50,000 miles - What a long, strange trip it's been.

[james_carey]

Well not 50,000 miles but how about 49,534 miles since June 6th 2022 in my Rapid Red Ford F-150 Lightning Lariat. Gather around children, sit back, and listen to my tail of woe. It has thrills, chills, spills, and kills!

Again not quite, it has been pretty boring, with minor irritations along the way.
Just to put it out there, I live in a rural area of the country that is flat and spread out. I don't get the typical EV advantage like you might if you lived in a city nor do I get amazing regen rates from hills or mountain passes. I normally drive within 5 miles of the speed limit which I estimate 80% is 60-65 mph. I also estimate my city driving is less than 5%. My expressway/interstate driving is probably around 10% with the rest being on gravel roads.

General

1. I charge at home with the Ford Charge Station Pro better than 95% of my charge sessions.
2. I use Electrify America almost exclusively when traveling
3. When tripping, I always stop and charge twice as often as theoretically necessary in case a station is out of order, this distrust has served me well.
4. I normally charge to 90%, but occasionally charge to 100% right before I leave to go a significant distance.
5. If I'm charging at a fast charging station, I'll charge it to 80% as the rule but I have pushed that to 90% out of distrust of the EA infrastructure.
6. The Ford Charge Station Pro is de-rated to 66 amps since it throws fewer errors than at 80 amps, but it still throws faults.
7. Averaged 2.1 m/kWh. The absolute best I've seen on the readout for any significant length of time (47 miles) was 3.6 m/kWh (warm day, tail wind, it was glorious)
8. Actual Range is about 275 miles on a full charge
9. Still have 312 miles of the original 320 miles of estimated range at 66F.
10. When charged at home, it costs me about $0.035 per mile
11. I have spent less than $2,000 dollars to cover 49,534 miles
12. Gas in my Silverado would have cost me around $14,860 at 13 mpg at $4.00 a gallon (approximate average cost of gas over the past year)
13. The tread life on my tires has been amazing. I fully expect them to last another 10-15K miles more.

Maintenance Issues\drama:
So, as you might expect, there must be at least one maintenance issue. Turns out, there have been two. Battery fault and air dam fault. The air dam fault gets thrown randomly when passing through the 45-50 mph speed zone though it has popped up at lower and higher speeds. 2 visits to the shop, no resolution.

The battery fault is the one that got to me. So, let's bring a touch of drama to this tale. I receive multiple emails telling me my battery has thrown a fault. I, being a loving and caring Lightning owner, call the shop immediately and get scheduled in for service. I can't let MY BABY! be neglected. The day before I took it to the shop, I received a letter in the mail with the line: "You are receiving this letter because you have not responded to our attempts to contact you...." Now I'm really concerned, there must be something really terribly wrong with the battery. OH NO! MY BABY IS SICK! I took her to the shop the next day. Since the shop is 28 miles away, I take the afternoon off from work because "MY BABY IS SICK!"

The dealership tech and the service manager had no idea why Ford was insistent I bring my truck in. The BEV support desk didn't either. 2 weeks later, the Ford tech that was supposed to look at the scans and tell the dealership tech what parts to replace didn't know what parts needed to be replaced. We are still waiting to hear, and it has been months.

Disaster Strikes!
The fateful morning was awash in oppressive foreboding. You could tell the day wasn't going to end well. The animals were nervous. Dogs barking at nothing. Chipmunks and squirrels constantly snapping their heads left and right, looking for danger. I just knew something was off when I rolled out of bed. It was probably the fact I was somehow wearing my girlfriend's underwear, my god, that was painful.

Outside, in the front yard, the water company was repairing the fire hydrant. I decided to move my vehicles to a short access road next to my property to get them out of the water company's workers' way because accidents do happen (notice the foreshadowing there, heightens the drama, I can tell a story!). This was the fateful decision that would bring me to tears eight hours later. One of the contractors working on the house across the street decided to back into the access road so he could turn his pickup and trailer around and leave. 3 people witnessed the terrible event. 2 of them are unable to return to work and are seeing a therapist daily. I am certain you are wailing into the night with tears running down your face, "Say it ain't so! How could this hardworking, beer drinking, flag waving, apple pie eating every man be so careless!"

His trailer tire rubbed the corner of my bumper. When I was alerted to the issue, I ran to MY BABY's side, to not just comfort and console, but to heal if I could but I knew I couldn't make it right! I was helpless! I...had....failed...her! How could she ever forgive me?! That feeling of when something is done and there is no going back. I was wracked by sobs as I felt MY BABY's pain. It tears at your soul and makes you curse Einstein for not allowing us to travel back through time to fix terrible wrongs and tragedies alike. "Nay", he says, "You shall not pass! Embrace your suffering you ignorant fool!" Einstein was like that, cold and merciless.

Anyway, the guy had left but he came back and gave me his insurance information. It costs the insurance company about $625 to fix. No wait on parts, no problem, good job though I had to take it to the Chevy dealership for the body work...talking about embarrassment.

Observations
It is a 90% solution as far as trucks go. The truck does what it is advertised to do. I can do everything I want to do with it but then again, I did not buy it to pull big bulky trailers. When it comes to that, it is not necessarily the trucks' fault but the infrastructure. If we had as many charge stations as gas stations, even this would not be a problem. People forget that this is a Lightning. The last version of the Lightning could not carry more than 500lbs in the bed. I can carry 1800lbs with my configuration.

The FUD out there about electric vehicles is astounding. Everything from about how they will bring down the electrical infrastructure (OH NO! it isn't like we haven't double the capacity of the electrical infrastructure 3 times since the 1970s) to how toxic the batteries are (have you taken a whiff out of diesel tail pipe lately), to how much it cost to recharge (these people don't know how to read their electric bill and do the math).

Either I am extraordinarily lucky, or Ford went into the EV truck space in a serious manner. I have read that the Lightning is so good it forced Tesla into a redesign. I do not know what the truth\reality is, but my truck has been amazingly trouble free. For my use case it checks nearly every box.

I used to get stopped all the time by people asking questions about it. The newness in this area has warn off so it does not happen as much. I have my tour of the truck down pat enough that I get asked if I am a salesperson for Ford. I have noticed attitudes change dramatically when I mention how much I save on maintenance and fuel. I have about 10% of people say they would never own one, but they do not really have a rational\technical\pragmatic reason. I suspect it has more to do with politics than the actual vehicle.

