Ford F-150 Lightning- All Electric Truck

[panamerican]

Originally Posted by wbrisett

There are two very good documentaries on this topic...

1. Who killed the electric car

and it's follow-on:

2. Revenge of the electric car

To be fair this is *exactly* what happened to Chevy and the Volt. People here mention it sell well, and GM didn't put a lot of advertising behind it, but ultimately it was like this... Walk into a dealership, mention you want to look at the Volt, next thing you know the salesperson was telling you how you didn't want one and how a traditional vehicle was better.

Both great documentaries and the revenge one really spelled it out nicely.

Might just be a regional/local thing. I went in 2012 and leased my first Volt and in 2015 when the lease was up, I bought a 2015 Volt. Both times the Chevy dealer did not try to sway me in any way away from the car and I am nowhere near California, but I could imagine a location where they had no Volt and no Volts within a couple hundred miles. In fact, they went searching for and found my current car about 300 miles away and went and go it. The 2012 was on their lot.

Maybe being in a major metro area is what made the difference in my case. I wanted to get a 2019 for the faster higher cap on-board charger as well as more range and refinements. When Chevy announced the end of the Volt, once fairly plentiful stock nearly vanished overnight and I have yet to see a 2019 Premiere version available... my guess is sometime in 2022-23 when these might come off lease I might see one again.

In regards to Dennis' comment, my point was that range, etc are true of any vehicle, I just added a bunch of other stuff (no relation to your post than that) to stir conversation with some direct observations of my own to see how they may plug in (no pun intended) to the variables of a pure EV truck range and what my feeling is why we might not see a 500 mile truck that isn't over $100k for a few years yet.

To comment on ORTA15's post-

I am very pleased to see that a major portion of Ford's dealer network will be avail and that a significant and well thought out access and charge availability will be possible and that any gaps could be filled by the existing charge networks (knowing with a trailer in tow, many might not be as easily accessible as the Ford solution. One can only home GM follow suit.

wbrisett-

Rivian has done a great job and I do believe they partnered with Ford, but here too, my point was towing. If Rivian has the data, I have yet to see anything solid from them on tow range. I also don't have much info on servicing nationwide or what their charge network looks like, unless they dovetail off their partnership with Ford in both areas.

As I said before, charging in general, and more important to the conversation here when towing is important, service to me is tied for that importance, and looks like Ford (and maybe Rivian by marriage) may be on a good trajectory to address both of those concerns and when the price per kWh comes closer to $60, perhaps well see far more range on par with what a comparable gasser or diesel truck might cost.

[OTRA15]

Interesting Barron's article on Ford's recent stock price increase, based on investor enthusiasm over this new F-150:

"Ford shares finished up 8.5% Wednesday after rising more than 12% this past week, when the company unveiled its all-electric F-150 light-duty pickup truck"

https://www.marketwatch.com/articles...=mw_latestnews

An earlier article about Ford nailing it with this new design:
https://www.marketwatch.com/articles...la-51621516206

Peter

[Mighty Mite]

I thought this link was an interesting read on the Ford Lighting software.



https://media.ford.com/content/fordm...-software.html


Bob

[fricassee1]

Ford F-150 Lightning loses about half its range when towing a 23-foot Airstream trailer
Fred Lambert
May. 31st 2022 11:52 am PT
@FredericLambert

https://electrek.co/2022/05/31/ford-...tream-trailer/

[WellSaid11]

Originally Posted by fricassee1

Ford F-150 Lightning loses about half its range when towing a 23-foot Airstream trailer
Fred Lambert
May. 31st 2022 11:52 am PT
@FredericLambert

https://electrek.co/2022/05/31/ford-...tream-trailer/

TL;DR of the TL;DR version of the article/OP:

The Lightning will work well for those people that tow a 23' AS to camp at a charging station 50 miles from their house and then return home.

[propchef]

Originally Posted by WellSaid11

TL;DR of the TL;DR version of the article/OP:

The Lightning will work well for those people that tow a 23' AS to camp at a charging station 50 miles from their house and then return home.

Has that been your experience with your EV?

[WellSaid11]

Originally Posted by propchef

Has that been your experience with your EV?

Yes, based upon a real-world user's experience with a real-world use.

Are you planning on towing your AS 50 miles to camp where you can charge it? If so, let me know how your real-world experience works out as well.

[jcl]

Originally Posted by WellSaid11

TL;DR of the TL;DR version of the article/OP:

The Lightning will work well for those people that tow a 23' AS to camp at a charging station 50 miles from their house and then return home.

Well, if they have the extended range version (320 miles) and tow an Airstream, they could go 120 miles (leaving 40 miles of reserve). With one charge en route, they could very comfortably camp within 240 miles of home, and it wouldn’t need to be at a charging station.

Given how well the truck is reported to tow, that could make sense for a number of people. Those who are on the waiting list, for example. Those who aren’t on that list won’t have to even think about the option for several years at least.

[63air]

Charging might be a problem at where you choose to camp. I was booking sites for a future trip using KOA campgrounds and one I looked at stated very explicitly no charging cars at the sites. I also wonder how it will be in the Midwest if the predicted rolling blackouts occur. A lot of gas stations in our area have no problem supplying fuel as they have backup generators fueled by propane or natural gas. Our idiot governor is trying to make us the California of the Midwest.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Interesting...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATyBdJic8-o

Bob
🇺🇸

[pjshier]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Interesting...

Bob

[emoji631]

I grew up next to Sig Wien, and down the street from Sam O. White. Both pioneers of flight and application of same to important pursuits like hauling people and mail safely (mostly) even though the mean time between engine failures was something like 25 hours and no real navigation aids. The similarities between their time with aircraft and this time with EVs seem strong.

