highlight our commitment to the future of electric vehicles,” said Ted Cannis, Ford global director of electrification, in a post on Medium.

Cannis aslo noted that the all-electric F-150 will be a new and exciting kind of Built Ford Tough.

This type of demonstration showcases Ford’s “commitment to remain the clear leader in trucks as well as to highlight our commitment to the future of electric vehicles. We’ve already announced plans to bring an F-150 hybrid to market that can act as a mobile generator.”

Among Ford’s electric vehicle (EV) line-up for Europe is a plug-in Transit Custom which will hit showrooms later this year. Cannis said Ford is “also working feverishly on our plans to reveal our fully electric, Mustang-inspired SUV.”

There is also no word from Ford on how it plans to challenge Musk’s vow to sell the Tesla electric pickup for a starting price of less than $50,000. Matching this price tag might be a bit of a problem for Ford given the MSRP for the gasoline-powered F-150 ranges from $28,000 to $70,000.

The latest and most dramatic skirmish in the electric truck wars demonstrates the electric pickup is here to stay despite there not being a single all-electric pickup model for sale in showrooms anywhere in the world.