Electric F-150 tows train

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. last week released a video of an electric F-150 prototype towing 10 double-decker rail cars loaded with 42 F-150s — about 1.25 million pounds.

Linda Zhang, F-150 chief engineer, spoke about the demonstration with Special Correspondent Nick Dombi. Here are edited excerpts.

Q: Why is it important for Ford to have a hybrid or electric F-150?

A: A hallmark of the F series is that we have a variety of choices for our wide range of truck customers. So whether it's electrification, gas, hybrid — it's all something we want to be able to provide to the customer and increase their ability to choose.

What battles do you foresee in trying to persuade pickup drivers to try a hybrid or EV?

So that's why we're doing this demonstration — to be able to show that with an all-electric truck that we can get "Built Ford Tough" behind it. We can get the capability, the durability, the efficiency, the power, the performance. It's just another option for the customer in terms of power choice.

The video is authentic — no tricks or editing?

It was a prototype for our future all-electric F-150, and we towed over 1 million pounds over 1,000 feet. We even invited five of our customers to come and witness it — so no smoke and mirrors!

How close is Ford to a production model?

The hybrid will be available in 2020, and the all-electric F-150 will be arriving in a few years.