True Confessions Of A Actual Ford F-150 Lightning Driver

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My life companion and I are travelling this week and watching the tide cowl after which uncover the beautiful seashore at Ogunquit, Maine, simply because it has accomplished 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 might 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 automobiles, which have a extra light impression on the environment than typical 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 normal F-150 parked proper subsequent to it. To the untrained eye, the 2 vehicles appeared an identical. It took a short time to note the variations. The entrance finish remedy is sort of completely different, for the reason that Lightning has no grille, and but the distinction will not be instantly obvious to the informal observer. It’s nonetheless an enormous entrance finish, trying like a big piece of granite sculpted into the place the grille would usually be. The cargo field, when viewing each vehicles from the facet, seems to be a couple of inches shorter, however for those who occurred upon one throughout your day by day adventures, the one positive clue the truck was electrical could 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 youngsters and seashore gear into the truck and our dialog was pretty temporary. He instructed me he cherished the ability, the silence of the powertrain, and the “really feel” of the truck on the street. In days passed by, drivers used to rave concerning the “road-hugging weight” of huge, heavy American vehicles with their iron V-8 engines. That’s what the F-150 Lightning reminded him of. Large, stable, silent — these have been the options he appreciated finest. In the case 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 instructed me he was tenting with a buddy who drives a Tesla. They have been in a distant space and his buddy 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 function. It took some time — a number of hours, in truth — to provide the Tesla sufficient electrons, however ultimately all of it labored out. From the outline I used to be given, it appears the cost price was solely 3 to 4 miles per hour, however that’s higher than attempting 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 glad together with his F-150 Lightning and he stated sure, he was about 80% happy. Not precisely a ringing endorsement, is it? He loves the way in which it rides and drives, so what’s he not glad about? CleanTechnica readers already know the reply to that query. It’s charging. It takes too lengthy, there should not sufficient excessive energy chargers, and those which might be on the market are sometimes in use when he arrives. There isn’t a option to reserve one upfront.

Once I buttonholed Bob within the parking zone, he had simply returned from a 3-hour journey to discover a Degree 3 charger a couple 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 Degree 2 chargers only a 5-minute stroll away, however he didn’t have the ChargePoint app and didn’t learn about them till I instructed him. He additionally stated he was bored with being late to appointments as a result of he needed to cease to cost alongside the way in which.

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 folks towing a trailer can cost. My colleague Jennifer Sensiba has written about that concern lately.

He additionally holidays in Florida each winter, however stated he wouldn’t contemplate 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 standard gasoline-powered truck he makes use of for that goal. He instructed me he would like it if his truck had a generator that might preserve the battery charged whereas on the freeway. He stated he had heard concerning the Ramcharger, which is a plug-in hybrid with a gasoline engine that’s coming quickly. He’s fairly positive that might be his subsequent automobile, 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 virtually 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 snow. He says they induced a 15% drop in vary after they have been mounted, which didn’t make him glad.

The Takeaway

Readers will discover that Bob shouldn’t be sad together with his battery-electric truck. He likes it simply positive, in truth. 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 automobile doesn’t suit your life-style, you in all probability shouldn’t drive one. The Porsche 911 is a good automobile, however makes a awful automobile for taking a household of 4 on trip. A pickup truck is ideal for plenty of driving chores, however makes a poor autocross automobile.

The lesson right here is that not each electrical automobile 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 glad campers on the journey to the electrical automobile future.