Stetsons, cowboy boots and pickup trucks are all icons of American culture, and as any politician will tell you, messing around with anything of such significance is a dangerous game. Yet that's exactly what Ford has done, taking America's best-selling pickup and converting it to electric power. For many Americans, this is the dictionary definition of sacrilege.

But if you put all that historical baggage to one side, the promise of a cleaner, greener pickup truck must surely be a good thing, right? So how does this big brute stack up alongside European trucks and electric vehicles?

In the metal

The answer, of course, is "bigly". The Ford F-150 is massive, to the point at which it dwarves pretty much anything built east of the Maine coastline. The truck we tested was parked up alongside a Ranger Raptor - itself quite a sizeable vehicle - and made it look like a Puma. This thing is almost six metres long and 2.4 metres wide, which puts it closer to HGVs than family cars. It's nothing if not imposing.

But it somehow manages to look more attractive than such a big lump has any right to. The styling is distinctly American, of course, but it isn't too brash or chintzy, even in this top-of-the-range Platinum trim level.

The interior, too, is quite pleasant in a stateside kind of way. The seats are huge and they're so far apart your passenger sits in another postcode, but they're comfortable and squishy, particularly with the Platinum model's supple leather upholstery. Between the seats is a wide centre console - so wide it counts as a dinner table in some circles - and recessed into that is the drive selector. When you start the vehicle, you have to press a button to get the lever to rise from its well before you can select drive or reverse, which feels a bit unnecessary, but it keeps the chunky lever out of the way when you're parked.

Equally chunky is the massive central touchscreen, which is much the same as that used in the Ford Mustang Mach-E. As with the electric SUV, the Lightning's screen is portrait-orientated and the volume control is integrated into the display, which is generally intuitive to use. The Sync 4 infotainment system is increasingly common across the Ford range, and it's largely very good, albeit not the prettiest system on the market. The Lightning also gets a digital instrument display, which works in tandem with the touchscreen and provides clear, easy-to-follow information.

Quality has often been an issue for pickup trucks and for American cars in general, and though the Lightning does occasionally betray its American roots with some cheap, shiny plastic, the Platinum version has a largely high-quality cabin. The leather is glorious, and all the little flashes of chrome trim feel upmarket. It's every bit as posh as a Ford passenger car, and often more so, although it stops short of feeling properly premium.

Predictably, space is plentiful, with acres of space for those in the front and almost as much room for those in the rear. The back isn't as light and airy as the front, but the rear seats are comfortable enough and nobody will worry too much about spending plenty of time back there.

Unusually for a pickup truck, the Lightning also comes with some features not usually seen on pickup trucks, including a boot. Of course, the Americans would never call it that - it's described as a frunk over there as it isn't where you'd normally expect a boot to be. Because of the relatively compact electric motors, Ford has freed up the space under the bonnet to put a 400-litre load space for carrying anything you aren't happy to put in the load bed at the back. It isn't the most practical space, thanks to its shape, but it's more than big enough for luggage - particularly if you've filled the load bed with cargo.

That said, filling the load bed with cargo might be easier than you imagine, because the weight of the battery means this massive truck has a useful payload of just over 800kg. That sounds like a lot to car drivers, but a Ranger Wildtrak will carry more than a tonne in its load bed, and it's much smaller. Nevertheless, the Lightning's payload is big enough to be of some use, and that will be enough for most buyers.

Driving it

Because the F-150 is not intended for the right-hand-drive UK and Irish markets, and because it's huge, driving it can be a challenge. Particularly on narrow country lanes, where the Lightning can take up all the road and more.

But if you stick to wide open main roads, the Lightning becomes quite a pleasant thing to bomb about in. Naturally, it's very comfortable, what with those enormous armchair front seats and all the plush leather, but credit must also go to the suspension, which irons out the bumps beautifully.

The catch is, of course, that the F-150 Lightning wallows a bit, but with the battery low down in the vehicle it doesn't lean as much as some smaller pickup trucks. Or at least it doesn't seem to. Combine that with surprisingly responsive steering and you've got a truck that's remarkably good to drive, once you've got the hang of sitting on the left side of the car and the left side of the road.

All of which is good news, because the Lightning is, as the name suggests, very fast indeed. With its two electric motors producing 571hp, it's almost as powerful as a Jaguar F-Type R, and because the electric motors offer instant response, it's almost as quick, too. Officially, 0-100km/h takes something in the region of four-and-a-half seconds, which is the sort of pace you get from a Porsche 911 Carrera.

That gives the Lightning a really eye-opening turn of pace, and moving into one of these from, say, a Ranger requires a slight change in mindset. Where putting your foot down in a diesel pickup will get you up to speed eventually, the Lightning will get you there at, well, lightning speed. It really is quite startling.

Perhaps that's partly because it's so eerily quiet. We're used to pickup trucks being gruff and uncultured, but the Lightning isn't anything like that. It's quiet and smooth and unflustered, even when you hammer the accelerator. It's a bit like driving an oversized electric Range Rover.

Naturally, the F-150 Lightning needs an enormous battery to give it a decent range, and that's a bit of an unknown quantity. Because the vehicle hasn't been subjected to the standardised WLTP efficiency test used on this side of the Atlantic, the range estimates are based on the American test, which is a bit different.

Over there, the data suggests that the Lightning will manage just under 500km on a single charge, and our relatively short test drive suggested that wouldn't be too far from the mark, depending on the sort of driving you do. At 100km/h on the motorway on a reasonably warm day, however, it's probably fairly representative.

Don't go thinking that means the F-150 is efficient, though. To achieve that range, most electric cars would use a battery of around 100kWh, but this 'Extended Range' Lightning's battery measures 145kWh in total. Not all of that is usable - there are some reserves for the ancillaries and to protect the battery when charging - but whichever way you cut it, it's huge, and much lithium was used to create it.

As an exercise in efficiency, then, the Lightning is somewhat flawed, but the fact remains that Ford has taken a utilitarian pickup truck and turned it into a usable electric vehicle. Admittedly, the payload isn't as good as that of the Ranger, but just under a tonne is still useful, and (where it's legal to do so) the Lightning can tow a trailer weighing up to 4.5 tonnes.

What you get for your money

The F-150 Lightning is not offered in Ireland, and we don't expect it to go on sale here any time soon. It's a bit big for European roads and, with a price tag of more than $80,000 in the USA, it would probably be quite expensive over here as well, regardless of its low VRT rating.

Summary

The Ford F-150 Lightning is wholly unsuited to our roads, and it's no surprise to see it isn't on sale here in Ireland. However, that doesn't detract from the fact this is an astonishing feat of engineering, offering range, performance and practicality in one (enormous) package. The bulk and the astonishing turn of pace make it quite exciting to drive, but more exciting still is the potential of this technology. As a sign of what's around the corner, the Lightning is pretty spectacular.