I was incredibly surprised at how many women like the truck, with a few noting the remote frunk opener would be amazingly handy.

I have never felt the punch in the chest on acceleration but passengers and the one and only person that I let drive MY BABY! said they felt it. As with nearly all electric cars, it accelerates faster than you will ever need with only minor torque steer.

I am tempted to install a small diesel-powered heater on the battery for winter. Where I am at it is not terrible but if ever move further North, I will do it in a heartbeat. Using a gallon of diesel to add significant range to my battery for several months of the year seems like an obvious compromise. I'm willing to bet it would not be that difficult to do so.

Things I would change:
More range. I have come home at night with only 5 miles left on the charge. 320 miles of theoretical range is not enough, I have to think too much about range\charging. If caught on a 20F day, into a head wind, on the expressway, I can lose 40% of my range. Seeing 1.2 m/kWh on the display is not comforting at all. Due to this, if I am more than a hundred miles from home and there is a charger handy, I will stop and charge it to 80%. But because I am very conscientious of ensuring I am constantly charging if I am at home, I have never really been gripped by range anxiety. I have only been denied going somewhere a couple of times because of the charge level.

More on range. It appears Ford has "tuned" the configuration and shape of the truck to get the most out of it. It appears any minor change, from tires to aerodynamics, just reduces range. Combining this with environmental conditions, road surface, etc. Makes mods a no go.

I really do want factory installed refrigerated cup holders in the center console. This is such a no-brainer.

The front grill is ugly, and it collects bugs like an entomologist.

The lights that run across the tail gate and front grill should be tinted the color of the vehicle, so they don't stand out during the day.

Finally, there are a lot of bells and whistles on the Lariat trim level that I'll never use but everyone else that sees them loves them.

edit: fixed a lot of typos

Love, the hyperbole, prose, and poetry! Quite a story, and a pleasure to find someone who has the same connection with their Lightning, as do I. Enjoy the ride, be safe, and keep telling terrific stories.

 

[wgatkinson]

Well not 50,000 miles but how about 49,534 miles since June 6th 2022 in my Rapid Red Ford F-150 Lightning Lariat. Gather around children, sit back, and listen to my tail of woe. It has thrills, chills, spills, and kills!

Again not quite, it has been pretty boring, with minor irritations along the way.
Just to put it out there, I live in a rural area of the country that is flat and spread out. I don't get the typical EV advantage like you might if you lived in a city nor do I get amazing regen rates from hills or mountain passes. I normally drive within 5 miles of the speed limit which I estimate 80% is 60-65 mph. I also estimate my city driving is less than 5%. My expressway/interstate driving is probably around 10% with the rest being on gravel roads.

General

1. I charge at home with the Ford Charge Station Pro better than 95% of my charge sessions.
2. I use Electrify America almost exclusively when traveling
3. When tripping, I always stop and charge twice as often as theoretically necessary in case a station is out of order, this distrust has served me well.
4. I normally charge to 90%, but occasionally charge to 100% right before I leave to go a significant distance.
5. If I'm charging at a fast charging station, I'll charge it to 80% as the rule but I have pushed that to 90% out of distrust of the EA infrastructure.
6. The Ford Charge Station Pro is de-rated to 66 amps since it throws fewer errors than at 80 amps, but it still throws faults.
7. Averaged 2.1 m/kWh. The absolute best I've seen on the readout for any significant length of time (47 miles) was 3.6 m/kWh (warm day, tail wind, it was glorious)
8. Actual Range is about 275 miles on a full charge
9. Still have 312 miles of the original 320 miles of estimated range at 66F.
10. When charged at home, it costs me about $0.035 per mile
11. I have spent less than $2,000 dollars to cover 49,534 miles
12. Gas in my Silverado would have cost me around $14,860 at 13 mpg at $4.00 a gallon (approximate average cost of gas over the past year)
13. The tread life on my tires has been amazing. I fully expect them to last another 10-15K miles more.

Maintenance Issues\drama:
So, as you might expect, there must be at least one maintenance issue. Turns out, there have been two. Battery fault and air dam fault. The air dam fault gets thrown randomly when passing through the 45-50 mph speed zone though it has popped up at lower and higher speeds. 2 visits to the shop, no resolution.

The battery fault is the one that got to me. So, let's bring a touch of drama to this tale. I receive multiple emails telling me my battery has thrown a fault. I, being a loving and caring Lightning owner, call the shop immediately and get scheduled in for service. I can't let MY BABY! be neglected. The day before I took it to the shop, I received a letter in the mail with the line: "You are receiving this letter because you have not responded to our attempts to contact you...." Now I'm really concerned, there must be something really terribly wrong with the battery. OH NO! MY BABY IS SICK! I took her to the shop the next day. Since the shop is 28 miles away, I take the afternoon off from work because "MY BABY IS SICK!"

The dealership tech and the service manager had no idea why Ford was insistent I bring my truck in. The BEV support desk didn't either. 2 weeks later, the Ford tech that was supposed to look at the scans and tell the dealership tech what parts to replace didn't know what parts needed to be replaced. We are still waiting to hear, and it has been months.

Disaster Strikes!
The fateful morning was awash in oppressive foreboding. You could tell the day wasn't going to end well. The animals were nervous. Dogs barking at nothing. Chipmunks and squirrels constantly snapping their heads left and right, looking for danger. I just knew something was off when I rolled out of bed. It was probably the fact I was somehow wearing my girlfriend's underwear, my god, that was painful.

Outside, in the front yard, the water company was repairing the fire hydrant. I decided to move my vehicles to a short access road next to my property to get them out of the water company's workers' way because accidents do happen (notice the foreshadowing there, heightens the drama, I can tell a story!). This was the fateful decision that would bring me to tears eight hours later. One of the contractors working on the house across the street decided to back into the access road so he could turn his pickup and trailer around and leave. 3 people witnessed the terrible event. 2 of them are unable to return to work and are seeing a therapist daily. I am certain you are wailing into the night with tears running down your face, "Say it ain't so! How could this hardworking, beer drinking, flag waving, apple pie eating every man be so careless!"

