Limited Lightning Tow Range

[Deleted member 2919]

In one of Farley's recent interviews he made it clear that the Lightning can haul. He also said it's not the best choice for those pulling big trailers that need to do 1000 miles regularly -- for them Ford has the EcoBoost Hybrid.

If one truck did everything for everyone, Ford wouldn't have so many flavors of F-150. Lightning will do what most F-150 owners need. For the rest, there are other F-150 options.

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Are you trolling, or are you the US market expert on what most F150 owners "need."?

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[ChasingCoral]

?
Are you trolling, or are you the US market expert on what most F150 owners "need."?

Not trolling at all. IMHO, the capabilities of the lightning will satisfy the needs of most F-150 owners. Not all, certainly. Based on articles I've read from Ford's research about the average use of commercial F-150s and most individual customers, they have hit the sweet spot.

 

[Blainestang]

Not trolling at all. IMHO, the capabilities of the lightning will satisfy the needs of most F-150 owners. Not all, certainly. Based on articles I've read from Ford's research about the average use of commercial F-150s and most individual customers, they have hit the sweet spot.

What about all the people who need to tow a horse trailer across the country on a whim because their grandma is in the hospital and her dying wish is to pet that particular horse!?

If it can't do that, it's basically a glorified golf cart.

EDIT: This is a joke. I thought it was ridiculous enough to avoid needing this disclaimer, but I guess not!

 

[Roy2001]

This is my input, based on my very limited EV study.

When the range was set to 300 miles, that's the number you will never reach. Instead, during regular usage, you should plan for 200 miles max during summer, and 150 miles during winter.

When you tow, I think that number would be reduced by up to 50% depend on the total weight.

Why? Because you want to avoiding to charge battery to 100% and you can NOT use battery until it fully drained since that not only hurts battery most but also means you would stop no where without charging station. Your usable range would be 20-90%, which is at best 210 miles, when you are not using AC/heater and weather is good, are you not driving fast.

Further more, freeway cruising at more than 60mpg reduce the claimed range, no need to mention AC/heater, and during winter lower temperature reduce the range.

So, when you plan the trip, keep all above factors in mind!

 

[Brian Head Yankee]

What about all the people who need to tow a horse trailer across the country on a whim because their grandma is in the hospital and her dying wish is to pet that particular horse!?

If it can't do that, it's basically a glorified golf cart.

This needs to get an award for the most ridiculous straw man ever. Rent a truck to satisfy granny's last wish. Granny will leave you millions so the cost to rent a truck for three days shouldn't be a concern. See, I can make up happy shit like a rich granny to counter your crap.

 

[Blainestang]

This needs to get an award for the most ridiculous straw man ever. Rent a truck to satisfy granny's last wish. Granny will leave you millions so the cost to rent a truck for three days shouldn't be a concern. See, I can make up happy shit like a rich granny to counter your crap.

Welp, I guess I'm going to have to make it even more ridiculous next time so people can tell I'm joking.

 

[Pedaldude]

So, lets say it takes 50hp to propel the Model X at 70mph. That's in the ballpark, probably. That would mean we'd be in the ballpark to say that the Lightning would use 75hp to propel itself at 70mph.

I am going to be a bit more conservative and guess that Lightning will be using more like twice as much HP as the X at highway speed, if not more, I don't think they've optimized it nearly as much as they could have for fear of being too different looking. Pickup truck drag coefficient numbers aren't good at all and even heavily optimized, with its origami lines smoothed out, Cybertruck will be lucky to beat the drag coefficient of a 1989 Ford Probe. The larger frontal area of the Lightning truck compared with the Model X also supports your theory even more. About the only place that they are even close is in weight and stated range, so I guess it makes a better comparison than nothing at this point.

?
Are you trolling, or are you the US market expert on what most F150 owners "need."?

Any amateur can come to the conclusion that their friends/family and neighbors that own trucks could have their needs for a vehicle met with not just the Lightning but practically anything else including public transport for those living in metropolitan areas. It all comes down to what they want however and despite owning trucks since I got my driver's license, I get fatigued by the justifications and ad hoc arguments of either people who feel guilty about owning a truck/suv and those who have some strange compulsion to own one as a statement. The most popular pickup truck configuration is the crew cab, which is basically a glorified station wagon and the Tacoma has a minivan engine. Nobody is being forced into EV's (yet), so I hope that all the people who realistically are able to make the transition to electric do so, because I want to have affordable and plentiful gasoline for my V8 as long as is possible.

Electric cars aren't a threat to freedom and other American values just because Ed Begley Jr. owned an EV1 and Michael Moore, the fat hypocritical POS (who probably is driven around in an Escalade) tells hard working people that not driving around in a shitbox economy car makes you a bad person.