No doubt EVs will continue to mature and become more environmentally friendly as time goes on. Hats off to those enthusiasts willing to do the real life R&D. Even for towing. Til then, I’ll watch with interest like those who saw the promise of aviation. Distances, costs and environmental concerns where I live and RV preclude an EV for me at this time.

[SYC2Vette]

For anyone who was toying with the idea of towing with a F150 EV Lightning but were turned off by the price, time to check again. Very low mileage examples are selling for 20-$30,000 less than "marked up" prices when demand was high. Several recent stories on this if you do a search.

[farafield]

Originally Posted by SYC2Vette

For anyone who was toying with the idea of towing with a F150 EV Lightning but were turned off by the price, time to check again. Very low mileage examples are selling for 20-$30,000 less than "marked up" prices when demand was high. Several recent stories on this if you do a search.

Is there an app that you prefer use to search for used cars?

[Downsized]

Originally Posted by farafield

Is there an app that you prefer use to search for used cars?

In the US you can use cars.com.

In Canada use autotrader.

There are some deals on Ford EV’s including both the Lightning and Mach E showing up here as well. Lots sitting on lots. Especially Mach E’s although many are still priced more expensive than Tesla model Y’s. Crazy.

We took a lightning for a drive a couple weeks ago. It was nice. Maybe a little soft but I haven’t driven a truck for awhile.

Jmho.

[skyguyscott]

Those in the market for buying a BEV TV right now are caught between a rock and an ultra-hard 30X cold-rolled stainless-steel Cybertruck exoskeleton.

On the one hand, many of the legacy car makers' offerings are first-generation vehicles that even the company's engineers admit are not-yet-optimized EVs. And those units currently on the lots for sale have an already-obsolete charge port that will be abandoned going forward.

And while non-legacy, non-Tesla SOBs like Rivian get better reviews, sadly, none appear to be in the same league as the Cybertruck.

But the cybertruck, according to some reports, is backordered as far as 2032, unless Tesla builds more gigafactories, or finds a way to increase output beyond 250k units per year, or a substantial number of reservations are canceled.

So, for those of us waiting on the sidelines to see how all this BEV TV transition sorts out, we may be waiting a very long, long time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v0o...lcnMgdXBkYXRl.

[steilkurve]

While I own two Teslas and love ‘em, I just cannot get over the looks of the Cybertruck. To each his own I guess.

And yes, it’s got some good tech like the faster charging and the bidirectional capability but disappoints on range versus the original announcement or the need to give up cargo space for a range extender.

I believe Rivian is a very decent option. It appears to have better efficiency than Cybertruck and it will be able to use Tesla’s superchargers soon. It is also easier to get a hold of and looks better (to me anyway).

And let’s not forget GM’s and Stellantis’ electric trucks are around the corner. The Silverado EV has gotten praises from those who tried it.

So, I believe we will have more decent options soon.The question for me is when to make the move not if.

I towed my previous AS with a Model X and it was hands down a better driving experience than my current TV, a Ram Cummins 2500. Way more stable, smooth and powerful. The only hesitation is range. Even with the Cybertruck’s extender, it would be a trade off.

[Downsized]

Originally Posted by steilkurve

While I own two Teslas and love ‘em, I just cannot get over the looks of the Cybertruck. To each his own I guess.

And yes, it’s got some good tech like the faster charging and the bidirectional capability but disappoints on range versus the original announcement or the need to give up cargo space for a range extender.

I believe Rivian is a very decent option. It appears to have better efficiency than Cybertruck and it will be able to use Tesla’s superchargers soon. It is also easier to get a hold of and looks better (to me anyway).

And let’s not forget GM’s and Stellantis’ electric trucks are around the corner. The Silverado EV has gotten praises from those who tried it.

So, I believe we will have more decent options soon.The question for me is when to make the move not if.

I towed my previous AS with a Model X and it was hands down a better driving experience than my current TV, a Ram Cummins 2500. Way more stable, smooth and powerful. The only hesitation is range. Even with the Cybertruck’s extender, it would be a trade off.

My hesitation on the GM is that huuuge 200 kWh battery that gives marginally better range than the Rivian with a much smaller battery. 59 kWh smaller. Aerodynamics matter.

We are also not in love with the cybertrucks look but after seeing one in person last week it grows on you. The stainless steel is a huge plus in our books. And with the extended pack it gets better range than any of the rest and is still a smaller pack than the GM.

We don’t have to decide for a couple years yet. Reality is if we stay with our T@B trailer we’ll probably just trade our current model Y tow vehicle in for a modem X at the 4 year mark and do 4 years with that combo. Fits in the garage better as well.

Time will tell.

Cheers.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

For a certain portion of the population, a very basic question on *any* vehicle is: do I fit?

I'm not all that crazy tall. Pretty much forever and ever, finding a vehicle I can sit up in without hitting the roof (or laying the seat back dead flat ...yikes ....) has been an issue. There have been a number of pickup trucks crossed off the list due to this. Other folks have issues with width or leg length. Some have step height limitations or other more unusual needs.

Do outfits publish numbers for all these things? Of course they do. They pretty much always are off in some fashion. ( head clearance with the front seat laid flat is *not* a valid measure .....).

Yes, this can be fun: Walk into the dealer. Sales guy is there in under 10 seconds. "I'll buy any vehicle you have that I can sit up in". Ok sir, come right over here to the most expensive vehicle we have, I'm absolutely certain you will fit. Nope, back out the door we go ....

The only point here is that if you are in this category, you can't "pick out" any vehicle without actually going for a bit of a drive. Looking at pre-publicity or spec sheets just doesn't tell the story.

Bob