10000 Miles in the middle of Montana

[MTcowpoke]

As I recall, the Level 3 chargers at the Bozeman Audi dealer were a real pain to use. They either wouldn’t start or took several tries to get going. If anything, worse than a typical EA charger.

In addition to range, the other big difference between the Lightning and other F150s I’ve owned is the smooth ride. That would be thanks to independent rear suspension, mandated by the big motor attached to the rear axle. Perhaps not that important in a ranch truck but nice if you have to drive a lot of highway miles.

Oh, the ride is great after years of 3/4 and 1 ton Ram diesels. I had to get bulk diesel today, the tank is in the back of a 2500 Ram and that was the first thing I noticed was how stiff and ruff it was and it's the best riding of my Rams. I've noticed that you can really get rolling across the prairie in the Lightning if you aren't paying attention because of the smooth ride.

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[Steven Walsh]

Today I crossed the 10k mile mark in just over 5 months of ownership. So far it's been everything I was hoping it would be. The Lightning operates in almost the dead center of Montana, 100 to 130 miles from 4 of the major cities, Billings, Bozeman, Helena and Great Falls. I'm a rancher, a cow/calf operation and this pickup is used daily in every kind of condition you can imagine. It will never see a garage, rarely see a car wash and be used as pickups used to be. I ordered it with Pro Power and have carried a pancake air compressor and portable mig welder during hay season this past summer and even took it to a music festival to power A/C's. All in all it's been great. My previous daily driver is a 6.7 Ram diesel that averages a whopping 13.5 mpg. I'm not keeping dead accurate records on energy used but my power bill is averaging $100 to $120 a month over previous years. The difference with this years diesel prices is in the neighborhood of $600 a month in savings, plus no 3 gallons of black oil running down my arm several times a year. I left trip 1 set from when I picked it up and it averaged 2.3 miles per kwh till about a month ago when the temps started to fall. It's now down to 2.1 miles per kwh but we also had a blast of winter with a little over a foot of snow and our first subzero overnights. I've DC fast charged it twice in Billings, currently the only place in range of my standard battery to try it. Bozeman EA is completed but not on line yet and nothing in Helena or Great Falls. I charge at home on a Grizzl-e which seemed like a good choice for my outdoor installation. I've been driving Dodge diesels since 1994, they've worked very well but the Ford Lightning engineers did a really great job on this truck. The best part is being an early adopter and seeing what these can do.

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Today I crossed the 10k mile mark in just over 5 months of ownership. So far it's been everything I was hoping it would be. The Lightning operates in almost the dead center of Montana, 100 to 130 miles from 4 of the major cities, Billings, Bozeman, Helena and Great Falls. I'm a rancher, a cow/calf operation and this pickup is used daily in every kind of condition you can imagine. It will never see a garage, rarely see a car wash and be used as pickups used to be. I ordered it with Pro Power and have carried a pancake air compressor and portable mig welder during hay season this past summer and even took it to a music festival to power A/C's. All in all it's been great. My previous daily driver is a 6.7 Ram diesel that averages a whopping 13.5 mpg. I'm not keeping dead accurate records on energy used but my power bill is averaging $100 to $120 a month over previous years. The difference with this years diesel prices is in the neighborhood of $600 a month in savings, plus no 3 gallons of black oil running down my arm several times a year. I left trip 1 set from when I picked it up and it averaged 2.3 miles per kwh till about a month ago when the temps started to fall. It's now down to 2.1 miles per kwh but we also had a blast of winter with a little over a foot of snow and our first subzero overnights. I've DC fast charged it twice in Billings, currently the only place in range of my standard battery to try it. Bozeman EA is completed but not on line yet and nothing in Helena or Great Falls. I charge at home on a Grizzl-e which seemed like a good choice for my outdoor installation. I've been driving Dodge diesels since 1994, they've worked very well but the Ford Lightning engineers did a really great job on this truck. The best part is being an early adopter and seeing what these can do.

good post. I just washed my truck for the first time since I bought it in September 2022. It mostly lives outside but I do bring it in to charge it once or twice a week. And if the weather looks like we might get a power outage I bring it in to back up our house (which it did this last weekend for a two day outage due to high winds here on the Colorado Front Range).

I’ve got three dents and the front bumper needs to be remounted after hitting something. The bed is all scratched up from hauling building materials and such, and of course the dump runs. Nobody knows it’s electric unless I open the Frunk in public. Every once in a while some smart Alec wants to race me so I oblige. I wish I could see their face better in the rear view mirror. I just took a trip to Steamboat and got there without stopping on a standard range battery in winter, and after a 28 minute charge I turned around and on the way home I picked up 40 miles of range coming down the “hill.” I couldn’t be happier with this vehicle, I don’t even remember what it’s like to go to a gas station and the thought of a tune-up or oil change is almost laughable. I could never go back to an ICE vehicle I’m so spoiled. Oh and my two axle dump trailer weighs way more than the truck is probably rated for, I never checked, but I still can’t feel it back there. I kind of feel sorry for the lightnings that are Garage Queens, these vehicles are like thoroughbreds just itching to work.

