Ford F-150 Lightning- All Electric Truck

[Bcc75]

I posted this announcement on another thread but I think it just got lost in the shuffle so I’ll just start another thread. Ford is about to unveil their new ‘All Electric’ F-150. They are calling it the ‘Lightning’. The reveal is tomorrow night at 9:30pm. (Eastern time). I think you have to sign up to watch the reveal video and you can do so on their website, Ford.com. Just go to the home page and it’s right there. This is supposedly a legit answer for a total electric tow/haul vehicle. Gonna be interesting to see if they answer questions about power, torque, payload and most importantly, regeneration/recharge. I don’t need one of these trucks, and will not be in the market for one anytime soon, but I am interested so I signed up to watch it. Like it or not, this seems to be where everything is headed. I thought this would be a place where those who watch the reveal could share thoughts. Please, no politics. Just discussions about the truck.

[OTRA15]

Thanks for the heads up.

https://www.ford.com/f150-lightning/
https://www.motortrend.com/news/2022...t-look-review/
https://www.motortrend.com/news/2022...thing-we-know/
Photo gallery: https://www.motortrend.com/news/2022...mageid=2449340



https://www.caranddriver.com/ford/f-150-lightning

Debut tomorrow on Ford's YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKA...gFBwGZMGZ-135w
At 9:30 PM:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjisj5T0VqE

[s1000pre]

I love the idea of electric. I got in early for the Cybertruck reservation. The issue is range. Even with the Cybertruck boasting 500+miles. It will be hard pressed to go beyond 200 towing an Airstream. ...that’s just not practical when traveling and actually reaching a charging station.

[farafield]

Looking forward to watching this. I have an electric ford focus that I really like.

[Bcc75]

Originally Posted by s1000pre

I love the idea of electric. I got in early for the Cybertruck reservation. The issue is range. Even with the Cybertruck boasting 500+miles. It will be hard pressed to go beyond 200 towing an Airstream. ...that’s just not practical when traveling and actually reaching a charging station.

Agree.
Range is the all important issue. And of course availability of charging stations for traveling. Obviously we are not there yet, by any means. Again, I will drive my F250 until it dies or I can no longer buy fuel for it, but if EV will eventually be the future, it will be interesting to see how the technology progresses. For those of of towing large Airstreams over great distances, we gotta long way to go. But for the guy with a small trailer, say a Basecamp maybe, doing short local weekend trips, this new F150 just might be an option. We shall see tonight perhaps at 9:30!
It is good to see however that one of our original American Automakers is stepping up to the task on this.

[drbrick]

When an electric truck has the same towing range of my F-150 3.5 ecoboost (about 600km) I will be first in line. I have no desire to be stranded in the back-country while boondocking. Besides that - on Vancouver Island there is VERY limited change stations for cars let alone trucks pulling trailer... while we have come a long way I just don't see this as practical in my life time (so sad to bad)

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by Bcc75

. . .
It is good to see however that one of our original American Automakers is stepping up to the task on this.

Copy that!

Obviously no manufacturer is claiming that its electric vehicle is a final do-all towing solution, at this time.

As Mr. Miyagi said " . . . learn to crawl before walk" . . .

Well done, Ford!

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Charging is indeed the issue. It's actually many issues rolled into one.

1) You need a charging station that puts out enough power to charge the vehicle in a reasonable amount of time. Much over 12 hours to charge at home is not reasonable for most folks. For a roadside charge stop, something under an hour seems to be the max.

2) That charge station needs to be compatible with your vehicle. This is where the manufacturers *really* need to do some big time work. Having stations that only fast charge one brand .... yuck .... Right now the single brand fast charge seems to be the norm.

3) All this electric power needs to come from somewhere. The further out of the urban areas you get, the less robust the electric grid is. Tossing the sort of additional load a fast charge represents simply is not possible in a large number of areas. Those same areas are the sort of places we like to go camping.

4) You need a good "coverage" of charge stations. Simply having fast charge stops in your local area does not work for a tow vehicle. Back in the day, this was a problem with gas stations. It took quite a while before they worked that all out. Indeed buying gas in a can at the general store *was* part of the solution for quite a while. I don't see that working with EV's.

