Watch A Rivian R1T Embarrass Ford F-150 Lightning In Tug-Of-War

When Tesla tried to embarrass Ford by staging a tug-of-war between a Cybertruck and an F-150, who knew that just three short years later, the Cybertruck would still be nowhere to be seen while Ford can claim to have the best-selling electric truck on the market?

One of the Ford Lightning’s closest rivals is the Rivian R1T, and while most buyers will be looking at things like range, towing capacity, charging times, and cost, knowing which truck would win in a tug of war is surely just as important for bragging rights.

Thankfully, that’s precisely what we have to show you here. So place your bets.

The truck tug-of-war takes place in a grassy field that seems to be a gathering for EVs.

Just by going off of the tires, there’s an indicator of who wins. Towards the end of the clip, we watch the Rivian R1T pull the F-150 Lightning almost effortlessly while the Ford struggles, spinning its tires. It’s only a few seconds but that’s enough to declare it the winner.

Two factors come into play here: tires and power. The least powerful Rivian is still going to have more horsepower than the most powerful Ford F-150. And even though the Rivian is actually heavier than the Ford, it’s using tires with more chunky tread versus the ones equipped on the Lightning.

We can see in the video that the Limestone-colored Rivian is using Scorpion All Terrain Plus rubber made by Pirelli, while the Ford makes do with a set of General Grabber HTS60 tires. These are all-seasons so they’re perhaps not put to their best use playing tug of war on the grass, no matter the weight advantage.

So what did this tell us? Probably nothing. The vehicle more better suited for off-road use is the victor over the pickup that’s more designed for commercial use. Had the F-150 Lightning been coupled with matching Pirellis, it might be a different story. Surely, the Ford owner participating in this video would seek a rematch on a more level playing field.