His trailer tire rubbed the corner of my bumper. When I was alerted to the issue, I ran to MY BABY's side, to not just comfort and console, but to heal if I could but I knew I couldn't make it right! I was helpless! I...had....failed...her! How could she ever forgive me?! That feeling of when something is done and there is no going back. I was wracked by sobs as I felt MY BABY's pain. It tears at your soul and makes you curse Einstein for not allowing us to travel back through time to fix terrible wrongs and tragedies alike. "Nay", he says, "You shall not pass! Embrace your suffering you ignorant fool!" Einstein was like that, cold and merciless.

Anyway, the guy had left but he came back and gave me his insurance information. It costs the insurance company about $625 to fix. No wait on parts, no problem, good job though I had to take it to the Chevy dealership for the body work...talking about embarrassment.

Observations
It is a 90% solution as far as trucks go. The truck does what it is advertised to do. I can do everything I want to do with it but then again, I did not buy it to pull big bulky trailers. When it comes to that, it is not necessarily the trucks' fault but the infrastructure. If we had as many charge stations as gas stations, even this would not be a problem. People forget that this is a Lightning. The last version of the Lightning could not carry more than 500lbs in the bed. I can carry 1800lbs with my configuration.

The FUD out there about electric vehicles is astounding. Everything from about how they will bring down the electrical infrastructure (OH NO! it isn't like we haven't double the capacity of the electrical infrastructure 3 times since the 1970s) to how toxic the batteries are (have you taken a whiff out of diesel tail pipe lately), to how much it cost to recharge (these people don't know how to read their electric bill and do the math).

Either I am extraordinarily lucky, or Ford went into the EV truck space in a serious manner. I have read that the Lightning is so good it forced Tesla into a redesign. I do not know what the truth\reality is, but my truck has been amazingly trouble free. For my use case it checks nearly every box.

I used to get stopped all the time by people asking questions about it. The newness in this area has warn off so it does not happen as much. I have my tour of the truck down pat enough that I get asked if I am a salesperson for Ford. I have noticed attitudes change dramatically when I mention how much I save on maintenance and fuel. I have about 10% of people say they would never own one, but they do not really have a rational\technical\pragmatic reason. I suspect it has more to do with politics than the actual vehicle.

I was incredibly surprised at how many women like the truck, with a few noting the remote frunk opener would be amazingly handy.

I have never felt the punch in the chest on acceleration but passengers and the one and only person that I let drive MY BABY! said they felt it. As with nearly all electric cars, it accelerates faster than you will ever need with only minor torque steer.

I am tempted to install a small diesel-powered heater on the battery for winter. Where I am at it is not terrible but if ever move further North, I will do it in a heartbeat. Using a gallon of diesel to add significant range to my battery for several months of the year seems like an obvious compromise. I'm willing to bet it would not be that difficult to do so.

Things I would change:
More range. I have come home at night with only 5 miles left on the charge. 320 miles of theoretical range is not enough, I have to think too much about range\charging. If caught on a 20F day, into a head wind, on the expressway, I can lose 40% of my range. Seeing 1.2 m/kWh on the display is not comforting at all. Due to this, if I am more than a hundred miles from home and there is a charger handy, I will stop and charge it to 80%. But because I am very conscientious of ensuring I am constantly charging if I am at home, I have never really been gripped by range anxiety. I have only been denied going somewhere a couple of times because of the charge level.

More on range. It appears Ford has "tuned" the configuration and shape of the truck to get the most out of it. It appears any minor change, from tires to aerodynamics, just reduces range. Combining this with environmental conditions, road surface, etc. Makes mods a no go.

I really do want factory installed refrigerated cup holders in the center console. This is such a no-brainer.

The front grill is ugly, and it collects bugs like an entomologist.

The lights that run across the tail gate and front grill should be tinted the color of the vehicle, so they don't stand out during the day.

Finally, there are a lot of bells and whistles on the Lariat trim level that I'll never use but everyone else that sees them loves them.

edit: fixed a lot of typos

Thanks for all of the useful information (and the laughs). I am a newbie with my MY23 lariat Lightning (only 5K miles instead of 50K like you) so I am still learning a lot of the information you shared. But I love this truck! Hope I still love it as much when it hits 50K.

 

[mb0220]

great write up, and thank you. I’m on the other end of the spectrum, taking delivery about the same time as you, but with almost exactly only 10% of the mileage

did want to chime in on the quote above

I feel like this is something we BEV truck owners need to better understand and explain to the skeptics

namely, that there is nothing special about BEV’s in these respects of mileage. It is not an issue with the BEVs, it’s an issue only if BEVs having small “tanks” and not enough gas stations.

the short(ish) version is this

• EPA hwy range test has an average speed in the low 50s - and just like and to the same degree as with an ICE vehicle, you won’t get near that EPA range if you’re pegging it at 75mph

• the most fuel efficient ICE F150 is EPA rated at 26mph highway, which means the Lightning’s 320 EPA is equivalent to an ICE F150 with a 12.3 gallon fuel tank - and just like with that ICE, you won’t get far on 12 gallons, especially if pegged at 75mph

• as for towing, ICE F150s also experience an ~50% range reduction with any material trailer - so just like an ICE F150, if you’re doing 75mph with a 12 gallon tank, you aren’t getting far

which is all to say, there isn’t anything materially different about the performance of the Lightning when it comes to range or towing. The difference comes in only with the fact that the Lightning’s “tank” is small, owing to the current state of battery technology, and the frequency of “fuel stations” is limited, owing to the current state of charging infrastructure.

Now at the end of the day, the range is comparatively low, there’s no getting around that. But it’s because modern ICE trucks have massive fuel tanks, and stations on every corner.

And when an ICE driver says “man, a real truck has to have more range than that” you might respond with “go back in time and hop in a 1981 F150 with a V8 and a 16 gallon fuel tank, and tell me how far “real trucks” can tow 7,500 pounds at 75mph” Back then, you towed slow (for fuel economy) and stopped often (of necessity).

We should stop being confused by, and even ourselves propagating the myth that, when it comes to range and towing performance there’s something inherently different from ICE trucks. There’s not. The physics of efficiency and aero are the same on both vehicles.

