F150 Lightning - Ford's fully electric truck

[Grape_Ape]

https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2021/05/19/all-electric-ford-f-150-lightning.html

Looks like reservations are live. I'm almost tempted to get one. I'm kinda dead set on my next vehicle being an EV because of my commute. I don't drive my truck to work currently because it's 70 miles round trip. If I got an electric truck it wouldn't be as bad but I wonder how well these things will hold up if I put 200k on it in 8 years? More than likely I'll get some smaller ev and keep my hemi since it's likely a dying breed. Hold on to that sweet sound for a little longer lol.

Regardless, I'm excited for the future of vehicles.

 

[AdamChandler]

Agreed with the last sentiment. GF and I agree, our next car purchases are in 7-10 years and they will most definitely be electric.

But
Short Bed
250 mile range
only 10,000 pound towing capacity (which will decimate the range)
Long charging times (relative to putting gas in the motor)
hard pass for me but it’ll be great for suburban truck owners who primarily commute

 

[Grape_Ape]

Agreed with the last sentiment. GF and I agree, our next car purchases are in 7-10 years and they will most definitely be electric.

But
Short Bed
250 mile range
only 10,000 pound towing capacity (which will decimate the range)
Long charging times (relative to putting gas in the motor)
hard pass for me but it’ll be great for suburban truck owners who primarily commute

The thing that makes this so compelling to me is the price point. I'm very interested in the Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 but they're rumored to have quite the price tag. At least with this Ford truck it seems to slot right in to their current pricing scheme.

 

[Ramjack]

Ford taking a shot at Tesla:
“We’re not here to make an electric truck for the few – Ford is committed to building one that solves real problems for real people,” said Kumar Galhotra, Ford president, Americas and International Markets Group, Ford Motor Company. “F-150 Lightning delivers everything we’ve said electric vehicles can offer, plus the capability expected from a Built Ford Tough truck – not just near instant torque but powerful towing and hauling customers can depend on.”

 

[Ramjack]

Interesting . . . the RESERVE NOW button doesn't work. I tried with different browsers.

 

[Grape_Ape]

Ford taking a shot at Tesla:
“We’re not here to make an electric truck for the few – Ford is committed to building one that solves real problems for real people,” said Kumar Galhotra, Ford president, Americas and International Markets Group, Ford Motor Company. “F-150 Lightning delivers everything we’ve said electric vehicles can offer, plus the capability expected from a Built Ford Tough truck – not just near instant torque but powerful towing and hauling customers can depend on.”

I liked when they said in one of the videos “We made an electric truck that actually looks like a truck” lol

 

[Quint]

I love the concept. I expect that in when my 2021 is ready to go, my next truck will be electric. However, I absolutely need a range while towing to be over 250 miles because my cabin is that far away. I don't want to stop once or twice for 45 minutes to recharge.

Once all of the grocery-getters buy these things, and they make improvements, I should be ready to buy. What I would love is the auto-drive to really be road ready. If I could take a nap for the 4hr drive, or work, or read a book.....fantastic. I guess for now I just need to make a little more $$ to afford a chauffeur.

 

[LaxDfns15]

Yeah the range is the killer right now. Truck looks great, and obviously electric performance is amazing, but I can't justify spending 60k+ for a 300 mile range. The battery storage to weight ratio is just the limiting factor right now. Curb weight is 6500 pounds.

 

[Wsmith]

Very cool concept and features. The extended battery 300 mile range is pretty good. They said overnight 100% charging at home. My concern right now is over the road availability of charging stations, I wonder how long it takes to get a 100% charge at a station on the road. If it takes 8 hours that will make for a pretty extended road trip.

 

[Genxeration]

The thing that makes this so compelling to me is the price point. I'm very interested in the Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 but they're rumored to have quite the price tag. At least with this Ford truck it seems to slot right in to their current pricing scheme.

The appealing price point is for their fleet truck. It quickly jumps for a stripped down XLT. Once you get up to a fully optioned Platinum, you're paying just north of $90K. So to get a Lightening comparable in features to my Ram Limited, I'll be paying about $30K more. Then, when I pull my SxS from SC to WV, It will take me two hours longer while I'm waiting on my batteries to charge. I'll admit, it did grab my attention though. 0-60 in 4.5!! Once charge times are down to 15 minutes with 400 mile range, then I may be more interested.

 

[Bluesurf]

It would be awesome if they had a removable battery bed and electric stations would pull and install. Tesla talked about this some time ago, still nothing. This would make buyers feel more secure and certain. Nothing worse than "running out of gas!" Ram, what's up with Ford? Where are you, what's coming down the line? Where is the Electric killer Ram?

 

[LaxDfns15]

Very cool concept and features. The extended battery 300 mile range is pretty good. They said overnight 100% charging at home. My concern right now is over the road availability of charging stations, I wonder how long it takes to get a 100% charge at a station on the road. If it takes 8 hours that will make for a pretty extended road trip.

