True Confessions Of A Real Ford F-150 Lightning Driver

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My life accomplice and I are travelling this week and watching the tide cowl after which uncover the beautiful seashore at Ogunquit, Maine, simply because it has achieved twice day by day for millenia. It’s a peaceable and wondrous place, one which tends to refocus our minds on the rhythms of the pure world — and the way they could be altered by human exercise. Writing for CleanTechnica maybe makes us extra conscious of how we’re affecting the pure world, which is why we regularly do tales about electrical autos, which have a extra light impression on the environment than standard vehicles. I seen a Ford F-150 Lightning within the parking zone at our posh and outrageously costly seaside resort. When the proprietor appeared, I struck up a dialog with him about his battery-electric truck. It was fairly revealing.

I had by no means seen an F-150 Lightning up shut and private earlier than. As luck would have it, there was a typical F-150 parked proper subsequent to it. To the untrained eye, the 2 vans regarded equivalent. It took a short while to note the variations. The entrance finish remedy is sort of totally different, for the reason that Lightning has no grille, and but the distinction might not be instantly obvious to the informal observer. It’s nonetheless an enormous entrance finish, wanting like a big piece of granite sculpted into the place the grille would usually be. The cargo field, when viewing each vans from the facet, seems to be a number of inches shorter, however should you occurred upon one throughout your day by day adventures, the one certain clue the truck was electrical can be the phrase LIGHTNING in tasteful blue letters on both facet of the cargo field.

What To Like About The F-150 Lightning

I’ll name the proprietor of the Ford F-150 Lightning Bob, however in fact we by no means formally launched ourselves. He was busy shuttling a small military of kids and seashore gear into the truck and our dialog was pretty temporary. He informed me he liked the facility, the silence of the powertrain, and the “feel” of the truck on the street. In days passed by, drivers used to rave concerning the “road-hugging weight” of massive, heavy American vehicles with their iron V-8 engines. That’s what the F-150 Lightning reminded him of. Large, stable, silent — these had been the options he favored greatest. In terms of weight, the Ford has loads of heft. The F-150 Lightning can weigh as little as 6000 or as a lot as 6.900 kilos. That’s some road-hugging weight proper there!

He additionally informed me he was tenting with a pal who drives a Tesla. They had been in a distant space and his pal didn’t have sufficient cost in his battery to get to the closest charger. In order that they recharged the Tesla utilizing the Ford’s V2L characteristic. It took some time — a number of hours, in actual fact — to offer the Tesla sufficient electrons, however ultimately all of it labored out. From the outline I used to be given, it appears the cost fee was solely 3 to 4 miles per hour, however that’s higher than making an attempt to push a Tesla down a dust street by hand.

What’s Not To Like About The F-150 Lightning

I requested Bob if he was completely satisfied along with his F-150 Lightning and he stated sure, he was about 80% glad. Not precisely a ringing endorsement, is it? He loves the best way it rides and drives, so what’s he not completely satisfied about? CleanTechnica readers already know the reply to that query. It’s charging. It takes too lengthy, there aren’t sufficient excessive energy chargers, and those which are on the market are sometimes in use when he arrives. There isn’t a technique to reserve one prematurely.

Once I buttonholed Bob within the parking zone, he had simply returned from a 3-hour journey to discover a Stage 3 charger a number of cities away. His household was on the seashore or within the pool the entire time and he was feeling sad about leaving them to go cost the truck. There are literally 4 ChargePoint Stage 2 chargers only a 5-minute stroll away, however he didn’t have the ChargePoint app and didn’t find out about them till I informed him. He additionally stated he was bored with being late to appointments as a result of he needed to cease to cost alongside the best way.

Ford has now joined the Tesla Supercharger community, however Bob has but to obtain the adapter he wants to make use of the Supercharger stations. He additionally was uninformed about how he would pay Tesla for a charging session as soon as he had the adapter. That’s on Ford for not clearly explaining how the method works. Bob additionally bemoaned the truth that there are only a few pull-through websites the place individuals towing a trailer can cost. My colleague Jennifer Sensiba has written about that difficulty not too long ago.

He additionally holidays in Florida each winter, however stated he wouldn’t think about driving the F-150 Lightning to the Sunshine State as a result of he would wish to cease to cost each 250 km or so, which might add a day to the journey every means. He has a traditional gasoline-powered truck he makes use of for that objective. He informed me he would like it if his truck had a generator that might hold the battery charged whereas on the freeway. He stated he had heard concerning the Ramchargerwhich is a plug-in hybrid with a gasoline engine that’s coming quickly. He’s fairly certain that will likely be his subsequent car, not one other Ford.

Bob additionally had some complaints about vary. He lives in Quebec the place it will get chilly within the winter. He has seen his vary can drop by nearly 50% when the temperature drops, which suggests much more time spent charging. Additionally, when the unique tires wore out, he changed them with tires that had a extra aggressive tread higher suited to digging a path by means of snow. He says they induced a 15% drop in vary after they had been mounted, which didn’t make him completely satisfied.

The Takeaway

Readers will discover that Bob just isn’t sad along with his battery-electric truck. He likes it simply advantageous, in actual fact. It’s the lack of charging infrastructure that he finds distressing, and he’s definitely not alone in that regard. We at CleanTechnica are passionate advocates for the EV revolution, however we acknowledge that if a battery-electric car doesn’t suit your way of life, you in all probability shouldn’t drive one. The Porsche 911 is a good automobile, however makes a awful car for taking a household of 4 on trip. A pickup truck is ideal for many driving chores, however makes a poor autocross car.

The lesson right here is that not each electrical car will match the wants of each driver. There are nonetheless loads of myths and mysteries about EVs. Be sure to perceive what is required to make driving an EV a joyous expertise. We actually need solely completely satisfied campers on the journey to the electrical car future.