In that way, a Lightning owner upset about range and towing is like someone who buys an ICE f150 with a 12 gallon fuel tank and is frustrated with the “mystery” of not being able to drive all night long at 75mph.

Current battery technology means these trucks have a small fuel tank. That’s all. And with a small fuel tank, all the normal effects of physics on fuel economy simply means you will notice the effects more than if you were in a ICE truck with a 26 gallon tank. Especially when there’s not a station on every corner.

And if skeptics balk, just say “look, I’m kind of old school - I like a ‘real’ truck like back in the 1970s, when people weren’t so soft, afraid of planing trips carefully and taking it slow”

^^THIS^^
...was a great explanation, and I wish more folks understood this. Well said! "Small tanks and few gas stations" is exactly what I try to explain to naysayers who believe EVs are inferior. Both of these factors are improving, but it's slow going. And if you normalize for those factors, it is clear that EVs are the superior choice for the vast majority of use cases, particularly with regard to energy costs and maintenance costs. Oh - and they're wicked fast too...

 

[mb0220]

Well not 50,000 miles but how about 49,534 miles since June 6th 2022 in my Rapid Red Ford F-150 Lightning Lariat. Gather around children, sit back, and listen to my tail of woe. It has thrills, chills, spills, and kills!

Again not quite, it has been pretty boring, with minor irritations along the way.
Just to put it out there, I live in a rural area of the country that is flat and spread out. I don't get the typical EV advantage like you might if you lived in a city nor do I get amazing regen rates from hills or mountain passes. I normally drive within 5 miles of the speed limit which I estimate 80% is 60-65 mph. I also estimate my city driving is less than 5%. My expressway/interstate driving is probably around 10% with the rest being on gravel roads.

General

1. I charge at home with the Ford Charge Station Pro better than 95% of my charge sessions.
2. I use Electrify America almost exclusively when traveling
3. When tripping, I always stop and charge twice as often as theoretically necessary in case a station is out of order, this distrust has served me well.
4. I normally charge to 90%, but occasionally charge to 100% right before I leave to go a significant distance.
5. If I'm charging at a fast charging station, I'll charge it to 80% as the rule but I have pushed that to 90% out of distrust of the EA infrastructure.
6. The Ford Charge Station Pro is de-rated to 66 amps since it throws fewer errors than at 80 amps, but it still throws faults.
7. Averaged 2.1 m/kWh. The absolute best I've seen on the readout for any significant length of time (47 miles) was 3.6 m/kWh (warm day, tail wind, it was glorious)
8. Actual Range is about 275 miles on a full charge
9. Still have 312 miles of the original 320 miles of estimated range at 66F.
10. When charged at home, it costs me about $0.035 per mile
11. I have spent less than $2,000 dollars to cover 49,534 miles
12. Gas in my Silverado would have cost me around $14,860 at 13 mpg at $4.00 a gallon (approximate average cost of gas over the past year)
13. The tread life on my tires has been amazing. I fully expect them to last another 10-15K miles more.

Maintenance Issues\drama:
So, as you might expect, there must be at least one maintenance issue. Turns out, there have been two. Battery fault and air dam fault. The air dam fault gets thrown randomly when passing through the 45-50 mph speed zone though it has popped up at lower and higher speeds. 2 visits to the shop, no resolution.

The battery fault is the one that got to me. So, let's bring a touch of drama to this tale. I receive multiple emails telling me my battery has thrown a fault. I, being a loving and caring Lightning owner, call the shop immediately and get scheduled in for service. I can't let MY BABY! be neglected. The day before I took it to the shop, I received a letter in the mail with the line: "You are receiving this letter because you have not responded to our attempts to contact you...." Now I'm really concerned, there must be something really terribly wrong with the battery. OH NO! MY BABY IS SICK! I took her to the shop the next day. Since the shop is 28 miles away, I take the afternoon off from work because "MY BABY IS SICK!"

The dealership tech and the service manager had no idea why Ford was insistent I bring my truck in. The BEV support desk didn't either. 2 weeks later, the Ford tech that was supposed to look at the scans and tell the dealership tech what parts to replace didn't know what parts needed to be replaced. We are still waiting to hear, and it has been months.

Disaster Strikes!
The fateful morning was awash in oppressive foreboding. You could tell the day wasn't going to end well. The animals were nervous. Dogs barking at nothing. Chipmunks and squirrels constantly snapping their heads left and right, looking for danger. I just knew something was off when I rolled out of bed. It was probably the fact I was somehow wearing my girlfriend's underwear, my god, that was painful.

Outside, in the front yard, the water company was repairing the fire hydrant. I decided to move my vehicles to a short access road next to my property to get them out of the water company's workers' way because accidents do happen (notice the foreshadowing there, heightens the drama, I can tell a story!). This was the fateful decision that would bring me to tears eight hours later. One of the contractors working on the house across the street decided to back into the access road so he could turn his pickup and trailer around and leave. 3 people witnessed the terrible event. 2 of them are unable to return to work and are seeing a therapist daily. I am certain you are wailing into the night with tears running down your face, "Say it ain't so! How could this hardworking, beer drinking, flag waving, apple pie eating every man be so careless!"

His trailer tire rubbed the corner of my bumper. When I was alerted to the issue, I ran to MY BABY's side, to not just comfort and console, but to heal if I could but I knew I couldn't make it right! I was helpless! I...had....failed...her! How could she ever forgive me?! That feeling of when something is done and there is no going back. I was wracked by sobs as I felt MY BABY's pain. It tears at your soul and makes you curse Einstein for not allowing us to travel back through time to fix terrible wrongs and tragedies alike. "Nay", he says, "You shall not pass! Embrace your suffering you ignorant fool!" Einstein was like that, cold and merciless.

Anyway, the guy had left but he came back and gave me his insurance information. It costs the insurance company about $625 to fix. No wait on parts, no problem, good job though I had to take it to the Chevy dealership for the body work...talking about embarrassment.

Observations
It is a 90% solution as far as trucks go. The truck does what it is advertised to do. I can do everything I want to do with it but then again, I did not buy it to pull big bulky trailers. When it comes to that, it is not necessarily the trucks' fault but the infrastructure. If we had as many charge stations as gas stations, even this would not be a problem. People forget that this is a Lightning. The last version of the Lightning could not carry more than 500lbs in the bed. I can carry 1800lbs with my configuration.