Looks like 15-80% charge in 40 minutes at a fast charger. So probably 1-1.5 hours real world. Then you have to factor in the time it takes to get to the charger, and hopefully you don't have to wait for a spot to open up.

My stress test is being able to drive near 375 miles in the middle of the hot summer in TN to make it from Memphis to Knoxville to visit family. If I have to stop to charge it'll add over 20% of time to my trip. I don't even want to think about the towing range, but I guarantee the designers weren't considering towing anything longer than around town for these first iterations.

 

[Scram1500]

Much like current mpg estimates on the sticker, the range is based off numbers in perfect conditions and on stripped down models. Only the most careful or judicious drivers will achieve those numbers. Towing and hauling will reduce that dramatically. How is the range in summer when running the AC, or in winter when running the heater/defroster?

If you drive 50 miles to get to your off-roading destination and spend an hour or so on the trail, will you have enough electricity to make the 50 mile trip back or do you need to find a rapid charging station?

 

[habu987]

Range isn't a factor for me for my daily driving and we could likely add a charging stop along the way on our annual road trips to see the kiddos' grandparents, but I'm a bit concerned about the handful of times I'm likely to start towing again beginning next year. Those aren't heavy tows (likely 4-6k lbs), but stretch from DC to Chicago and up/down the east coast. If this were to get, say, 100-150 miles while towing, that would get really old really fast.

Price isn't an issue for me, but I'll probably stick with a diesel for my next truck this fall and look at electric or hybrid for my next truck after that in a few years.

 

[Grape_Ape]

The appealing price point is for their fleet truck. It quickly jumps for a stripped down XLT. Once you get up to a fully optioned Platinum, you're paying just north of $90K. So to get a Lightening comparable in features to my Ram Limited, I'll be paying about $30K more. Then, when I pull my SxS from SC to WV, It will take me two hours longer while I'm waiting on my batteries to charge. I'll admit, it did grab my attention though. 0-60 in 4.5!! Once charge times are down to 15 minutes with 400 mile range, then I may be more interested.

The xlt is 52. So I still think it's intriguing. Yes, I'm sure a fully optioned platinum will be more expensive than a fully loaded limited but so are their current trucks. I'm assuming, since we don't have concrete proof, that an XLT with options like my own Big Horn would be priced similarly. For reference my truck had an MSRP of 59.5. So if a similar XLT lightning was at 61 or 62 I'd consider that fair.

That just comes down to user preference at that point. The only thing the higher trim Rams have that I wish I had on mine are ventilated seats and memory seats.

 

[Grape_Ape]

Looks like 15-80% charge in 40 minutes at a fast charger. So probably 1-1.5 hours real world. Then you have to factor in the time it takes to get to the charger, and hopefully you don't have to wait for a spot to open up.

My stress test is being able to drive near 375 miles in the middle of the hot summer in TN to make it from Memphis to Knoxville to visit family. If I have to stop to charge it'll add over 20% of time to my trip. I don't even want to think about the towing range, but I guarantee the designers weren't considering towing anything longer than around town for these first iterations.

My hope is that as the network of electric charging stations gets built up we can have adequate super chargers most everywhere. That way EVENTUALLY you can drive for 4-5 hours and then take a break for 15ish minutes to go for another 4-5 hours. I can handle that. Just get a bite to eat and use the restroom. Anything more than 30 mins would become a nuisance imo. As we've discussed I'm sure we're a ways from that though.

 

[LaxDfns15]

My hope is that as the network of electric charging stations gets built up we can have adequate super chargers most everywhere. That way EVENTUALLY you can drive for 4-5 hours and then take a break for 15ish minutes to go for another 4-5 hours. I can handle that. Just get a bite to eat and use the restroom. Anything more than 30 mins would become a nuisance imo. As we've discussed I'm sure we're a ways from that though.

Yep, and you have to hope the different brands will share chargers. Otherwise we'll have 50 chargers at a spot, but you can only use 5 of them.

 

[Grape_Ape]

Yep, and you have to hope the different brands will share chargers. Otherwise we'll have 50 chargers at a spot, but you can only use 5 of them.

From my understanding they are for the most part. I know VW and Ford can both use the same chargers. Tesla can use those chargers as well with an adapter. Surely they'll understand that standardization is the key to making this work for consumers.

 

[Nukegm426]

From my understanding they are for the most part. I know VW and Ford can both use the same chargers. Tesla can use those chargers as well with an adapter. Surely they'll understand that standardization is the key to making this work for consumers.

Yes standardization is key... problem being they want everyone to standardize to them so they can make the money off of it.

 

[SpeedyV]

What many posts here fail to acknowledge is that the average driver just doesn’t drive very far very often. Sure, this truck fails to check the long-distance towing box. But the average American drives 16 miles to work. For the majority of buyers, the truck will just be charged at home at night…and maybe only once or twice per week. While the “hardcore truck guys”wait for a future EV to meet their towing needs, Ford is betting that they’ll be selling thousands of these to everyone else.