Ford's electric F‑150 lightning claims pikes peak victory

Climbing to the summit of Pikes Peak is increasingly the domain of electric vehicles. This year, Ford once again claimed the top spot on the podium, although it paused for 26 seconds.

Pikes Peak is a summit in Colorado, where each year, competitors "race to the line of the clouds." Once upon a time on this route – then still just gravel – Peugeot 405 with Ari Vatanen was speeding while avid gamers were shaving seconds off their time driving the iconic Suzuki Escudo on PlayStation. Now, this route is the domain of electric vehicles.

Initially, Volkswagen appeared with a specially designed VW ID.R in the Unlimited class. Last year, Ford brought the SuperVan, which set a record in the Open class. This year, Romain Dumas sat behind the wheel of an electric F-150. It might be more accurate to say that the structure more closely resembles a spoiler with a pickup truck attached to it.

Dumas "overcame a technical issue during the drive", which means he stopped for 26 seconds to "minimize the problem" (essentially turning the car off and back on), after which the 2,144-horsepower F-150 Lightning SuperTruck sped to victory, achieving a time of 08:53.553. In doing so, he defeated 61 competitors.

Why do electric vehicles perform so well in this competition? Pikes Peak ends at an altitude of 1,440 metres above sea level, where the air is thinner, which means less oxygen. Less oxygen means less power for combustion engines. For electric vehicles, however, this doesn't matter. Hence the special spoilers, which must work well on the entire route, even with lower air density.