The FUD out there about electric vehicles is astounding. Everything from about how they will bring down the electrical infrastructure (OH NO! it isn't like we haven't double the capacity of the electrical infrastructure 3 times since the 1970s) to how toxic the batteries are (have you taken a whiff out of diesel tail pipe lately), to how much it cost to recharge (these people don't know how to read their electric bill and do the math).

Either I am extraordinarily lucky, or Ford went into the EV truck space in a serious manner. I have read that the Lightning is so good it forced Tesla into a redesign. I do not know what the truth\reality is, but my truck has been amazingly trouble free. For my use case it checks nearly every box.

I used to get stopped all the time by people asking questions about it. The newness in this area has warn off so it does not happen as much. I have my tour of the truck down pat enough that I get asked if I am a salesperson for Ford. I have noticed attitudes change dramatically when I mention how much I save on maintenance and fuel. I have about 10% of people say they would never own one, but they do not really have a rational\technical\pragmatic reason. I suspect it has more to do with politics than the actual vehicle.

I was incredibly surprised at how many women like the truck, with a few noting the remote frunk opener would be amazingly handy.

I have never felt the punch in the chest on acceleration but passengers and the one and only person that I let drive MY BABY! said they felt it. As with nearly all electric cars, it accelerates faster than you will ever need with only minor torque steer.

I am tempted to install a small diesel-powered heater on the battery for winter. Where I am at it is not terrible but if ever move further North, I will do it in a heartbeat. Using a gallon of diesel to add significant range to my battery for several months of the year seems like an obvious compromise. I'm willing to bet it would not be that difficult to do so.

Things I would change:
More range. I have come home at night with only 5 miles left on the charge. 320 miles of theoretical range is not enough, I have to think too much about range\charging. If caught on a 20F day, into a head wind, on the expressway, I can lose 40% of my range. Seeing 1.2 m/kWh on the display is not comforting at all. Due to this, if I am more than a hundred miles from home and there is a charger handy, I will stop and charge it to 80%. But because I am very conscientious of ensuring I am constantly charging if I am at home, I have never really been gripped by range anxiety. I have only been denied going somewhere a couple of times because of the charge level.

More on range. It appears Ford has "tuned" the configuration and shape of the truck to get the most out of it. It appears any minor change, from tires to aerodynamics, just reduces range. Combining this with environmental conditions, road surface, etc. Makes mods a no go.

I really do want factory installed refrigerated cup holders in the center console. This is such a no-brainer.

The front grill is ugly, and it collects bugs like an entomologist.

The lights that run across the tail gate and front grill should be tinted the color of the vehicle, so they don't stand out during the day.

Finally, there are a lot of bells and whistles on the Lariat trim level that I'll never use but everyone else that sees them loves them.

edit: fixed a lot of typos

With all that driving have you been able to take advantage of BlueCruise?

 

[02Reaper]

Great write up! Thank you for sharing!

Oof. And I thought I was driving a lot. I received my Lightning (Sparky) July 7, 2022 and just passed 22k miles. Like you I live in a very rural area (South Georgia). 30 miles sounds about right to get to just about anything. I had a Ford C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid before and loved it. Living in the country on 8 acres meant I needed a truck and I wasn't about to get a traditional truck because of the fuel expense. Sparky changed all that, and I'm very, very happy with my purchase. At the end of the day the premium ($10k to $20k) over the traditional ice F-150 Lariat should easily be made up for in fuel prices. Here our electricity is .12/kWh, so it's going to take me about 4 times longer to meet the savings you're getting at .035. Still easily done as I plan on to hold onto Sparky for at least 10 years.

I head up to Atlanta and Augusta, or down to Cape Canaveral, Tampa or Orlando maybe once a quarter. I completely agree about the charging problem. Time should solve that issue. Let's face it, everyone driving electric (including Tesla, though they have had far longer to build out their infrastructure) are still super early adopters. We're the ones dealing with the problems and getting everything ironed out. I'm sure the same thing was said when we went from horses to gas too. "I can bring feed with me for my horse. Those fancy petro stations aren't close enough to fill up that crazy automatable."

I've only had an issue with the frunk (fixed once they figured out there was water intrusion into the control module) and the daily air dam warnings, which I've got used to ignoring. Oh, and within the first two months I had a battery fault error. Pulled off at the first exit, turned the truck off, turned it on and nothing else ever showed up. Dealership said they didn't see anything in the scans when I took it in.

And Sync. It's sooooo slow and is very unpredictable at random times. Rebooting on startup occasionally. Oh, and the charging pad overheats everything I put on it (Galaxy phones and iPhones. Kinda feel like another couple of dollars in a better pad would have been worth the investment, but Ford reported (during this week's earnings) they lost $60k/electric vehicle they've sold due to the expansion of their plants and such. Not sure that's completely accurate, but bean counters can move things around however they want.

Where in GA are you? I'm in south GA also

 

[rvedala]

Impressive and enjoyable write-up! 50k in 11 months, that's a lot of driving!

Well not 50,000 miles but how about 49,534 miles since June 6th 2022 in my Rapid Red Ford F-150 Lightning Lariat. Gather around children, sit back, and listen to my tail of woe. It has thrills, chills, spills, and kills!

Again not quite, it has been pretty boring, with minor irritations along the way.
Just to put it out there, I live in a rural area of the country that is flat and spread out. I don't get the typical EV advantage like you might if you lived in a city nor do I get amazing regen rates from hills or mountain passes. I normally drive within 5 miles of the speed limit which I estimate 80% is 60-65 mph. I also estimate my city driving is less than 5%. My expressway/interstate driving is probably around 10% with the rest being on gravel roads.

