Ford announced their electric crate motor, the Eluminator, a few months ago, and teased that they’d reveal more about it around SEMA time, that magical time of the year when the leaves change colour and the carmakers paint their cars in fun colours they won’t normally sell you. Well, SEMA season is here, and Ford made good on their promise, shoving a pair of (well, almost) Eluminators into a fun, resto-modded 1978 Ford F-100 truck.
The F-100 Eluminator concept greedily takes parts from Ford’s Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition, which is where its motors (and battery pack, and centre stack display inside and probably a bunch of other stuff) come from, one for each axle and producing a combined 480 horsepower and 288 kg-feet of torque.
The familiar, square-jawed F-100 body has been kept remarkably intact, with most cosmetic changes being limited to colour palette, which are pale grays and bronzes, including the chrome parts, which have been painted here. I especially like the use of the old stamped-metal dog dish hubcaps.
The lighting has also been modified, with frosted-white lenses used for indicators, side markers, and taillights, and some interesting custom rectangular sealed-beam units with bronze trim fabricated for the headlamps.
Under the hood, Ford thoughtfully managed to cram in a little, but usable trunk/frunk area, and there’s a clear window under the hood so you can admire the electrical inverter hardware and all that other fun stuff that doesn’t move:
That inner hood does lift up, too, if you’d like to get a better look at your brake booster, 12V battery, shock tower and other exciting bits:
The battery pack is likely mounted under the truck bed, which should have plenty of room for a nice, hefty battery pack.
Based on Ford’s interior picture, that battery pack should be good for over 365 km, if we’re trusting that dashboard display, which, along with the iPad-with-a-knob centre infotainment screen seems to have come right out of a Mach-E.
It’s not clear, though, how people are expected to get crate battery packs. So far Ford has not announced a crate battery pack plan, leaving builders to source packs from wrecked Leafs and whatever else they can source, I guess?
If Ford is going to sell crate EV drivetrains, they really should sell crate battery solutions, too, and I’m not the only one suggesting this. You could buy a gas tank when you bought a crate V8 engine, and this really shouldn’t be much different. I mean, other than a battery pack is vastly more expensive than a gas tank.
Overall, I think this truck looks fantastic, and it’s a good reminder that old charming vehicles could get new leases on life with these electric crate motors. It’s all very appealing, modern and nostalgic. They just better be able to get people battery packs if they’re serious about builds like this.