This needs to get an award for the most ridiculous...

I am pretty sure that was the joke, it's a tongue-in-cheek statement designed to make light of the "No true Scotsman" arguments that have been started since the Lightning became a popular subject.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman

Similar rhetoric appears in other forums every time the 4A full time transfer case is brought up and every once in a while when a towing discussion turns into a pissing contest. Someone will try to explain to someone else that nothing less than a dually diesel should be used for a landscaping trailer and then invariably a progression of tall tales ensues about towing a fifth wheel with a Nissan hardbody on the farm stacked with hay thirty feet high and a Sherman tank.

 

[Sam James]

This is my input, based on my very limited EV study.

When the range was set to 300 miles, that's the number you will never reach. Instead, during regular usage, you should plan for 200 miles max during summer, and 150 miles during winter.

When you tow, I think that number would be reduced by up to 50% depend on the total weight.

Why? Because you want to avoiding to charge battery to 100% and you can NOT use battery until it fully drained since that not only hurts battery most but also means you would stop no where without charging station. Your usable range would be 20-90%, which is at best 210 miles, when you are not using AC/heater and weather is good, are you not driving fast.

Further more, freeway cruising at more than 60mpg reduce the claimed range, no need to mention AC/heater, and during winter lower temperature reduce the range.

So, when you plan the trip, keep all above factors in mind!

Not sure what your "very limited EV study" is, but the Mach-E and many other EVs regularly exceed EPA range without even including the buffers. If Ford says 300 when the B&P tool goes online you should expect 300 except on extremely cold days. Even then it'll be far greater than 200. All of the above sounds like the regular stuff we hear from those new to EVs.

Yes, above 60 mph will reduce range, but 70 mph is not a killer. See https://insideevs.com/reviews/443791/ev-range-test-results/ for a listing of production models at 70 mph. Mach-E and Porsches exceed EPA, which is an aggregate of tests as it is. Most of the models that didn't meet that aggregate weren't terribly off, but we know what to expect of Tesla and Chevrolet...

 

[ChasingCoral]

What about all the people who need to tow a horse trailer across the country on a whim because their grandma is in the hospital and her dying wish is to pet that particular horse!?

If it can't do that, it's basically a glorified golf cart.

I'll repeat myself: IMHO, the capabilities of the lightning will satisfy the needs of most F-150 owners. Not all, certainly.

The Lightning will certainly haul a one-horse trailer just fine. It has a 10,000 pound towing capacity.

 

[ChasingCoral]

This is my input, based on my very limited EV study.

When the range was set to 300 miles, that's the number you will never reach. Instead, during regular usage, you should plan for 200 miles max during summer, and 150 miles during winter.

Not sure what your study is based on. Ford did a really good job of announcing a conservative range on the Mustang Mach E. Most owners who are hitting or exceeding the EPA ranges for the various models. Having driven my Mach E from MD to Florida and back, charging did not add much to the travel time relative to an ICE car.

 

[Blainestang]

I'll repeat myself: IMHO, the capabilities of the lightning will satisfy the needs of most F-150 owners. Not all, certainly.

The Lightning will certainly haul a one-horse trailer just fine. It has a 10,000 pound towing capacity.

I was joking.

It was a parody of people who come up with some outrageous, extreme outlier scenario in order to conclude that all EVs are just city cars.

Apparently, my parody wasn't crazy enough to be clear it was a joke! I'll have to up my game next time!

 

[ChasingCoral]

I was joking.

It was a parody of people who come up with some outrageous, extreme outlier scenario in order to conclude that all EVs are just city cars.

Apparently, my parody wasn't crazy enough to be clear it was a joke! I'll have to up my game next time!

My apologies for taking you seriously. There are plenty of folks around who will make arguments like that and be totally serious. Glad you were not doing so. Sarcasm is tough on message boards. With no intonation or body language, it really only works if everyone reading the message already knows you. I suggest adding next time.

 

[Blainestang]

My apologies for taking you seriously. There are plenty of folks around who will make arguments like that and be totally serious. Glad you were not doing so. Sarcasm is tough on message boards. With no intonation or body language, it really only works if everyone reading the message already knows you. I suggest adding next time.

I thought it was crazy enough that people would know it's a joke. But you're right, some of the examples people use for why EVs won't work are almost that ridiculous. I've added a disclaimer to the original post haha.

 

[navi]

This new hands on video by Marques Brownlee is interesting in terms of new (tow) range information

 

[docprego]

This new hands on video by Marques Brownlee is interesting in terms of new (tow) range information

This video is quite a game changer stating that range on the extended battery may actually be 460 miles. That potentially could mean towing range of 184 miles if using 40% or 230 miles if using 50% of that maximum range. Makes things as far as towing much more interesting.

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