General

1. I charge at home with the Ford Charge Station Pro better than 95% of my charge sessions.
2. I use Electrify America almost exclusively when traveling
3. When tripping, I always stop and charge twice as often as theoretically necessary in case a station is out of order, this distrust has served me well.
4. I normally charge to 90%, but occasionally charge to 100% right before I leave to go a significant distance.
5. If I'm charging at a fast charging station, I'll charge it to 80% as the rule but I have pushed that to 90% out of distrust of the EA infrastructure.
6. The Ford Charge Station Pro is de-rated to 66 amps since it throws fewer errors than at 80 amps, but it still throws faults.
7. Averaged 2.1 m/kWh. The absolute best I've seen on the readout for any significant length of time (47 miles) was 3.6 m/kWh (warm day, tail wind, it was glorious)
8. Actual Range is about 275 miles on a full charge
9. Still have 312 miles of the original 320 miles of estimated range at 66F.
10. When charged at home, it costs me about $0.035 per mile
11. I have spent less than $2,000 dollars to cover 49,534 miles
12. Gas in my Silverado would have cost me around $14,860 at 13 mpg at $4.00 a gallon (approximate average cost of gas over the past year)
13. The tread life on my tires has been amazing. I fully expect them to last another 10-15K miles more.

Maintenance Issues\drama:
So, as you might expect, there must be at least one maintenance issue. Turns out, there have been two. Battery fault and air dam fault. The air dam fault gets thrown randomly when passing through the 45-50 mph speed zone though it has popped up at lower and higher speeds. 2 visits to the shop, no resolution.

The battery fault is the one that got to me. So, let's bring a touch of drama to this tale. I receive multiple emails telling me my battery has thrown a fault. I, being a loving and caring Lightning owner, call the shop immediately and get scheduled in for service. I can't let MY BABY! be neglected. The day before I took it to the shop, I received a letter in the mail with the line: "You are receiving this letter because you have not responded to our attempts to contact you...." Now I'm really concerned, there must be something really terribly wrong with the battery. OH NO! MY BABY IS SICK! I took her to the shop the next day. Since the shop is 28 miles away, I take the afternoon off from work because "MY BABY IS SICK!"

The dealership tech and the service manager had no idea why Ford was insistent I bring my truck in. The BEV support desk didn't either. 2 weeks later, the Ford tech that was supposed to look at the scans and tell the dealership tech what parts to replace didn't know what parts needed to be replaced. We are still waiting to hear, and it has been months.

Disaster Strikes!
The fateful morning was awash in oppressive foreboding. You could tell the day wasn't going to end well. The animals were nervous. Dogs barking at nothing. Chipmunks and squirrels constantly snapping their heads left and right, looking for danger. I just knew something was off when I rolled out of bed. It was probably the fact I was somehow wearing my girlfriend's underwear, my god, that was painful.

Outside, in the front yard, the water company was repairing the fire hydrant. I decided to move my vehicles to a short access road next to my property to get them out of the water company's workers' way because accidents do happen (notice the foreshadowing there, heightens the drama, I can tell a story!). This was the fateful decision that would bring me to tears eight hours later. One of the contractors working on the house across the street decided to back into the access road so he could turn his pickup and trailer around and leave. 3 people witnessed the terrible event. 2 of them are unable to return to work and are seeing a therapist daily. I am certain you are wailing into the night with tears running down your face, "Say it ain't so! How could this hardworking, beer drinking, flag waving, apple pie eating every man be so careless!"

His trailer tire rubbed the corner of my bumper. When I was alerted to the issue, I ran to MY BABY's side, to not just comfort and console, but to heal if I could but I knew I couldn't make it right! I was helpless! I...had....failed...her! How could she ever forgive me?! That feeling of when something is done and there is no going back. I was wracked by sobs as I felt MY BABY's pain. It tears at your soul and makes you curse Einstein for not allowing us to travel back through time to fix terrible wrongs and tragedies alike. "Nay", he says, "You shall not pass! Embrace your suffering you ignorant fool!" Einstein was like that, cold and merciless.

Anyway, the guy had left but he came back and gave me his insurance information. It costs the insurance company about $625 to fix. No wait on parts, no problem, good job though I had to take it to the Chevy dealership for the body work...talking about embarrassment.

Observations
It is a 90% solution as far as trucks go. The truck does what it is advertised to do. I can do everything I want to do with it but then again, I did not buy it to pull big bulky trailers. When it comes to that, it is not necessarily the trucks' fault but the infrastructure. If we had as many charge stations as gas stations, even this would not be a problem. People forget that this is a Lightning. The last version of the Lightning could not carry more than 500lbs in the bed. I can carry 1800lbs with my configuration.

The FUD out there about electric vehicles is astounding. Everything from about how they will bring down the electrical infrastructure (OH NO! it isn't like we haven't double the capacity of the electrical infrastructure 3 times since the 1970s) to how toxic the batteries are (have you taken a whiff out of diesel tail pipe lately), to how much it cost to recharge (these people don't know how to read their electric bill and do the math).

Either I am extraordinarily lucky, or Ford went into the EV truck space in a serious manner. I have read that the Lightning is so good it forced Tesla into a redesign. I do not know what the truth\reality is, but my truck has been amazingly trouble free. For my use case it checks nearly every box.

I used to get stopped all the time by people asking questions about it. The newness in this area has warn off so it does not happen as much. I have my tour of the truck down pat enough that I get asked if I am a salesperson for Ford. I have noticed attitudes change dramatically when I mention how much I save on maintenance and fuel. I have about 10% of people say they would never own one, but they do not really have a rational\technical\pragmatic reason. I suspect it has more to do with politics than the actual vehicle.

I was incredibly surprised at how many women like the truck, with a few noting the remote frunk opener would be amazingly handy.

I have never felt the punch in the chest on acceleration but passengers and the one and only person that I let drive MY BABY! said they felt it. As with nearly all electric cars, it accelerates faster than you will ever need with only minor torque steer.

I am tempted to install a small diesel-powered heater on the battery for winter. Where I am at it is not terrible but if ever move further North, I will do it in a heartbeat. Using a gallon of diesel to add significant range to my battery for several months of the year seems like an obvious compromise. I'm willing to bet it would not be that difficult to do so.

Things I would change:
More range. I have come home at night with only 5 miles left on the charge. 320 miles of theoretical range is not enough, I have to think too much about range\charging. If caught on a 20F day, into a head wind, on the expressway, I can lose 40% of my range. Seeing 1.2 m/kWh on the display is not comforting at all. Due to this, if I am more than a hundred miles from home and there is a charger handy, I will stop and charge it to 80%. But because I am very conscientious of ensuring I am constantly charging if I am at home, I have never really been gripped by range anxiety. I have only been denied going somewhere a couple of times because of the charge level.