 

[MTcowpoke]

Just a little update. I've had the truck for 18 months as of today and it's showing 33,2xx miles tonight. My only repairs so far have been the charge port actuator and the active air dam actuators also. When the charge port actuator fails and you get the red ring of death there is a moment of panic . I didn't even know the air dam had an issue even though I saw others on the forum with this problem. I also installed 10 ply tires after a run of flats on the originals. They are just to light for a Lightning on gravel. I love this truck and thinking about getting another with the big battery before Jan. 20 An ER would make Montana a lot smaller. I wish everyone could have the experience I've had so far, especially considering how I use it and thanks to all the great info people post on this forum.

 

[B177y]

Reading this thread about your success of owning a SR Lightning in Montana gave me the encouragement I needed to take my new ER Lightning on a 3300 mile round trip from Washington through ID, MT, to North Dakota...and back. All of the Tesla charging on I-90 and I-94 made it possible. Thank you for sharing your experience.

 

[RickKeen]

Much towing?

 

[MTcowpoke]

Much towing?

I towed the 30 foot travel trailer the first week I had it to an event fairly close to home and I tow my Maxi Drop-n-load car trailer between the two ranches with the 4 wheelers on, not much weight. I'm 1 ton truck poor and most of the trailers are larger, so for towing I default to the diesels.

 

[RickKeen]

... I'm 1 ton truck poor and most of the trailers are larger, so for towing I default to the diesels.

Same as mentioned above, my personal knowledge of Montana is only from the Yellowstone show where they are always towing big horse trailers around with 3/4 and 1 ton diesels. I watch that and think to myself it is probably not a place where an EV truck like our Lightnings is going to fare well. Too much towing and the distances are too far.

But for driving lots of miles without towing, if you can stay under the daily range and charge at home, an EV makes sense based on the fuel savings.

You get any political hate of your EV there? Do people even notice the Lightning is an EV?

 

[MTcowpoke]

Same as mentioned above, my personal knowledge of Montana is only from the Yellowstone show where they are always towing big horse trailers around with 3/4 and 1 ton diesels. I watch that and think to myself it is probably not a place where an EV truck like our Lightnings is going to fare well. Too much towing and the distances are too far.

But for driving lots of miles without towing, if you can stay under the daily range and charge at home, an EV makes sense based on the fuel savings.

You get any political hate of your EV there? Do people even notice the Lightning is an EV?

Most don't even know it's an EV. Get lots of small town ribbing but they are getting more EV curious. My friend has a Cybertruck, he takes the brunt of abuse, even from me. There are 4 EVs in the county now, so 1 for every 500 people. What's interesting is our county is home to 166 megawatts of wind generation and there is a proposed 315 megawatt site planned to offset Puget Sound Energy's loss of coal generation. The two 500Kv lines from Coalstrip run right through the county. We were also the beginning point for the Milwaukee Road electrification which really built our town. You'd think with all that more people would be on board.

 

[B177y]

Most don't even know it's an EV. Get lots of small town ribbing but they are getting more EV curious. My friend has a Cybertruck, he takes the brunt of abuse, even from me. There are 4 EVs in the county now, so 1 for every 500 people. What's interesting is our county is home to 166 megawatts of wind generation and there is a proposed 315 megawatt site planned to offset Puget Sound Energy's loss of coal generation. The two 500Kv lines from Coalstrip run right through the county. We were also the beginning point for the Milwaukee Road electrification which really built our town. You'd think with all that more people would be on board.

EV's are definitely a tough sell in rural areas. On my recent road trip I had 2 passengers in the Lightning and it was both of their first EV experience. All 3 of us are similar politically, and until I test drove my Mach-e a year ago, I never thought I'd be in an EV either. After one year of the Mach-e, I traded it and sold my 2001 F350 and went with the Lightning Pro ER max-tow. I don't see myself going back to ICE for a daily driver and the only thing I miss about the F350 is the range while towing. That and it's a little bit easier to fill a gas tank at a pump with a 25 foot travel trailer attached vs. charging with the same trailer.

I don't think my friends will be EV converts any time soon, but their eyes were opened and they asked plenty of questions. I don't push EV's, you have to be ready to plan and be a little curious and techy in my opinion to really be comfortable and use it to it's highest potential. Most people that I associate with are more comfortable having a truck that they know how to work on in the driveway and aren't ready to make the paradigm change into an EV/EV truck.

 

[MTcowpoke]

EV's are definitely a tough sell in rural areas. On my recent road trip I had 2 passengers in the Lightning and it was both of their first EV experience. All 3 of us are similar politically, and until I test drove my Mach-e a year ago, I never thought I'd be in an EV either. After one year of the Mach-e, I traded it and sold my 2001 F350 and went with the Lightning Pro ER max-tow. I don't see myself going back to ICE for a daily driver and the only thing I miss about the F350 is the range while towing. That and it's a little bit easier to fill a gas tank at a pump with a 25 foot travel trailer attached vs. charging with the same trailer.

I don't think my friends will be EV converts any time soon, but their eyes were opened and they asked plenty of questions. I don't push EV's, you have to be ready to plan and be a little curious and techy in my opinion to really be comfortable and use it to it's highest potential. Most people that I associate with are more comfortable having a truck that they know how to work on in the driveway and aren't ready to make the paradigm change into an EV/EV truck.

The other night we were sitting at the brewery and my friend with the CT and I were talking about trips and charging and our other friend (in the heavy truck parts biz) kept stopping us and asking what this or that meant. It's like we were speaking a foreign language. I tell people that until they are interested don't get one.

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