Yosemite National Park Adopted Ford F-150 Lightning EVs… Sort Of

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There’s nothing like going out to benefit from the nice outdoor. The clear air, the gorgeous views, the completely different tempo of life, and the reference to nature will be not solely a enjoyable, however a therapeutic expertise. However whenever you drive a diesel pickup on the market pulling a triple-axle trailer, park it in a campground, hearth up a loud generator, and get the propane range and oven going, it may sort of begin to defeat the purpose.

When the folks working in and visiting stunning locations rely extra closely on fossil fuels than folks within the noisy and busy metropolis, it begins to turn into an train in destroying nature within the try and take pleasure in it.

So, it’s refreshing after we see one thing like this:

The Yosemite NPS owns an F-150 Lightning! pic.twitter.com/5O4BsdSnj0

— Joseph (@ScarantinoX) September 23, 2024

For these unfamiliar, that is an F-150 Lightning electrical truck. Externally, it has the identical physique because the F-150 fuel and hybrid variations. However, beneath the cab and mattress, there’s a really completely different body with battery modules between the rails for security. As an alternative of a fuel engine beneath the hood, there’s an enormous frunk. The car is moved by entrance and rear drive items between the wheels, mounted transversely within the midst of unbiased suspensions.

In different phrases, it’s a really regular pickup truck that occurs to be electrical, affords energy plugs for emergencies, job websites, and campsites, and has extra storage!

Throughout 2024, a lot of completely different folks on X/Twitter, reddit, and EV boards have noticed this electrical truck and no less than one in every of its siblings marked as belonging to “Yosemite National Park.” This, in fact, makes EV followers visiting Yosemite excited, as a result of their ardour for each EVs and nationwide parks got here collectively in an attractive and enjoyable means. Who doesn’t love that.

There’s A Little Extra To This Story

Looks like a reasonably easy story, proper? Yosemite Nationwide Park purchased some EVs. EVs are superior. Nationwide parks are superior. All the pieces is superior.

However, there’s a bit of extra occurring right here. If you happen to’re conversant in Nationwide Park Service automobiles, they often aren’t marked something just like the car within the image. As an alternative of getting a inexperienced stripe (typically blue, typically no stripe) and the arrowhead NPS badge on the door, this car merely says “Yellowstone National Park.”

Official park automobiles additionally are inclined to have federal authorities plates (the federal authorities points plates to itself, and virtually by no means makes use of state-issued plates), and eagle-eyed folks on social media have observed that these Lightnings have California industrial plates. So, is that this some type of bizarre, rabid nationwide park fan who’s LARPing as a park ranger? Did they begin their very own firm known as “Yellowstone National Park” to higher pose as a park ranger??

It seems that the car just isn’t owned by the Nationwide Park Service, however the firm that owns these is allowed to symbolize itself as Yellowstone Nationwide Park.

The vehicles in query are owned by Aramark, the corporate that has a contract with the Nationwide Park Service to offer concessions within the park. By concessions, typically I imply they promote snacks, however normally the corporate runs eating places, lodges, campgrounds, reward outlets, and absolutely anything not achieved by a park ranger or different uniformed NPS worker immediately. Right here in the USA, we’re comfy with the federal government proudly owning the park, nevertheless it’s typically seen as a type of communism in the event that they attempt to make a buck working a enterprise of some type. So, they farm that out to any individual else who can extract some shareholder worth from the place.

Earlier than we get too deep into politics, coverage, and philosophies of presidency, let’s get again to EVs. Each park has a concessioner (Aramark does this for a lot of different parks), and the concessioners do plenty of necessary work in order that we are able to benefit from the parks. Whether or not the Park Service or the concessioners ought to be doing it’s a query for Congress and perhaps the courts, however irrespective of who the folks get their paychecks from, they’ll must be driving automobiles round to offer these companies.

Actually, it’s simply nice to see that the work of working a part of the park is being achieved with an EV, even when Aramark might have gotten away with hybrids or straight-up gas-powered F-150s.

If This Can Work At The Parks, What’s Everybody Else’s Excuse?

Not each park is out within the wilderness. Some parks (Sizzling Springs Nationwide Park is a superb instance) are proper on the town the place personal infrastructure can cowl EV drivers’ wants. However total, parks are typically additional out from the overwhelmed path and away from the massive metropolis (or perhaps a medium-sized one).

There’s a persistent fantasy on the market that EVs don’t work away from the massive metropolis. This was true 100 years in the past in the course of the first EV period, and it was typically true in 2010-2013 when most EV charging infrastructure was in bigger metro areas. Positive, in these days, folks nonetheless did cross-country journeys to show a degree, nevertheless it wasn’t straightforward.

That these vehicles can do the identical work because the gas-powered ones that have been there earlier than exhibits us that this fantasy isn’t true. If there’s any energy in any respect close by, EVs can work nice. They don’t want DC quick chargers in each parking area, only a easy 240v station that pulls as a lot energy as a garments dryer will do. With 200+ miles of vary, and a full battery pack each morning when folks go to work, the vehicles do the job simply wonderful.

Even journeys away from the park are wonderful, particularly in California. Have to ship somebody to go choose up some provides on the town? There’s loads of vary to do this with out charging. Have to ship somebody to a convention or to do enterprise at one other park? Most locations have loads of infrastructure for the truck to drive virtually anyplace.

While you see an organization or some joker who desires to drive a pickup to work in a cubicle let you know that an EV received’t do the job for them, present them that Yosemite has EVs doing necessary work with out skipping a beat. Until they’re doing one thing very uncommon or can’t plug the car in at night time, there’s no excuse.

Featured picture by Ford.