More on range. It appears Ford has "tuned" the configuration and shape of the truck to get the most out of it. It appears any minor change, from tires to aerodynamics, just reduces range. Combining this with environmental conditions, road surface, etc. Makes mods a no go.

I really do want factory installed refrigerated cup holders in the center console. This is such a no-brainer.

The front grill is ugly, and it collects bugs like an entomologist.

The lights that run across the tail gate and front grill should be tinted the color of the vehicle, so they don't stand out during the day.

Finally, there are a lot of bells and whistles on the Lariat trim level that I'll never use but everyone else that sees them loves them.

edit: fixed a lot of typos

Hahaha- absolutely love your post Helium-music to my ears. Keep posting. You have a gift of writing.

 

[FordTough98198]

Well not 50,000 miles but how about 49,534 miles since June 6th 2022 in my Rapid Red Ford F-150 Lightning Lariat. Gather around children, sit back, and listen to my tail of woe. It has thrills, chills, spills, and kills!

Again not quite, it has been pretty boring, with minor irritations along the way.
Just to put it out there, I live in a rural area of the country that is flat and spread out. I don't get the typical EV advantage like you might if you lived in a city nor do I get amazing regen rates from hills or mountain passes. I normally drive within 5 miles of the speed limit which I estimate 80% is 60-65 mph. I also estimate my city driving is less than 5%. My expressway/interstate driving is probably around 10% with the rest being on gravel roads.

General

1. I charge at home with the Ford Charge Station Pro better than 95% of my charge sessions.
2. I use Electrify America almost exclusively when traveling
3. When tripping, I always stop and charge twice as often as theoretically necessary in case a station is out of order, this distrust has served me well.
4. I normally charge to 90%, but occasionally charge to 100% right before I leave to go a significant distance.
5. If I'm charging at a fast charging station, I'll charge it to 80% as the rule but I have pushed that to 90% out of distrust of the EA infrastructure.
6. The Ford Charge Station Pro is de-rated to 66 amps since it throws fewer errors than at 80 amps, but it still throws faults.
7. Averaged 2.1 m/kWh. The absolute best I've seen on the readout for any significant length of time (47 miles) was 3.6 m/kWh (warm day, tail wind, it was glorious)
8. Actual Range is about 275 miles on a full charge
9. Still have 312 miles of the original 320 miles of estimated range at 66F.
10. When charged at home, it costs me about $0.035 per mile
11. I have spent less than $2,000 dollars to cover 49,534 miles
12. Gas in my Silverado would have cost me around $14,860 at 13 mpg at $4.00 a gallon (approximate average cost of gas over the past year)
13. The tread life on my tires has been amazing. I fully expect them to last another 10-15K miles more.

Maintenance Issues\drama:
So, as you might expect, there must be at least one maintenance issue. Turns out, there have been two. Battery fault and air dam fault. The air dam fault gets thrown randomly when passing through the 45-50 mph speed zone though it has popped up at lower and higher speeds. 2 visits to the shop, no resolution.

The battery fault is the one that got to me. So, let's bring a touch of drama to this tale. I receive multiple emails telling me my battery has thrown a fault. I, being a loving and caring Lightning owner, call the shop immediately and get scheduled in for service. I can't let MY BABY! be neglected. The day before I took it to the shop, I received a letter in the mail with the line: "You are receiving this letter because you have not responded to our attempts to contact you...." Now I'm really concerned, there must be something really terribly wrong with the battery. OH NO! MY BABY IS SICK! I took her to the shop the next day. Since the shop is 28 miles away, I take the afternoon off from work because "MY BABY IS SICK!"

The dealership tech and the service manager had no idea why Ford was insistent I bring my truck in. The BEV support desk didn't either. 2 weeks later, the Ford tech that was supposed to look at the scans and tell the dealership tech what parts to replace didn't know what parts needed to be replaced. We are still waiting to hear, and it has been months.

Disaster Strikes!
The fateful morning was awash in oppressive foreboding. You could tell the day wasn't going to end well. The animals were nervous. Dogs barking at nothing. Chipmunks and squirrels constantly snapping their heads left and right, looking for danger. I just knew something was off when I rolled out of bed. It was probably the fact I was somehow wearing my girlfriend's underwear, my god, that was painful.

Outside, in the front yard, the water company was repairing the fire hydrant. I decided to move my vehicles to a short access road next to my property to get them out of the water company's workers' way because accidents do happen (notice the foreshadowing there, heightens the drama, I can tell a story!). This was the fateful decision that would bring me to tears eight hours later. One of the contractors working on the house across the street decided to back into the access road so he could turn his pickup and trailer around and leave. 3 people witnessed the terrible event. 2 of them are unable to return to work and are seeing a therapist daily. I am certain you are wailing into the night with tears running down your face, "Say it ain't so! How could this hardworking, beer drinking, flag waving, apple pie eating every man be so careless!"

His trailer tire rubbed the corner of my bumper. When I was alerted to the issue, I ran to MY BABY's side, to not just comfort and console, but to heal if I could but I knew I couldn't make it right! I was helpless! I...had....failed...her! How could she ever forgive me?! That feeling of when something is done and there is no going back. I was wracked by sobs as I felt MY BABY's pain. It tears at your soul and makes you curse Einstein for not allowing us to travel back through time to fix terrible wrongs and tragedies alike. "Nay", he says, "You shall not pass! Embrace your suffering you ignorant fool!" Einstein was like that, cold and merciless.

Anyway, the guy had left but he came back and gave me his insurance information. It costs the insurance company about $625 to fix. No wait on parts, no problem, good job though I had to take it to the Chevy dealership for the body work...talking about embarrassment.

Observations
It is a 90% solution as far as trucks go. The truck does what it is advertised to do. I can do everything I want to do with it but then again, I did not buy it to pull big bulky trailers. When it comes to that, it is not necessarily the trucks' fault but the infrastructure. If we had as many charge stations as gas stations, even this would not be a problem. People forget that this is a Lightning. The last version of the Lightning could not carry more than 500lbs in the bed. I can carry 1800lbs with my configuration.

The FUD out there about electric vehicles is astounding. Everything from about how they will bring down the electrical infrastructure (OH NO! it isn't like we haven't double the capacity of the electrical infrastructure 3 times since the 1970s) to how toxic the batteries are (have you taken a whiff out of diesel tail pipe lately), to how much it cost to recharge (these people don't know how to read their electric bill and do the math).

