What Max Tow Package on Lightning gets you (per Ford's Lightning marketing manager)

[vandy1981]

From Out of Spec's YouTube channel. As expected, it doubles the cooling capacity of the battery and motors. No word on whether this affects charging and thermal throttling.

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[p52Ranch]

From Out of Spec's YouTube channel. As expected, it doubles the cooling capacity of the battery and motors. No word on whether this affects charging and thermal throttling.

Thanks for sharing.

No mention of larger brakes or upgraded suspension with the Lightning Max Tow package. Only additional battery and motor cooling.

The Ford marketing representative was very clear in identifying the suspension/axles/etc. features on the ICE F-150 max tow packages. It seems clear from this interview that Lighting Max towing is only cooling related.

 

[LightningShow]

I’m still in the camp that it’s likely not technically necessary BUT i ordered it on my truck so, Ford suckered me in anyway. It will be interesting to see if someone can actually prove it does something. It sounds like they have motor temp readouts in the display so it likely can be tested pretty easily.

 

[petemill]

I still want to know if the extra cooling makes the truck louder in normal non-towing mode and whether it increases batter charging performance.

 

[CoyoteJim]

Yeah, disappointed that bigger brakes aren’t included. However, if you’re using motor regen to brake and it’s got extra cooling I suppose that works out to have about the same effect.

 

[gorwell]

Said nothing we didn't already know.

Really just want to know if the cooling would kick in outside of towing ever. Extra cooling could be useful for 100f days, which is just going to become more common, because of you know....

I have it optioned but if It would never kicking outside of towing, I wouldn't have use.

I would never tow (or At most nothing big), but does anyone know if that extra capacity is common in short trips? Could be useful for reslse value, but unsure.

 

[bryan995]

I’d imagine it is passive cooling, So yes it should always provide a benefit.
Towing will generate excess heat. Just as carrying a heavy payload would.

Why would they only enable it when “tow mode” is on.. if that is even a thing. My guess is that it is simply a larger and more efficient cooler/fan/pump.

 

[Mr. Flibble]

Yeah, disappointed that bigger brakes aren’t included. However, if you’re using motor regen to brake and it’s got extra cooling I suppose that works out to have about the same effect.

I have to say, that even my anemic Kia Soul Ev+ has significantly better braking than the Kia Soul Gas version. For the first time since I owned it I had to brake extremely hard because a coyote ran in front of me. Its the first time I have ever felt the ABS on the car. Because of the regen, it stopped more like a motorbike than a car.

So my suspicion is that regen would more than compensate for the bigger brakes.

 

[beatle]

Said nothing we didn't already know.

Really just want to know if the cooling would kick in outside of towing ever. Extra cooling could be useful for 100f days, which is just going to become more common, because of you know....

I have it optioned but if It would never kicking outside of towing, I wouldn't have use.

I would never tow (or At most nothing big), but does anyone know if that extra capacity is common in short trips? Could be useful for reslse value, but unsure.

Exactly. If I tow something it would likely not be more than 3-4k. I can't see "needing" additional cooling on hot days if not towing anything, but I wonder if it would adjust driving behavior outside of towing.

A battery is generally happiest at 90-105F, and if the stock cooling system can keep the system in that range without throttling performance or charging speed, there'd be no reason to spec the max tow package unless you were actually towing. When DCFC my Tesla, it will actively cool the battery using the air conditioner even when temps are in the 60s. I'd like to think that trucks with the max tow and without would have the same charging speed, else they would probably just make the max tow spec the standard.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Really just want to know if the cooling would kick in outside of towing ever. Extra cooling could be useful for 100f days, which is just going to become more common, because of you know....

I have it optioned but if It would never kicking outside of towing, I wouldn't have use.

I would never tow (or At most nothing big), but does anyone know if that extra capacity is common in short trips? Could be useful for reslse value, but unsure.

I'm in the same boat. I went back and forth on it and having owned an EV for 6 years decided to opt for it.

Double the capacity in theory should:
Allows flatter curves in terms of battery temperature fluctuations
That in turn could keep you DCFC at a higher rate for longer.
It could require less energy to maintain battery pack temperatures.
Which theoretically could mean better efficiency and even less vampire loss.

...all theoretically of course. But I don't anticipate that being an easily retrofittable option so I decided to just add it.

 

[playjack]

although price isn't that bad & appears a good candidate for a no brainer purchase for it will do no harm on battery and certainly improve battery performance under heavy usage but is it really?.....Surely it is designed to help on cooling that will result to prolonged service life of battery on heavy >5K lbs tow. But I would think Ford engineers would still select the standard tow cooling fan (for units without the max trailer tow package) with enough size to meet & maintain optimum battery temperature as long as you are within max recommended tow load & even if on DCFC. Hard to believe that the supplied standard tow cooling fan pump is "under spec" to achieve an optimum battery service life & one needs a Max trailer tow fan/pump to get it. Isn't it just a waste of money?

if above is true I don't really need it, especially i lived in Vancouver BC & have fairly nicer cooler weather most of the time, not be towing airstream and may tow utility only once every blue moon and doing local city driving most of the time and will only do long trips in summer 2X per year which will include DCFC for the long trips.

 

[LightningShow]

I'm in the same boat. I went back and forth on it and having owned an EV for 6 years decided to opt for it.

Double the capacity in theory should:
Allows flatter curves in terms of battery temperature fluctuations
That in turn could keep you DCFC at a higher rate for longer.
It could require less energy to maintain battery pack temperatures.
Which theoretically could mean better efficiency and even less vampire loss.

...all theoretically of course. But I don't anticipate that being an easily retrofittable option so I decided to just add it.

The fact that it could be difficult to retrofit is what pushed me over. It *might not* be difficult to retrofit, too. It could be as simple as adding some extra hoses and fittings but it's impossible to know that now. I assume the extra cooling loops will be built into all of the batteries but only connected in the Max Tow package trucks. If the cooling loops aren't built in to all of the batteries then it would definitely be hard to retrofit. There might also be a higher capacity cooling pump involved. The cost of the upgrade is low enough to take the chance. If it was $2-3k then I would've passed. It's not likely I'll even tow close to 10k pounds with Lighting but 5-7k is a possibility.

 

[Cybermonkey]

I'm interested in whether or not it will also heat the battery better in the cold winter, or does it only cool? Can it help improve cold weather charging, hot weather charging, fast charging, or does it only help while towing, and in towing mode?

 

[hturnerfamily]

if you have a liquid-cooled system, it is also, by nature, a liquid-heated system: yes, it would help in the winter months as well.
The 'normal' battery pack, with towing up to 5,000lbs, on ANY of these truck trims, will NOT require any additional cooling - ONLY if you need to tow more than that on a regular basis wouldl it be a real requirement - as it's the HEAT buildup in the battery pack that is what is critical to cool down - it's NOT the weight of what you might be pulling.
The 'Max Towing' package simply upgrades that cooling to make sure that the size of battery pack, whether standard or extended range, has the cooling it needs for LONG DISTANCE towing, for HEAVY loads. The towing capacity of the truck is no different no matter whether you get 'Max Tow' package cooling or not, but the cooling is needed to keep the battery pack from potentially overheating.

 

[vandy1981]

Your momma's so big your lightning needs the max tow package.

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