Because this is very much a chicken / egg sort of thing, it *will* take quite a while to sort all this out. You need folks running around needing charges to make the stations profitable. You need charge stations to get people to buy trucks. Early adopters will run into major glitches ..... not my idea of fun.

Bob

[KC5ME]

Food for thought. How about a large Honda generator in the bed of the electric truck. Maybe converted to propane and set up to charge as you drive.

[OTRA15]

The big reveal is tonight:

Originally Posted by OTRA15

. . .
At 9:30 PM:

[Viewseeker]

Has anyone ever seen a charging station where you can pull in to charge without first unhooking your trailer and leaving it somewhere else? Most all charging station I've encountered are up against a wall or a curb where you have to back in or out. They are going to have to figure that out.

[Wayne&Sam]

We have a Rivian on order, but don't expect to use it for long distance towing..... yet.

[zapper]

I have a framed picture of Wally Bynum towing an Airstream with a bicycle. A sure means to get an AS to a given destination w/o using carbon based fuel; albeit a bit slower.

[Daquenzer]

I read an article that said they would have an onboard charging generator as an option. I wonder how that would really work. How long it would take. The irony is you would use gas

I'll go the hybrid route before the EV route. The F150 hybrid goes electric for those short trips that are taken more often, but gas when on long trips. To me that is a more feasible and practical solution. And more economical. At least at this point.

I do have 50 AMP service in my garage though. Best to be prepared.

[Daquenzer]

Originally Posted by Viewseeker

Has anyone ever seen a charging station where you can pull in to charge without first unhooking your trailer and leaving it somewhere else? Most all charging station I've encountered are up against a wall or a curb where you have to back in or out. They are going to have to figure that out.

Good point.

[DKB_SATX]

Originally Posted by Daquenzer

I read an article that said they would have an onboard charging generator as an option. I wonder how that would really work. How long it would take. The irony is you would use gas

I'll go the hybrid route before the EV route. The F150 hybrid goes electric for those short trips that are taken more often, but gas when on long trips. To me that is a more feasible and practical solution. And more economical. At least at this point.

I do have 50 AMP service in my garage though. Best to be prepared.

My guess on this one would be that some reporter misunderstood the "Powerboost" inverter outlets (or some marketing person misused the word "generator" to describe them) when talking about the Lightning. Since they have the full-hybrid Powerboost already, a gas range extender for the Lightning wouldn't make any sense.

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by Daquenzer

I read an article that said they would have an onboard charging generator as an option.
. . .

Could you please post a link to that article?

Thanks,

Peter

[uraljohn]

Well...I probably would not buy one. I only have about 20 years to go before I am out of this world so I hope good old gas tow vehicles are still around.

Having said that I sure hope it is a huge success!! I purchased a boat load of Ford stock at just over $3.00 per share several years back. So far, so good! Just want to see that stock price go up. In the meantime I will hang on to my E150 Van. Maybe go to an F250 down the road. Low tech XL model for me.

[Daquenzer]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

Could you please post a link to that article?

Thanks,

Peter

https://www.caranddriver.com/ford/f-150-lightning

It was in a previous post that had a bunch of links that I read.

This is the paragraph:

“Ford hasn't released many details about the F-150 Lightning's powertrain so far, but it has said it will feature dual electric motors—presumably one for each axle, making the truck all-wheel drive. Horsepower ratings are unknown, but the F-150 Lightning is likely to be one of the more powerful F-150 models available when it goes on sale. Performance should be quite brisk, but we'll have to wait until we can strap our test gear on to find out exactly how quick the new truck will be. Ford has also submitted patents for a removable range extender motor disguised as one of those aftermarket, bed-mounted tool boxes. The motor would kick in to recharge the battery in the event there's no charging station nearby.”

It appears that it is something in the works.

[gandttimes]

Also puts paid to all the wonderful boondocking opportunities and regional parks. More than likely you would only be "camping" in private rv parks.

Originally Posted by drbrick

When an electric truck has the same towing range of my F-150 3.5 ecoboost (about 600km) I will be first in line. I have no desire to be stranded in the back-country while boondocking. Besides that - on Vancouver Island there is VERY limited change stations for cars let alone trucks pulling trailer... while we have come a long way I just don't see this as practical in my life time (so sad to bad)