Either I am extraordinarily lucky, or Ford went into the EV truck space in a serious manner. I have read that the Lightning is so good it forced Tesla into a redesign. I do not know what the truth\reality is, but my truck has been amazingly trouble free. For my use case it checks nearly every box.

I used to get stopped all the time by people asking questions about it. The newness in this area has warn off so it does not happen as much. I have my tour of the truck down pat enough that I get asked if I am a salesperson for Ford. I have noticed attitudes change dramatically when I mention how much I save on maintenance and fuel. I have about 10% of people say they would never own one, but they do not really have a rational\technical\pragmatic reason. I suspect it has more to do with politics than the actual vehicle.

I was incredibly surprised at how many women like the truck, with a few noting the remote frunk opener would be amazingly handy.

I have never felt the punch in the chest on acceleration but passengers and the one and only person that I let drive MY BABY! said they felt it. As with nearly all electric cars, it accelerates faster than you will ever need with only minor torque steer.

I am tempted to install a small diesel-powered heater on the battery for winter. Where I am at it is not terrible but if ever move further North, I will do it in a heartbeat. Using a gallon of diesel to add significant range to my battery for several months of the year seems like an obvious compromise. I'm willing to bet it would not be that difficult to do so.

Things I would change:
More range. I have come home at night with only 5 miles left on the charge. 320 miles of theoretical range is not enough, I have to think too much about range\charging. If caught on a 20F day, into a head wind, on the expressway, I can lose 40% of my range. Seeing 1.2 m/kWh on the display is not comforting at all. Due to this, if I am more than a hundred miles from home and there is a charger handy, I will stop and charge it to 80%. But because I am very conscientious of ensuring I am constantly charging if I am at home, I have never really been gripped by range anxiety. I have only been denied going somewhere a couple of times because of the charge level.

More on range. It appears Ford has "tuned" the configuration and shape of the truck to get the most out of it. It appears any minor change, from tires to aerodynamics, just reduces range. Combining this with environmental conditions, road surface, etc. Makes mods a no go.

I really do want factory installed refrigerated cup holders in the center console. This is such a no-brainer.

The front grill is ugly, and it collects bugs like an entomologist.

The lights that run across the tail gate and front grill should be tinted the color of the vehicle, so they don't stand out during the day.

Finally, there are a lot of bells and whistles on the Lariat trim level that I'll never use but everyone else that sees them loves them.

edit: fixed a lot of typos

I’ve had mine since basically a couple weeks later 6/17/22… one day I’ll finally hit that amount of miles. I’m also club Rapid Red!

 

[MickeyAO]

Also Rapid Red since September. I've been driving much more than my last couple of trucks and I'm up to 3,800

 

[Helium]

With all that driving have you been able to take advantage of BlueCruise?

I have. Not as much as you might think though. In the early days it "hunted' for the center of the lane way to much. Most of the roads I've driven still require you to keep your hands on the wheel. I feel like it doesn't react fast\early enough and when it does react it overreacts a bit. It doesn't pickup on the fact the vehicle turning off the road in front of me has cleared the road until the turning vehicle is more than a car length off the road. The little bit of interstate I've driven and I've used it, I found it does pretty well.

 

[Helium]

I’ve had mine since basically a couple weeks later 6/17/22… one day I’ll finally hit that amount of miles. I’m also club Rapid Red!

You might get there sometime before the next century

 

[Helium]

So...someone from Ford (will remain nameless because I don't want to get her\him into trouble) reached out about the battery pack recall (23H01) and recommended I give the Electric Vehicle Customer Service a call. Said it would be fruitful....and it was. Moved my service call out to the 17th so they could handle everything at once (recall, active air dam, 50K mile service).

Thank you, all knowing and mysterious Ford employee. I hadn't realized how irritated I was.

 

[Helium]

I have 25k, got mine in late August 2022 XLT SR EG 311a. This was a fun read, my favorite part: " The front grill is ugly, and it collects bugs like an entomologist." except I don't believe it's ugly and the entire truck "collects bugs like an entomologist." Maybe I've just never owned an F150 before, but I feel like I spend more time at gas pumps cleaning my windshield than anyone else.

Beauty, eyes, blah, blah, blah and all of the front facing surfaces are currently covered in the internal anatomy of dozens of bug species and summer hasn't even gotten started yet.

It isn't just F-150s, it is my Silverado, it is every tractor trailer sized vehicle. They create large high pressure zones on the forward facing surfaces as they move through the air. On more aerodynamic vehicles the high pressure zone is smaller causing the air to flow around the vehicle carrying the bugs. The Aptera electric two-seat trike has a smaller high pressure zone than the F-150's mirrors. In testing they noticed the windshield didn't collect bugs at all.

 

[Helium]

Funny. Got mine within a day or so of you. 10,800. Also spent 57 days at dealer and I drove fewer days after arm surgery put me on the sidelines.
but I’m putting next to nothing on my car. Probably 800 miles since august.

Why did it spend 57 days at the dealership? My head would have exploded.

 

[columbiaskier]

The FUD out there about electric vehicles is astounding. Everything from about how they will bring down the electrical infrastructure (OH NO! it isn't like we haven't double the capacity of the electrical infrastructure 3 times since the 1970s) to how toxic the batteries are (have you taken a whiff out of diesel tail pipe lately), to how much it cost to recharge (these people don't know how to read their electric bill and do the math).

This is one of the things that has struck me the most. There should be a thread called “stuff ICE owners at the charge station say”. Most people come up to ask questions about the vehicle but I inevitably get the preachers that want to come tell me why EVs will never catch on.

 

[Helium]

This is one of the things that has struck me the most. There should be a thread called “stuff ICE owners at the charge station say”. Most people come up to ask questions about the vehicle but I inevitably get the preachers that want to come tell me why EVs will never catch on.

One of my neighbors is a diehard Toyota hydrogen fan. He thinks they are going to stop the BEVs in their tracks. He just doesn't know what a hassle the cryogenic and high pressure systems\infrastructure is going to be like.

We should actually start a sub-Forum on here called “Stuff ICE Owners Say About BEVs”.

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